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Legislators

BudgIT Uncovers N6.93 Trillion Padding in Nigeria's 2025 Budget

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The Nigerian federal government's 2025 national budget has been marred by allegations of padding, with civic-tech organization BudgIT uncovering how lawmakers inserted N6.93 trillion worth of projects without adequate justification. The National Assembly included 11,122 projects representing 12.5 per cent of the N54.99 trillion signed budget, with many projects lacking clear links to national priorities or developmental objectives. The BudgIT report shed light on numerous questionable project allocations, including streetlight installations, borehole projects, and ICT-related projects. The organization urged President Tinubu to initiate reforms to restore integrity to the budgeting process, recommending a structured, transparent, and collaborative framework for including constituency projects that align with national development priorities.

Key Takeaways:

  • The National Assembly inserted 11,122 projects worth N6.93 trillion in Nigeria's 2025 national budget without adequate justification.
  • The inserted projects represent 12.5 per cent of the N54.99 trillion signed budget and often lack clear links to national priorities or developmental objectives.
  • The Ministry of Agriculture's capital budget increased from N242.5 billion to N1.95 trillion following the insertion of 4,371 projects worth N1.72 trillion.
  • The allocation to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning also increased to N1.1 trillion.
  • BudgIT flagged numerous instances of federal government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) being assigned projects outside their legal or operational mandates.
  • The affected institutions are Federal Co-operative College, Oji River, National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Ilorin, and Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, Lagos.
  • BudgIT urged President Tinubu to demonstrate good executive leadership by initiating reforms to restore integrity to the budgeting process.

Statistics:

  • Over 11,122 projects were inserted in the budget, worth N6.93 trillion.
  • 238 projects exceeding N5 billion each, totaling N2.29 trillion, were added with little or no justification.
  • 984 projects worth N1.71 trillion and 1,119 projects valued between N500 million and N1 billion (totalling N641.38 billion) were arbitrarily inserted.
  • 3,573 projects worth N653.19 billion were assigned to federal constituencies, and 1,972 projects valued at N444.04 billion were earmarked for senatorial districts.

Sources:

  • "BudgIT uncovers N6.93 trillion padding in Nigeria's 2025 budget"
  • Nigeria's 2025 national budget document, tagged the "Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity"
  • BudgIT's 18-page report on the 2025 national budget

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