Senate Questions SEDC on ₦16.6bn Budget Mismanagement

The Senate conducted an oversight hearing on Tuesday concerning the ₦16.6 billion budget for 2025 allocated to the South East Development Commission (SEDC), led by Managing Director Mark Okoy. Senate Committee Chairman Orji Kalu raised serious objections to several items in the commission's financial report, including ₦153 million reportedly spent on renting a single room liaison office in Abuja and ₦2.5 billion categorized as "implied expenditure." The committee expressed dissatisfaction with the financial documents submitted by SEDC leadership, revealing that ₦13 billion of the initial ₦16.6 billion disbursed remained unaccounted for, with ₦3.6 billion already spent without clear justification.

Despite Okoy's defense of the commission's expenditures, the committee rejected his submissions as insufficient and ordered SEDC to submit comprehensive records, including contract details and payment schedules, by the 23rd of the month. The session was adjourned with an expectation of full compliance and disclosure from the commission.