Leading civic tech organisation, BudgIT, has accused Nigeria’s National Assembly of smuggling 11,122 suspicious projects worth N6.93 trillion into the 2025 Federal Government budget.
The watchdog group disclosed this in a comprehensive report released on Tuesday, warning that the scale and nature of the insertions threaten the integrity of the nation’s budgetary process and derail developmental priorities.
BudgIT’s analysis uncovered that 238 projects valued above N5 billion each, totalling N2.29 trillion, were embedded in the budget without adequate explanation.
It also flagged 984 projects worth N1.71 trillion, and 1,119 others ranging between N500 million and N1 billion, collectively amounting to over N641 billion.
A staggering 3,573 projects worth N653.19 billion were allocated to federal constituencies, while 1,972 projects valued at N444.04 billion went to senatorial districts — raising suspicions of political patronage over national interest.
Among the controversial allocations were 1,477 streetlight projects costing N393.29 billion, 538 borehole projects totalling N114.53 billion, and 2,122 ICT projects valued at N505.79 billion. An additional N6.74 billion was earmarked for “empowerment of traditional rulers” without any defined framework.
BudgIT also pointed to sectoral inflation of budgets, notably the Ministry of Agriculture, whose capital allocation ballooned from N242.5 billion to N1.95 trillion. The ministries of Science and Technology and National Planning were similarly inflated to N994.98 billion and N1.1 trillion, respectively.
The report highlighted a pattern of misallocations where institutions with unrelated mandates were assigned multimillion-naira projects. For instance, the Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, was linked to N3 billion for utility vehicles, N1.5 billion for rural electrification in Rivers State, and N1 billion for solar streetlights in Enugu — all outside its core function as a training centre.
The Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) was also cited for handling projects unrelated to its research mandate.
Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT’s Country Director, decried the trend, stating:
“The insertion of over 11,000 projects worth N6.93 trillion into the 2025 budget by the National Assembly raises serious questions about fiscal discipline.”
He warned that such practices could lead to resource mismanagement and hinder genuine development, urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to enforce budgeting reforms in line with the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025).
BudgIT also called on the Attorney General of the Federation to seek a Supreme Court interpretation of legislative powers in budget matters, and urged anti-corruption agencies like the EFCC and ICPC to track and monitor the controversial projects to ensure accountability.
The organisation’s findings have reignited calls for a transparent, accountable and citizen-focused budget process in Nigeria.
