The Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa (FCHDK), is slated to receive N133 billion for capital projects in the proposed 2026 budget, an amount that would exceed the allocations for many of Nigeria’s leading federal universities if approved.
Analysis of the 2026 Appropriation Bill showed that the total allocation for the college stands at N135 billion (N135,782,890,354) with N2.7billion for total recurrent and N133bn dedicated to capital expenditure.
The capital allocation covers projects unrelated to horticulture, including the construction of religious centres, urban roads, and the procurement of e-hailing vehicles in Lagos.
Comparison with major federal universities
By comparison, several of Nigeria’s top federal universities received significantly lower allocations for 2026:
- University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN): N49.74 billion
- Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU): N48.76 billion
- University of Calabar (UNICAL): N43.83 billion
- University of Ibadan (UI): N39.57 billion
- University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID): N37.75 billion.
In each case, the FCHDK allocation is more than double the funding of these top institutions.
In total, the combined allocations for all federal universities in 2026 amount to N1.044 trillion, meaning the FCHDK budget alone represents roughly 12.7 per cent of the total federal university allocations.
Projects outside its mandate
The Federal College of Horticultural Technology, located in Dadin-Kowa, Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State, is a government-owned tertiary institution established in 2002 by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, with a mandate to train and improve manpower in horticultural and landscaping technology.
Despite its mandate as a specialised institution for horticultural research and training, FCHDK’s 2026 budget includes projects that span multiple sectors.
For instance, the college proposed to spend N140 million for worship sites in ‘various locations’ in Yamaltu-Deba federal constituency Gombe and N70 million for prayer centres in Kaduna.
It has also budgeted to spend over N1 billion for “fairly used e-hailing cars” and road construction in Lagos, N350 million for community policing vehicles in Kano, N470 million for hospital equipment in Sokoto and Kaduna.
Similarly, the budget allocates N1.05 billion for the supply of Keke Napep (tri-cycle) to beneficiaries in Kaduna State, N1.05 billion for the rehabilitation of selected roads in the state, N280 million for the construction of VIP guest palaces for traditional rulers in selected locations in Gombe State, and N70 million for a comprehensive free medical outreach in Sabon Gari Federal Constituency, Kaduna State.
It further earmarked multi-million naira for solar streetlights and transformers across several states inb the country.
The ICIR analysis also showed that N133 billion allocation is nearly 50 times the college’s recurrent expenditure of N2.7 billion.
The ICIR reported that while there are no laws in Nigeria that explicitly fault MDAs for carrying out projects against their mandate, former president, Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had condemned the insertion of several constituency projects by federal lawmakers.
The pattern mirrors broader trends in Nigeria’s budgeting process, where agencies are routinely saddled with projects outside their statutory responsibilities. In the 2025 budget alone, the National Assembly inserted over 11,000 projects valued at N6.93 trillion, many of which were unrelated to the core mandates of the institutions tasked with executing them, according to Budgit.
The civic organisation noted that public funds were redirected to religious centres, boreholes, ICT initiatives, and “empowerment of traditional rulers,” highlighting a systemic culture of patronage and waste.
The ICIR, in its Open Contract Reporting project, reported many constituency projects poorly implemented or abandoned in local communities.
A recurring pattern with Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa
This is not the first time FCHDK, has received disproportionately large allocations. In 2024, the National Assembly approved N42.7 billion for the college, a figure that represented an 11,500% increase from the institution’s initial proposal of N368 million, according to a BudgIT Foundation (Tracka) report.
The funds were earmarked for projects such as the installation of solar streetlights and the purchase of Keke NAPEP tricyclee, initiatives largely unrelated to the college’s core mandate of horticultural training and research.
Martha Oyanta Daniel, the state officer for BudgIT Foundation, described the budget inflation as “not appropriate for a country struggling with loans and a high debt servicing ratio.”
She further emphasised that “projects should be allocated to agencies according to their mandates,” adding that the public must engage actively in tracking government expenditures rather than leaving oversight solely to civic organisations.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M