…Tasks N/Assembly On Inclusive Review Of Bill
BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organisation promoting transparency, accountability, and effective service delivery in Nigeria, has observed certain legacy issues in the 2025 Federal Government Proposed Budget and calls on the National Assembly to proactively address the irregularities in the Appropriation Bill.
Specifically, the organization charged the Legislature to exercise its “Powers of the Purse” responsibly, by allowing robust public participation in the budget review process, and ensuring that the approved budget reflects the needs and preferences of Nigerians through job creation, poverty reduction, and inclusive broad-based economic growth.
It noted that a review of the performance of the Federal Government budget over recent years had indicated that the Federal Government often did not meet the mark in its macroeconomic assumptions, which posed serious fiscal risks leading to severe budget financing challenges, additional unforeseen government obligations, and a significant increase in public debt.
BudgIT recalled that the government’s inflation projection of 15% in the 2025 fiscal year appeared grossly unrealistic, considering that inflation, which stood at 34.6% as of November 2024, driven not only by monetary factors such as exchange rate and money supply but also by the constant increase in food and energy prices—both of which the government has not created a clear roadmap to resolving in the short term.
In addition, it stated that while the oil price projection of $75 per barrel appeared feasible given the global outlook of $70 to $73 per barrel, and strongly advised the National Assembly to resist the urge to increase the oil price benchmark to create fiscal space for their budgetary insertions, a practice observed in previous years.
It would be recalled that in previous years, the organization had consistently identified several budgetary insertions made by the National Assembly that deviated from the federal government’s constitutional mandate and priorities and were assigned to MDAs that have neither the capacity nor the mandate to implement the inserted projects.
For instance, it observed in 2021 that 5,601 capital projects were added to the Appropriation Bill during the review process by the National Assembly while in 2022, the Legislature increased to 6,462 projects across 37 Ministries and 340 MDAs, while in 2024, 7,447 insertions amounting to a staggering N2.24 trillion were found in the budget.
BudgIT maintained that while the Constitution granted the National Assembly the authority to appropriate funds, it often modifies the Executive’s proposed budget to distort its original intent and disconnect it from the nation’s long-term development agenda.
The civil society organization further alleged: “Many inserted projects usually lack proper conceptualisation, design, and cost estimation, undermining their effectiveness and feasibility. We believe that the legislature must exercise this power with the utmost responsibility. This responsibility, which cannot be overstated, entails ensuring resource efficiency, eliminating waste, and aligning budgetary decisions with the nation’s long-term economic development goals.
“Also, we have observed that the 2025 proposed budget breakdown submitted to the National Assembly for review and approval and published on the Budget Office website omits the breakdown of some MDAs, commissions, and councils, such as the National Judicial Council (N341.63 billion), and TETFUND (N940.5 billion). The budgets of over 60 government-owned enterprises (GOEs), including the Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), etc., were conspicuously absent from the 2025 Proposed Budget.
“Furthermore, a combined N2.49 trillion has been allocated to five regional development commissions (Niger Delta: N776.53 billion; South West: N498.40 billion; North East: N290.99 billion; North West: N585.93 billion; and South East: N341.27 billion) under the umbrella of personnel costs. This approach obscures the true nature of these commissions’ operational expenses. For context, the Ministry of Interior, responsible for overseeing the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Fire Service, and their governing board, has a significantly lower recurrent non-debt expenditure allocation of N648.84 billion. This amount covers personnel and overhead costs for the entire ministry and its agencies. Lumping development commission budgets under personnel costs raises concerns about transparency and accountability. It hinders proper scrutiny of how these funds are utilised and whether they effectively achieve their intended development objectives”, BudgIT added.
This is even as it pointed out that more worrisome remained the fact that the 2025 budget notably omits funding for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, a capital-intensive infrastructure project, noting that the omission implies that if funding for this project materialises, it will likely necessitate reallocating funds from other critical projects, potentially hindering their implementation and impacting the budget’s credibility.
According to the organization, it is also noteworthy that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent pronouncement regarding the retirement package of military generals, which includes the provision of a bulletproof SUV, fully paid foreign medical treatment, $20,000 as estacode for medical trips, and payments for domestic help, contradicts his previous commitments to reduce the cost of governance and welfare packages to top-ranked public officials and civil servants.
It maintained that such provisions not only inflated the budget and widened the fiscal deficit but may also demoralise lower-ranking military personnel, who lack adequate health insurance and retirement benefits despite their higher exposure to combat risks.
BudgIT further stressed that “as the National Assembly reviews the 2025 Proposed Budget, BudgIT appeals to the 360 Honourable Members of the Federal House of Representatives and 109 Distinguished Senators of the Nigerian Senate to prioritise national interest over personal or parochial considerations and ensure that the approved budget stimulates economic activities and macroeconomic stability, allocates resources to foster economic growth and development, equitably distributes resources to reduce poverty and inequality, and caters to the most vulnerable Nigerians.”
