How National Assembly padded 2025 budget with ₦6.9 trillion – BudgIT reveals
Civic tech organisation, BudgIT Nigeria, has stated that it has uncovered over 11,000 projects worth ₦6.93 trillion inserted by the National Assembly in the 2025 budget.
The organisation disclosed this in a statement published on its official X handle on Tuesday, describing the development as a “deeply entrenched culture of exploitation and abuse”, led by top-ranking members of the National Assembly.
“BudgIT, a prominent civic tech organisation promoting transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s public finance, has uncovered 11,122 projects valued at ₦6.93trn inserted by the National Assembly into the 2025 Federal Government budget.
“What began as isolated irregularities has, over the years, evolved into a deeply entrenched culture of exploitation and abuse, with the budget process now a playground for self-serving political interests, led by top-ranking members of the National Assembly,” the statement partly read.
READ ALSO: President Tinubu signs ₦54.99trn 2025 budget into law
Recall that President Bola Tinubu on December 18, 2024, presented an Appropriation Bill of ₦49.74 trillion to the National Assembly for the 2025 fiscal year, up by 80.96 per cent from the initially proposed 2024 budget.
The assembly upwardly reviewed and signed the budget, which was signed into law by Tinubu on February 28, 2025.
The president had however increased the budget to ₦54.2 trillion, which was then bumped up by the assembly to ₦54.99trn, indicating a cumulative increase of ₦5.29 trillion.
In its statement, BudgIT said that of the total 11,122 projects inserted into the budget, 238 projects, each worth more than ₦5 billion, with a cumulative value of ₦2.29 trillion were inserted with little to no justification, while another 984 projects worth ₦1.71 trillion and 1,119 projects, costing between ₦500 million and ₦1 billion and totalling ₦641.38 billion were inserted indiscriminately.
The report added that 39 per cent of the insertions (4,371 projects worth ₦1.72 trillion), were “forced” into the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, raising its capital allocation from ₦242.5bn to ₦1.95trn, while the Ministry of Science and Technology also saw its allocation increase from N994.98bn to ₦1.1trn from insertions.
“Our investigation reveals that 238 projects valued above ₦5 billion each, with a cumulative value of ₦2.29 trillion, were inserted with little to no justification. 984 projects worth ₦1.71 trillion and 1,119 projects within the range of ₦500 million to ₦1 billion, totaling ₦641.38 billion, were indiscriminately inserted.
“A closer look shows that 3,573 projects worth ₦653.19 billion are assigned directly to federal constituencies and 1,972 projects worth ₦444.04 billion to senatorial districts.
“Shockingly 39% of all insertions – 4371 projects worth ₦1.72 trillion – were forced into the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget, inflating its capital allocation from ₦242.5 billion to ₦1.95 trillion, and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning, also saw bloated allocations of ₦994.98 billion and ₦1.1 trillion respectively, from insertions alone.
“Even more concerning is the targeted misuse of agencies like the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (Lagos) and the Federal Cooperative College Oji River as dumping grounds for politically motivated projects.
“These agencies lack the technical capacity to execute such projects, leading to rampant underperformance and waste,” the statement read.
The organisation also highlighted some of the glaring anomalies in the budget to include 1,477 streetlight projects worth ₦393.29 billion, 538 boreholes totalling ₦114.53 billion, 2,122 ICT projects valued at ₦505.79 billion, and ₦6.74 billion earmarked for “empowerment of traditional rulers”.
BudgIT, therefore, called on the president to “exercise stronger executive leadership and reform the budgeting process to ensure alignment with the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021-2025) and other national priorities.”
It urged the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to seek a constitutional interpretation of the court on the extent of the appropriation powers of the National Assembly, particularly its authority to unilaterally introduce new capital projects without the concurrence of the Executive.
It also urged anti-graft agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to “take action to track these projects and ensure Nigeria gets value for money.”
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