Nigeria’s civic tech group, BudgIT, has accused lawmakers of padding the 2025 budget with over 11,000 suspicious projects worth N6.93 trillion — a figure that could have slashed the country’s record-high deficit by nearly 50 percent if properly reallocated.
In a detailed report released Tuesday, BudgIT said what began years ago as isolated budget irregularities has now morphed into an “entrenched culture of exploitation and abuse” at the National Assembly.
According to the group, 11,122 projects were inserted into the 2025 appropriation bill, which President Bola Tinubu signed into law on February 28. The spending plan, totaling N54.99 trillion, includes a projected deficit of N14.54 trillion. If the N6.93 trillion allegedly padded into the budget had been removed or redirected toward critical development projects, the gap would have been significantly reduced.
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The new fiscal plan nearly doubles the size of last year’s N27.5 trillion budget, a 99.96 percent jump, and has been criticized for lacking transparency and realism amid a worsening economic crisis.
N2.29 Trillion for 238 ‘Unjustified’ Mega Projects
BudgIT’s analysis shows that 238 projects, each valued at over N5 billion, were inserted into the 2025 budget with what the group described as “little to no justification.” The total cost of these items alone stands at N2.29 trillion.
Another 984 projects worth N1.71 trillion and 1,119 projects ranging between N500 million and N1 billion, totaling N641.38 billion, were also flagged as arbitrary insertions. The organization said these additions raise serious concerns about their relevance to national priorities.
Far from promoting development, BudgIT said, “these insertions appear tailored to satisfy narrow political interests and personal gains.”
It said over 3,500 of the projects, worth about N653.19 billion, were funneled into federal constituencies, while 1,972 projects valued at N444.04 billion were allocated to senatorial districts.
Among the most jarring examples:
- 1,477 streetlight projects costing N393.29 billion
- 538 borehole projects valued at N114.53 billion
- 2,122 ICT projects worth N505.79 billion
- N6.74 billion earmarked for “empowerment of traditional rulers”
- Ministry of Agriculture’s Budget Bloated Nearly 8x
One of the biggest victims of these manipulations is the Ministry of Agriculture, whose capital allocation jumped from N242.5 billion to N1.95 trillion after being forced to absorb 4,371 projects worth N1.72 trillion.
Similarly, the Ministries of Science and Technology and Budget and Economic Planning saw their budgets inflated by N994.98 billion and N1.1 trillion, respectively, not for actual development programs, but to accommodate insertions.
BudgIT also spotlighted how institutions with no technical mandate or capacity to execute infrastructure projects were turned into project warehouses for politically influenced contracts.
“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,” BudgIT said.
The Cooperative College, for instance, was assigned:
- N3 billion for utility vehicles for farmers
- N1.5 billion for rural electrification in Rivers State
- N1 billion for solar-powered streetlights in Enugu State
“These are examples of agencies operating outside their mandates, managing projects unrelated to their statutory functions, and adding zero value to national development,” the group said.
Loud Silence from the Presidency
Despite the magnitude of the findings, BudgIT said the presidency has remained “conspicuously silent.” Multiple letters and inquiries sent to the executive and key government institutions were ignored.
BudgIT is urging President Tinubu to demonstrate stronger executive leadership and initiate urgent reforms that realign the budget process with the national development plan (2021–2025). It also wants the Attorney General to seek a Supreme Court interpretation of the extent of the National Assembly’s appropriation powers, particularly its ability to insert projects without the executive’s approval.
“We hope the EFCC and ICPC will track these projects to ensure Nigeria gets value for money,” the group said, calling on civil society, the media, and citizens to demand reform. “This is not just about financial mismanagement. It is a matter of justice, equity, and the future of accountable governance.”
Alarming But Not Surprising
While the figures are alarming, they are not surprising. This is consistent with Nigeria’s long and troubling history of corruption, which is notable beyond budgetary manipulation. In other areas, public officeholders have been caught embezzling funds designated for national development projects.
For instance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday announced that it had officially received a 753-unit housing estate from the EFCC, which recovered the asset from Godwin Emefiele, the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The estate, located in Abuja, was handed over during a formal ceremony at the ministry’s headquarters in Mabushi. According to ministry spokesperson Salisu Haiba, Housing Minister Ahmed Dangiwa lauded the anti-graft agency for its effort in retrieving the asset.
Experts have said the recovered estate, if replicated across all 36 states, could significantly alleviate Nigeria’s severe housing deficit. As of 2023, the country was estimated to require at least 28 million housing units to meet demand, according to data from Intelpoint.
This figure far exceeds the World Bank’s earlier projection in 2021, which predicted that Nigeria’s housing deficit would hit 20 million by 2030. That forecast was surpassed seven years ahead of schedule, highlighting the scale of the crisis and the failure of past administrations to implement adequate policy responses.
Anti-graft advocates say the recovery of Emefiele’s estate, while symbolically important, underscores the missed opportunities from years of looted public resources.