CSO raises alarm over questionable insertions constituting 12.61% of the ₦54.99 trillion national budget approved by President Tinubu
A fresh report by BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organization promoting budget transparency and accountability, has revealed that the National Assembly inserted a staggering 11,122 projects valued at ₦6.93 trillion into the 2025 Federal Government budget.
The inserted projects represent 12.61% of the ₦54.99 trillion spending plan signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2025 fiscal year. According to BudgIT, these insertions were made with minimal transparency and little to no justification, raising questions about the integrity of the budgeting process.
A breakdown of the findings shows that:
238 projects, each valued above ₦5 billion, were included without clear justifications or disclosed needs assessments.
984 projects, totaling ₦1.71 trillion, were inserted under vague subheads with minimal detail or strategic alignment.
Another 1,119 projects, with individual costs ranging between ₦600 million and ₦1 billion, were similarly inserted without sufficient documentation.
BudgIT noted that such practices not only undermine the budgeting process but also encourage fiscal indiscipline and political patronage at the expense of national development goals.
“This level of insertion without transparency calls into question the accountability framework surrounding Nigeria’s public finance system. It is imperative for citizens and oversight bodies to interrogate these allocations and demand clarity,” the organization stated.
The group further emphasized that these questionable insertions could divert funds from critical national priorities such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
Call for Legislative Accountability
This revelation adds to the growing list of concerns over budget padding and opaque allocations in Nigeria’s legislative process. Civil society organizations and policy experts are urging the presidency, anti-corruption agencies, and the public to scrutinize the budget in detail.
As Nigeria faces mounting economic pressures, including high inflation, subsidy reforms, and debt servicing burdens, transparency in public spending has never been more crucial.
FrontNaija News will continue to monitor developments as reactions trail BudgIT’s findings.
