*Gives SEDC June 23 Deadline to Submit All Contract Records After Managing Director Fails to Satisfactorily Account for Expenditures from N16.6 Billion Release
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The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the newly established Southeast Development Commission (SEDC), Mark Okoye, has come under intense scrutiny from the Senate over alleged financial mismanagement of the commission’s appropriated budget of N16.6 billion for the 2025 fiscal year, with lawmakers expressing particular outrage over a reported N153 million spent on renting a single-room liaison office in Abuja and N2.5 billion classified under the vague heading of “implied expenditure.”
The Senate Committee on Southeast Development Commission, chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North), summoned Okoye and other top management staff of the commission for an investigative hearing on Tuesday, during which the committee went through the financial report submitted by the SEDC and found it wholly inadequate.
Senator Kalu told the embattled managing director that the committee’s own inquiries with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had established that only N13 billion remained from the N16.6 billion released to the commission in December 2025, meaning that approximately N3.6 billion had been spent within roughly six months and must be fully accounted for.
“This committee is disappointed with the financial report given, which is completely unacceptable,” Senator Kalu stated.
The committee zeroed in on two specific expenditure items that drew particular censure.
First, the SEDC reportedly spent N153 million to rent a single-room liaison office in Abuja, despite the commission’s corporate headquarters being located in Enugu, the South-East’s administrative centre. The amount raised immediate questions about the basis for the valuation, the procurement process that produced the rental arrangement, and why a newly established commission with its headquarters in Enugu would spend such an enormous sum on a single-room office in the federal capital.
For context, N153 million for a single office space in Abuja would place the SEDC’s rental expenditure among the most expensive per-unit office costs incurred by any government agency, a figure that lawmakers clearly found difficult to reconcile with the description of the space as “one room.”
Second, the commission classified N2.5 billion under the heading of “implied expenditure,” a categorisation that the committee found both vague and unacceptable. The term “implied expenditure” is not a standard line item in government budgeting and does not correspond to any recognised category of public expenditure under the financial regulations governing federal agencies. Its use to account for N2.5 billion, more than 15 per cent of the total budget release, raised immediate red flags about the transparency and integrity of the commission’s financial management.
In his defence, Okoye maintained that all expenditures carried out from the funds received were judiciously made and guided by the principle of matching spending to available cash releases to avoid creating unfunded liabilities.
“Our approach has been to ensure that available resources are directed towards priority projects. We want allocations to guide the procurement process so that contracts awarded can be backed by available funding,” Okoye stated.
He attempted to contextualise the commission’s spending approach by distinguishing between budgetary allocations and actual cash releases: “What we want to avoid is a situation where contracts are awarded without the financial capacity to execute them. For example, having a budget of N140 billion does not automatically mean that N140 billion in cash is available. It would be irresponsible to award contracts worth the entire budget if only N10 billion or N20 billion has actually been released. Doing so would create unfunded liabilities and a significant financial deficit.”
However, the committee was not persuaded by the explanation. The managing director’s response addressed the principle of fiscal prudence in awarding contracts but did not directly account for the specific expenditure items that concerned the committee, particularly the N153 million office rental and the N2.5 billion in “implied expenditure.”
When asked directly how much remained from the total N16.6 billion released, Okoye stated that roughly N12 billion was left in the commission’s account, a figure that conflicted with the CBN’s indication to the committee that N13 billion remained. The discrepancy of approximately N1 billion between the managing director’s own figure and the CBN’s figure further deepened the committee’s concerns about the accuracy of the commission’s financial records.
The committee chairman was not alone in his dissatisfaction. Several other members of the committee, including Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central), and Senator Austin Akobundu (Abia Central), expressed displeasure with the financial report presented by the SEDC management.
The breadth of the criticism, spanning senators from different states within the South-East zone and different political orientations, suggests that the concerns about the SEDC’s financial management are not politically motivated but reflect genuine alarm at the commission’s inability to satisfactorily account for the expenditure of public funds.
Not satisfied with the managing director’s explanation, the committee directed the SEDC to submit comprehensive records of all contracts, payments, and supporting documents by June 23, 2026.
“By the 23rd, we want to have the complete documentation. Once we receive and review the documents, we will determine the date for your next appearance before the committee,” Senator Kalu stated.
The chairman adjourned the session, reiterating the committee’s expectation that all requested information would be submitted within the stipulated timeframe. The committee’s directive effectively gives the SEDC approximately two weeks to produce documentation that it was unable or unwilling to present at Tuesday’s hearing.
The SEDC was established as a federal intervention agency for the development of the South-East geopolitical zone, following years of agitation by South-East leaders who pointed to the existence of similar commissions for other regions, notably the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the oil-producing states and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) for the North-East.
The NDDC has itself been plagued by corruption scandals, forensic audit controversies, and allegations of financial mismanagement that have consumed billions of naira intended for the development of the Niger Delta region. The Senate’s early scrutiny of the SEDC’s finances suggests that lawmakers are determined to prevent a repeat of the NDDC experience in the South-East.
The fact that the SEDC has been operational for only a few months, having received its first major budget release in December 2025, and is already facing questions about how N3.6 billion was spent, raises early warning signals about the commission’s governance structures, internal controls, and the quality of oversight being exercised by its management and board.
If the commission cannot satisfactorily account for its expenditures when it returns to the Senate committee after June 23, the consequences could include recommendations for a forensic audit, calls for the managing director’s removal, or referral to anti-corruption agencies for investigation.
The SEDC Managing Director is expected to appear before the committee again after the June 23 document submission deadline. The committee has indicated it will determine the date for the next appearance once it has reviewed the submitted documentation.
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