By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation promoting budget transparency and accountability in Nigeria and other African countries, said Tuesday that it uncovered 11,122 projects worth N6.93 trillion that were inserted by the National Assembly into the 2025 national budget.
The figure, according to an 18-page report released by the organisation on Tuesday, represents 12.5% of the N54.99 trillion budget signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on February 28.
In December 2024, President Tinubu presented a proposed budget of N49.7 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly. The budget, titled “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity”, was presented at the House of Representatives chambers in Abuja.
Tinubu said the 2025 Appropriation Bill was designed to ensure macroeconomic stability, reduce poverty, promote economic growth, enhance human capital development, and address insecurity.
In February 2025, the President requested an upward review of the proposed budget from N49.7 trillion to N54.2 trillion. The increase, he said, was due to additional revenue generated by key federal agencies: N1.4 trillion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), N1.2 trillion from the Nigeria Customs Service, and N1.8 trillion from other government-owned agencies.
On February 13, 2025, the National Assembly passed a revised budget of N54.99 trillion for the 2025 financial year, further raising the president’s revised proposal by N700 billion. The budget passage followed the presentation of reports by the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations during separate plenaries at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
A detailed analysis of the BudgIT report revealed that 238 projects—each valued above N5 billion and totalling N2.29 trillion—were inserted into the budget with little or no justification.
“Also, 984 projects worth N1.71 trillion and 1,119 projects within the range of N500 million to N1 billion, totalling N641.38 billion, were indiscriminately inserted into the budget,” the report stated.
Further analysis showed that 3,573 projects worth N653.19 billion were directly assigned to federal constituencies, while 1,972 projects valued at N444.04 billion were allocated to senatorial districts.
The report also highlighted numerous questionable projects, including 1,477 streetlight installations worth N393.29 billion, 538 borehole projects totalling N114.53 billion, and 2,122 ICT-related projects valued at N505.79 billion. Additionally, N6.74 billion was earmarked for the “empowerment of traditional rulers”.
“Shockingly, 39% of all insertions—4,371 projects worth N1.72 trillion—were forced into the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget, inflating its capital allocation from N242.5 billion to N1.95 trillion,” BudgIT said.
The Ministries of Science and Technology, and Budget and Economic Planning, also had their capital votes inflated by insertions to N994.98 billion and N1.1 trillion respectively.
‘Projects outside mandates of MDAs’
BudgIT’s findings also revealed that many Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were allocated projects outside their statutory mandates, calling them frivolous and of no tangible value to national development.
It identified the Federal Co-operative College, Oji River; the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin; and the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, Lagos, as among the agencies saddled with projects outside their core responsibilities.
For example, the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin, was allocated N400 million for scholarships and educational grants in Bayelsa West Senatorial District, and another N350 million for a community health insurance scheme in the same district.
BudgIT called on President Tinubu to assert stronger executive leadership to ensure that the national budget aligns with Nigeria’s medium- and long-term development strategy.
“This includes initiating a reform-oriented dialogue with the National Assembly to establish a transparent, equitable, and accountable process for including constituency projects. The current practice—where lawmakers independently insert projects without coordination with national priorities—undermines the credibility of the budget and weakens the impact of public expenditure,” the organisation stated.
“Although unofficial claims suggest that senators and members of the House of Representatives receive N1 billion and N2 billion respectively for constituency projects, our analysis reveals that actual allocations are often significantly higher.
“These discrepancies underscore the urgent need for budgetary reform anchored in data transparency, independent verification of project costs, and a standardised mechanism for tracking the implementation and impact of constituency projects.
“Without such reforms, the budgeting process risks being dominated by political patronage rather than national development goals,” BudgIT added.
Daily Trust