BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organisation promoting transparency, accountability, and effective service delivery in Nigeria, said it has observed certain legacy issues with the 2025 Federal Government proposed Budget The organisation calls on the National Assembly to proactively address the irregularities, exercise its “Powers of the Purse” responsibly, allow robust public participation in the budget review process.
In a statement issued and signed by Communications Associates, BudgIT, Nancy Odimegwu, the Civic tech organisation urged the National Assembly to ensure that the approved budget reflects the needs and preferences of Nigerians through job creation, poverty reduction, and inclusive broad-based economic growth.
The statement, however, said that a review of the performance of the Federal Government budget over recent years has revealed that the Federal Government often falls way off the mark in its macroeconomic assumptions, which pose serious fiscal risks leading to severe budget financing challenges, additional unforeseen government obligations, and a significant increase in public debt.
According to the statement, the government’s inflation projection of 15 per cent in the 2025 fiscal year appears grossly unrealistic, considering that inflation, which stood at 34.6 per cent as of November 2024, has been driven not only by monetary factors such as exchange rate and money supply but also by the constant increase in food and energy prices—both of which the government has not created a clear roadmap to resolving in the short term.
It said while the oil price projection of $75 per barrel appears feasible given the global outlook of $70 to $73 per barrel, BudgiT strongly advise the National Assembly to resist the urge to increase the oil price benchmark to create fiscal space for their budgetary insertions, a practice observed in previous years.
BudgIT in its observation recalled in 2021 that 5,601 capital projects were added to the Appropriation Bill during the review process by the National Assembly, but in 2022, it increased to 6,462 projects across 37 Mother Ministries and 340 MDAs, while in 2024, a total of 7,447 insertions amounting to a staggering N2.24 trillion were found in the budget.
It said while the Constitution grants the National Assembly the authority to appropriate funds, it often modifies the Executive’s proposed budget to distort its original intent and disconnect it from the nation’s long-term development agenda. It pointed out that many inserted projects usually lack proper conceptualisation, design, and cost estimation, undermining their effectiveness and feasibility.
BudgIT said “We have observed that the 2025 proposed budget breakdown submitted to the National Assembly for review and approval and published on the Budget Office website omits funding for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road and the breakdown of some MDAs, commissions, and councils, such as the National Judicial Council (N341.63 billion) and TETFUND (N940.5 billion).