The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has said the country’s 2025 budget grossly inadequate to its critical social and infrastructure demands.
It said despite a notable expansion in overall spending compared to previous years, public investment in Nigeria continues to be treated as a “residual budget item,” receiving only leftover funds after recurrent expenditures are covered.
The NESG made the position in its report titled “2025 FGN Budget Analysis: Can The Budget Deliver a Major Economic Boost.”
According to the Group, this lack of public investment in the country has consistently disrupted the execution of multi-year infrastructure and social development programmes.
The NESG stated that while there is a marginal improvement in capital expenditure allocations for 2025 compared to prior years, it is still far from sufficient to bridge Nigeria’s vast infrastructure gap.
The report showed that the federal government earmarked N27.96 trillion, representing 50.8 per cent of the N54.99 trillion 2025 budget for recurrent spending, which includes debt servicing and non-debt recurrent expenditure.
Meanwhile, capital expenditure, which covers critical public investments and social infrastructure, received 49.2 per cent of the budget.
The NESG described the capital expenditure share as “commendable” compared to historical trends but stressed that the absolute figures remain too small relative to the country’s infrastructure deficit.
“There is a pressing need to further increase capital spending share and absolute size to effectively bridge Nigeria’s current infrastructure gap,” the NESG stated.
The Group also expressed concerns over Nigeria’s low per capita public spending, especially when compared to peer economies.
It said that with a 2025 budget of N54.99 trillion (approximately US$36.7 billion) and a population estimated at 230 million, the per capita allocation stands at just N239,087 (around US$159.4) annually, a figure that pales in comparison to South Africa’s public spending of about US$1,957 per capita and even falls significantly below the average US$800 per resident among other peer countries.
In critical sectors like health and education, budget allocations remain worryingly low. The federal government allocated only N2.38 trillion (US$1.49 billion) to health services and less than N2.59 trillion (US$1.62 billion) to education services for 2025.
The NESG warned that such underfunding in vital sectors could have long-term adverse effects on Nigeria’s economic competitiveness, human capital development, and poverty reduction efforts.
“These figures indicate that Nigeria’s budgetary provisions are grossly inadequate to address pressing social and infrastructure needs,” the Group noted.
