The 2025 budget has been padded with 11,122 projects worth N6.93 trillion by the National Assembly.
BudgIT, an organisation which promotes budget transparency and accountability in Nigeria and other African countries, made this disclosure in a 18-page report released on Tuesday.
It said the amount discovered in the budget represents 12.5% of the N54.99 trillion budget signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on February 28.
The BudgIT report revealed a detailed analysis which showed 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,” it said.
According to the report, 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.
It said many 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 as well as N6.74 billion was earmarked for the “empowerment of traditional rulers” were inserted by the lawmakers.
BudgIT said, “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.”
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.
BudgIT said it discovered that many Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were allocated projects outside their statutory mandates.
Such organisations, according to the report, include 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.
Sitting the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin, it said it 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 urged 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.
Reacting, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South), in an interview with Daily Trust on Tuesday, denied the claims.
“The 2025 Appropriation Bill was presented by the executive and was interrogated and passed based on the exact amount presented,” Adaramodu said.
He added, “We advise all these ubiquitous but ludicrous political ball-boys to engage in patriotic and truthful endeavours instead.”
