Ekiti’s ₦490.74bn “Budget of Sustained Progress” Arrives, and Even Calculators Are Asking for Overtime

OGM News NG’s source in the corridors of power confirms that Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji has presented a ₦490.74 billion budget estimate for the 2027 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly. The presentation was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the state’s creation. Christened the “Budget of Sustained Progress and Prosperity,” the document is the biggest in the state’s history. While President Donald J. Trump keeps world audiences hooked on high-stakes drama, Ekiti’s own fiscal thriller has quietly delivered a plot twist of its own: a budget this size, signed, sealed and delivered, with a governor who says he is making history.

Ekiti 2027 Budget Rises About 18% Over 2026 Plan

Oyebanji called the occasion historic, saying he is the first democratically elected governor in Ekiti to hand power to the same government for another four-year term. By his account, voters returned him with over 85 per cent of the ballots cast in the June 2026 election. At this rate, the only thing in Ekiti growing faster than the budget is the governor’s confidence.

The size of the increase is hard to miss. Our source’s figures put the 2027 estimate about ₦75 billion, or roughly 18 per cent, above the 2026 plan. The 2026 estimate was ₦415.57 billion, an 11 per cent rise over the 2025 approved budget of ₦375.79 billion. The 2025 plan was itself pitched around food security, wealth creation and welfare. Go back to 2023 and the first Oyebanji budget stood at ₦113.6 billion. By any measure, the state’s fiscal ambition has outrun inflation’s morning jog.

Where the Money Comes From, and Where It Goes

For 2027, our source says revenue will be assembled from several streams. These include an opening balance of ₦33.36 billion, Federal Allocation of ₦139.85 billion, VAT of ₦89.12 billion, Independent Revenue of ₦59.71 billion and a ₦10 billion loan plan. The standout line is External Grants at ₦158.67 billion, roughly a third of the entire budget. Careful readers will note that this is the single largest revenue line, and the Assembly may wish to ask how firm those grants are. Recurrent spending is pegged at ₦275.68 billion against ₦215.05 billion for capital, a 56:44 split. By contrast, the 2026 budget was split 53 per cent recurrent and 47 per cent capital. The capital share has therefore dipped slightly in the new plan.

On the spending side, our source says ₦147.98 billion of capital money goes to the economic sector, covering agriculture, infrastructure and tourism. ₦32.57 billion goes to the social sector and ₦31.64 billion to administration, while law and justice gets ₦2.84 billion. The governor listed the Ado-Ekiti flyover, township road rehabilitation, new general hospitals, agricultural land clearing, broiler expansion, a new State Library and a modern secretariat.

e also said the 2026 budget was faithfully implemented, with revenue at ₦218.97 billion by June 30, or 105 per cent of the pro-rated target. Spending stood at ₦163.6 billion, or 79 per cent performance. Oyebanji credited the Tinubu tax reforms, better FAAC allocations, the Infrastructure Support Fund and Internally Generated Revenue growth, which he put at over ₦55 billion in 2025, up from ₦13 billion in 2022. Notably, Ekiti was the first state to align its internal revenue law with the four new national tax reform acts.

The governor has asked lawmakers to consider the appropriation bill promptly so implementation can begin on January 1, 2027. If the pattern holds, the Assembly will deliberate, the governor will sign, and the commissioner will brief the public on the breakdown. That is the same sequence that followed the 2026 budget, which he signed into law after the Assembly passed it. The real tests are not on paper. They are the flyover, the hospitals and the grants that must actually arrive. OGM News NG will keep watching the numbers, the Assembly and the cranes. Stay with us for further updates on this developing story.