Transparency watchdog BudgIT has accused the National Assembly of inserting over 11,000 projects worth \u20a66.93 trillion into Nigeria\u2019s 2025 federal budget\u201412.61% of the total \u20a654.99 trillion budget signed by President Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a report released Tuesday, the group called the insertions \u201cindiscriminate,\u201d raising concerns about their alignment with national priorities. \u201cCategorically, some of the most glaring anomalies include 1,477 streetlight projects, worth \u20a6393.29 billion, 538 boreholes totalling \u20a6114.53 billion, 2,122 ICT projects valued at \u20a6505.79 billion and \u20a66.74 billion earmarked for empowerment of traditional rulers,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BudgIT noted that 238 projects valued over \u20a65 billion were added with little justification, along with hundreds more ranging from \u20a6600 million to over \u20a61 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Agriculture saw the most significant impact, receiving 39% of all insertions. \u201cShockingly, 39% of all insertions\u2014worth \u20a61.72 trillion\u2014were forced into the Ministry of Agriculture\u2019s budget, inflating its capital allocation from \u20a6242.5 billion to \u20a61.95 trillion,\u201d BudgIT stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also highlighted how lawmakers continue to route projects through agencies with no mandate or capacity to deliver them. The Federal College of Fisheries, for instance, spent nearly \u20a61 billion in 2024 on vehicles and tricycles for communities outside its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese agencies lack the technical capacity to execute such projects, leading to rampant underperformance and waste,\u201d the group warned, citing similar misuse involving the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute and the Federal Cooperative College in Oji River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese budgets are not mere cases of financial mismanagement but are closely related to justice, equity and the future of accountable governance in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BudgIT urged President Tinubu to reform the budget process and called on the public to demand greater accountability. \u201cWe also call on citizens, the media, civil society organizations, and the development community to speak out and demand reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group previously revealed that \u20a6624 billion was allocated in 2024 to over 2,500 projects outside the implementing agencies\u2019 mandates\u2014an issue it says continues unchecked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Transparency watchdog BudgIT has accused the National Assembly of inserting over 11,000 projects worth \u20a66.93 trillion into Nigeria\u2019s 2025 federal budget\u201412.61% of the total \u20a654.99 trillion budget signed by President Bola Tinubu. In a report released Tuesday, the group called the insertions \u201cindiscriminate,\u201d raising concerns about their alignment with national priorities. \u201cCategorically, some of the most glaring anomalies include 1,477 streetlight projects, worth \u20a6393.29 billion, 538 boreholes totalling \u20a6114.53 billion, 2,122 ICT projects valued at \u20a6505.79 billion and \u20a66.74 billion earmarked for empowerment of traditional rulers,\u201d the statement read. BudgIT noted that 238 projects valued over \u20a65 billion were added with little justification, along with hundreds more ranging from \u20a6600 million to over \u20a61 billion. The Ministry of Agriculture saw the most significant impact, receiving 39% of all insertions. \u201cShockingly, 39% of all insertions\u2014worth \u20a61.72 trillion\u2014were forced into the Ministry of Agriculture\u2019s budget, inflating its capital allocation from \u20a6242.5 billion to \u20a61.95 trillion,\u201d BudgIT stated. The report also highlighted how lawmakers continue to route projects through agencies with no mandate or capacity to deliver them. The Federal College of Fisheries, for instance, spent nearly \u20a61 billion in 2024 on vehicles and tricycles for communities outside its jurisdiction. \u201cThese agencies lack the technical capacity to execute such projects, leading to rampant underperformance and waste,\u201d the group warned, citing similar misuse involving the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute and the Federal Cooperative College in Oji River. \u201cThese budgets are not mere cases of financial mismanagement but are closely related to justice, equity and the future of accountable governance in the country.\u201d BudgIT urged President Tinubu to reform the budget process and called on the public to demand greater accountability. \u201cWe also call on citizens, the media, civil society organizations, and the development community to speak out and demand reforms.\u201d The group previously revealed that \u20a6624 billion was allocated in 2024 to over 2,500 projects outside the implementing agencies\u2019 mandates\u2014an issue it says continues unchecked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parliamentary-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25332,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25330\/revisions\/25332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}