PREMIUM TIMES’ checks reveal that a N50 million court project reported as 100 per cent implemented in Delta State’s 2024 budget records was not executed, while the state’s Chief Judge says the allocation was never accessed.
A N50 million court construction project in Erho-Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, has presented a disturbing discrepancy between the state government’s budget performance records and the state judiciary’s account.
The state’s 2024 fourth-quarter Budget Implementation Report subsequently recorded the project as fully implemented, according to PREMIUM TIMES’ review of the document.
However, a response from the office of the Chief Judge of Delta State to a Freedom of Information request by Tracka, a service-delivery promotion arm and project-tracking platform of BudgIT, says the money was never accessed.
Tracka visited the court premises in Erho-Abraka and reported no evidence of construction or renovation corresponding to the N50 million project.
Court officials interviewed by Tracka also reported being unaware of the project. The magistrate at the court reportedly said the existing benches in the courtroom were provided by the community.
The physical condition of the facility further raises questions about the reported implementation. Parts of the court roof are reportedly pulling away, while bushes have overgrown substantial portions of the compound.
In a letter dated 8 June 2026 and signed by the Chief Registrar, Eloho Okodiya-Onoriose, on behalf of the Chief Judge of Delta State, Tessy Diai, the judiciary acknowledged that N50 million was appropriated in the 2024 Delta State Appropriation Law for construction of the magistrate court at Erho-Abraka.
But the judiciary said the project was never awarded. It said no payment voucher, fund requisition or withdrawal request was raised against the allocation.
“The entire N50,000,000.00 … as appropriated remain unaccessed throughout the 2024 fiscal year or thereafter,” the letter stated.
The chief registrar rejected Tracka’s claim that the N50 million had been spent on the project, describing the assertion as “totally incorrect and misleading.”
The letter said the project allocation elapsed because it was not awarded within the 2024 financial year or subsequently.
The response creates a direct conflict with the expenditure position contained in Delta State’s budget implementation records.
PREMIUM TIMES independently examined Delta State’s 2024 fiscal documents.
The approved 2024 budget shows N50 million allocated to the construction of the magistrate court at Erho-Abraka, under the High Court of Justice.
The project was also listed in the state’s first-quarter 2024 Budget Performance Report with a N50 million allocation but zero implementation at that stage.
The second-quarter report similarly showed N50 million for the project and 0 per cent performance.
By the third quarter, the project was still recorded at zero per cent implementation, with the N50 million allocation intact.
But the position changed in the fourth-quarter report, which recorded the project as having achieved 100 per cent implementation, according to PREMIUM TIMES’ review.
That means the state’s own quarterly records show the project moving from zero implementation through the third quarter to full implementation by the end of the year, even though the chief judge’s office says the project was never awarded and no money was accessed.
The discrepancy is particularly noteworthy because the 2024 audited accounts published by the Delta State Auditor-General include the consolidated budget report for the year ended 31 December 2024 as part of the audited financial documentation.
PREMIUM TIMES reviewed the 2024 audited financial statements but did not find a corresponding capital expenditure line item that independently clarified the N50 million expenditure.
The Erho-Abraka court project is not a new proposal. PREMIUM TIMES traced the project through earlier Delta State budgets and found that it had appeared in the state’s budgetary plans years before the 2024 allocation.
In the 2019 budget, for instance, Delta provided N25 million for the construction of the magistrate court at Erho-Abraka.
According to PREMIUM TIMES’ review of subsequent budget documents, the project received a N50 million provision in 2021 but no funding was released for it between 2021 and 2023.
It was not provided for in the 2022 budget, while N20 million was budgeted in the 2023 revised budget.
The 2024 allocation represented another attempt to fund a project that had remained on the state’s books for years. Yet, according to the chief judge’s office, the 2024 allocation was never accessed.
PREMIUM TIMES also checked the Delta State Government’s procurement portal for evidence of the project.
The project was not listed among the 132 completed projects, 171 ongoing projects or 127 new projects displayed on the portal, according to the newspaper’s review.
The absence of the project from the procurement records further complicates the state’s reported 100 per cent implementation of the N50 million allocation.
