National Assembly inserts N6.93tn projects in 2025 budget – BudgeIT alleges

National Assembly inserts N6.93tn projects in 2025 budget – BudgeIT alleges

A wave of outrage is sweeping across Nigeria’s civil society space following revelations that the National Assembly inserted over 11,000 suspicious projects into the 2025 national budget, amounting to a staggering N6.93 trillion.

The exposé, released by civic tech organization BudgIT, has raised serious questions about transparency, fiscal discipline, and the integrity of the appropriation process under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

In its analysis of the N54.9 trillion 2025 Appropriation Act, BudgIT flagged the insertions as “opacity-enabled anomalies,” suggesting the projects were strategically padded into the budget by federal lawmakers for self-serving interests.

“These insertions, shrouded in ambiguity and lacking in alignment with national development priorities, represent a blatant misuse of public funds,” said BudgIT in a statement signed by Acting Head of Open Governance, Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa.

The group noted that these projects often bypass the needs assessments of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), making them not only unstrategic but potentially wasteful. Many of the projects, BudgIT alleged, are poorly defined, duplicative, or simply “ghost projects” that exist only on paper.

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Despite being presented as constituency interventions, the total cost of these insertions dwarfs capital allocations for key sectors such as education, health, and infrastructure.

Alarmingly, BudgIT revealed that in some cases, lawmakers allocated billions of naira to small federal agencies incapable of executing the scope or scale of the assigned projects.

“The allocation of substantial funds to agencies without the requisite capacity raises serious concerns about the true intent of these insertions,” Bolarinwa warned.

BudgIT also expressed concern about how some lawmakers reportedly bullied MDAs during budget defence sessions to secure space for their pet projects.

The organization is now calling for a comprehensive investigation and institutional reforms to curb what it describes as “budget capture.”

“This trend not only distorts national priorities but erodes public trust in the budgeting process. We urge President Tinubu to take urgent action,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, Nigerians on social media and advocacy groups have demanded accountability and called on anti-graft agencies to probe the lawmakers involved.

The National Assembly has yet to respond to BudgIT’s allegations.

However, pressure is mounting on both the executive and legislative arms to uphold transparency and restore credibility to the national budget process.

National Assembly inserts N6.93tn projects in 2025 budget – BudgeIT alleges