As the 2025 budget continues to generate reactions from various quarters, JOHN AMEH details the concerns from critics and how lawmakers have been responding to them.
Nigeria has a new Appropriation Bill (awaiting President Bola Tinubu’s assent or refusal of assent), better referred to as the 2025 budget -a figure of N54.9 trillion (about $36.6 billion) passed by the National Assembly on February 13 -to run the country’s government business for the year.
It was a job the Senate and the House of Representatives concluded in about 58 days, from December 18, 2024 when the President laid the estimates before a joint session of the two chambers in Abuja, to February 13 when the bi-camera legislature again passed the joint report of the N54.9 trillion.
It wasn’t smooth sailing, as varied issues, including missed targets and bribery allegations, cropped up. At the Senate, the familiar tunes of low budgeting played out, and so were pinned budget infractions by MDAs.
At every new budget cycle, a familiar complaint is that projects budgeted for are either poorly-funded or the funds earmarked for many Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are grossly inadequate. The lamentations were more this year.
Three examples that were loud enough will suffice here. One was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). While the electoral umpire will require a budget of up to N126 billion to run its operations in 2025, the commission was handed an envelope of N40 billion.
In 2024, it proposed N80 billion, it got the same envelope of N40 billion!
The commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, making an appearance before the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on INEC/Electoral Matters on January 10, 2025, raised concerns that the N40bn INEC was given would at best only pay salaries.
Yakubu, clearly agitated, told the committee that with the N40 billion, it implied that there was no provision for some elections fixed for 2025 and others to be planned ahead of 2026. For example, Yakubu said the budget did not cover the Anambra governorship poll coming up later in the year.
He also told the lawmakers that though Ekiti and Osun governorship elections would come up in 2026, planning for them must start in 2025, stressing that without funds, there was no magic that INEC could perform, giving worries about potential constitutional crises ahead.
“Something has to be done as the N40 billion does not cover elections to be conducted in 2025. For e.g, there is no provision yet for Anambra governorship election.
“No provision for Area Council election elections in FCT for 2026, which must be planned in 2025.
“We have Ekiti and Osun coming up in 2026, which must be planned this year. The primaries for these elections must be conducted in 2025”, the chairman stated.
The session, which was jointly chaired by Sen. Sharafadeen Abiodun-Alli and Hon. Tayo Balogun, did not dispute Yakubu’s concerns.
Sen. Ireti Kingibe, reacting to the presentation of Yakubu, merely said, “INEC has to be funded. We must get the funding for INEC.”
The same scenario played out before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Solid Minerals on January 20 when the Minister, Mr Dele Alake, appeared to defend the proposals of his ministry.
Alake appeared before the committee, co-chaired by Sen. Ekong Samson and Honourable Gaza Jonathan to speak of the frustrations he had faced fighting hard to increase the budgetary allocations to the ministry without success. The minister told the lawmakers that all his efforts could only get the ministry an initial envelope of N5 billion.
“In fact, to let you know, the envelope we first received was N5 billion. I don’t know if you are aware of that. It was N5 billion”, he informed the members.
Alake disclosed that when he stepped up mounting pressure on the ministers and the DG budget after President Bola Tinubu presented the estimates to the National Assembly, he was reassured that the allocation would be increased substantially only to be just N9 billion.
“The Permanent Secretary is here and the night before the president came here, when we were working on the rehearsal of the budget speech, the Director of Budget came in and the Minister of Budget and I took them up in the presence of the President. And what did they do? They promised that it would be done. So, again the following day, after the President’s presentation, we found N9 billion”, he said, throwing up his arms in disbelief.
Speaking further on the frustrations he faced, Alake said, “There is no way that I can begin to tell you, except I have videos that I can show you of the several engagements that we had with the relevant budgetary authorities and individuals driving this process and at every turn we received very positive responses.
“Now, distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, when we had received very positive responses from those who are saddled with the responsibility of putting our budgets together, what else could we have done? There was no way we would rig their hands, and I don’t have the authority to compute the figures myself.”
When the minister was asked why his close relationship with President Tinubu didn’t translate to getting improved funding for his plans for the solid minerals sector, Alake replied that not everything he discussed with the President could be made public
Alake defended the President, arguing that he was not to blame for the funding challenges the ministry and its plans had suffered. According to him, Tinubu is passionate about diversifying the economy, the reason it’s a cornerstone of his reform agenda.
He spoke more, “Many members here have rightly noted that yes, my relationship with the President should be counted upon, I agree in-toto but there are several things that cannot be said in the open. I cannot divulge the conversations I have had with the President on this issue in the open.
“I am a manager of information and I have done that for over 40 years and I know how delicate information is. So, I give information on the-need-to-know basis or in private. So in short, the President is not unaware of our strides in the solid minerals’ sector.
“Every minute I am with him, apart from other issues that we discuss, or the assignments that he gives to me, I draw tales of solid minerals and we discuss all ratifications.
“I want to also emphasise, or maybe remind, distinguished Senators and honourable members, that if the President were not in tune or in sync with our vision, the diversification of the economy away from oil would not be a critical part of his programme of Renewed Agenda. It wouldn’t be. He coined it, he carved it.
“So, I want us to understand the fact that it is not because the President has not been intimated of the need for upward review that we are having this situation, not at all and this is not to absolve the President of anything. I am just laying bare the facts.”
The lawmakers were surprised that a government that was committed to diversifying the economy did not make adequate budgetary provisions for solid materials development, one of the most important sectors that it could use to rival earning from the oil and gas industry.
Making his observations, Senator Sampson noted that in other climes, solid minerals development was the mainstay of their economies as exemplified by the huge annual funding provisions for the sector.
He spoke more, “We have seen how some economies are being managed. If we don’t invest in solid minerals, how do we diversify our economy? We have to diversify and we must do it masterfully.”
For Alake, his wailing paid off as his ministry eventually got additional N1 trillion, owing to the intervention of the lawmakers. The new addition was reflected in the budget passed on February 13.
The case of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) got lawmakers more worried, looking at the commission’s N1.6 billion budget. One of the commission’s core functions is to enforce the remittances of revenues into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) especially by revenue-collecting agencies.
Sitting before the Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Sani Musa, the Chairman of FRC, Victor Muruako, spoke of how employees were resigning from the agency to get placements in better-paying MDAs due to the poor finances of the commission.
He noted that with such poor funding, the commission would be helpless to perform the huge tasks before it.
Musa, while assessing the situation, described it as regrettable, highlighting the “irony of the underfunding of a commission that is charged with ensuring and enforcing remittances of revenue into CRF even though the government is in dire need to improve its independent revenue.”
The case of low budgeting didn’t stop with the MDAs alone. The President himself topped his budget size on February 5 to N54.2 trillion from the original N49.7 trillion he laid before the parliament on December 18. The lawmakers too, working in collaboration with the Executive, added another N700 billion, eventually passing a final figure of N54.9 trillion.
Infractions and misleading budget heads. Cases of repetitive budget heads unearthed by lawmakers and proposals that some MDAs could not sufficiently defend for 2024/2025 also abound in the course of the budget hearings.
Two, among several cases, are cited here. The Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Steel Development, which worked on the budget of the Federal Ministry of Steel Development, queried what it called “ghost projects” in the ministry’s proposals when the Minister, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, came calling for defence.
The Co-Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Zainab Gimba, took time to point out the infractions to Audu.
Gimba said, “A first-hand appraisal of the 2024 submissions shows some budget infractions as funds allocated for unspecified ‘capacity-building programmes’ and ‘skills training initiatives’ in the steel sector show no evidence of execution or impact. These projects risk being classified as ghost projects designed to divert public funds.
“Administrative and recurrent costs significantly increased in 2024 without proportional increases in ministry activities or outputs, a possible indicator of mismanagement or misallocation of funds. Also, we identified some legal Infractions such as violations of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“The Act mandates efficient use of public resources and accountability for project outcomes. Several projects, especially related to Ajaokuta Steel, failed to meet these criteria.”
The Investments and Securities Tribunal had its proposals faulted on the grounds of errors that the Senate Committee on Capital Market detected in the budget, as presented by the Chairman, Mr Amos Azi.
The tribunal’s budget was rejected by the committee at his first appearance and had to be rescheduled, following a motion moved by Sen. Henry Dickson.
Speaking, Dickson stated, “Mr Chairman, if you permit, that with the grilling that they have seen, he has also publicly, on behalf of his team, owned up to the shortcomings and errors.
“Therefore, Mr Chairman, at any point that pleases you, I think they can return back to correct whatever has to be corrected and meet with the leadership of this committee.”
Bribe-for-budget allegations are not new in the National Assembly. As it was with previous budget defence, bribery allegations were again made during the 2025 defence.
One case that circulated was that the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND/University Education, allegedly asked each university vice-chancellor to pay a bribe of ₦8 million to facilitate the passing of their budget. Many such complaints, usually made in hushed tones, are not scarce during budget sessions, though rarely is a concrete proof laid bare.
In the extant case, the House of Representatives wasted no time in dismissing it without conducting any internal checks.
Its megaphone, Honourable Akin Rotimi, simply put the matter to rest as a “deliberate attempt to undermine the integrity of the House and erode public trust in this hallowed institution.”
He created a diversion, accusing the institutions and heads of avoiding the scrutiny of their books, saying, “It is a matter of public record that some of these tertiary institutions have pending audit queries from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and have consistently failed to appear before the House Committee on Public Accounts to clarify these issues.
“This evasion raises questions about their governance practices and financial stewardship.
“This is in addition to disturbing allegations of sexual harassment, abuse of office, and high-handedness in their dealings with staff and students, for which legislative oversight provides a crucial platform to address in the spirit of transparency.”
Loss of January-December budget cycle. The late presentation of the estimates by Mr President and late passage of the money bill by the legislature led to a consequence -forfeiture of the January-December budget cycle, which the 8th and the 9th National Assembly laboured to achieve. Depending on when President Tinubu assents his signature to the bill, it may likely run from the middle of the first quarter of 2025, as against running from January 1.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari presented the estimates of the 2023 budget to the National Assembly on October 7, 2022 and signed the passed budget into law in January 2023. When he assumed office, Tinubu presented his first budget, that of 2024, to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023. He signed it into law on January 1, 2024.
However, the 2025 budget witnessed a reversal that resulted in the estimates being presented as late as December 18, 2024. Though the legislature passed it on February 13, it is unclear when the President will sign it or even reject it!
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, giving a reason to accommodate the setback, pointed to the lengthy back and forth on the controversial tax reform bills, which did not allow both the legislature and the executive arms to keep to the timeline for the budget’s journey.
The worries of experts and stakeholders. That the Nigerian Legislature has passed a new budget bill (2025) are no longer news. What bothers is whether the budget is a thorough product that can meet the aspirations of Nigerians by addressing biting economic challenges.
The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), for instance, raises concerns as to whether the parliament truly looked at the details of the N54.9 trillion bill, about $36.6 billion, considering that Tinubu presented it very late and it spent just 58 days at the legislature.
“The President’s late presentation of the budget to the National Assembly has also created a rush by legislators who are anxious to return the budget within the time frame that the President is set to have given to them for its passage.
“Originally set for passage on January 31st, the National Assembly resolved to postpone this by one week (it later became two weeks) because it was yet to conclude work on the budget.
“Critics question the rush in the passage of the Appropriation Bill and blame the President for submitting the budget very late and demanding quick passage of it.
“The concern is that legislators will not have done a good job in this rush, thus weakening the oversight and accountability factor in the consideration of the budget”, PLAC, which has Dr Clement Nwankwo, as its Executive Director, observed.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group, wants the private sector to be deeply involved with the implementation of the budget, being the highest normally yet.
It noted that though the capital component witnessed an improvement this time round, the country still operates a high recurrent budget.
The budget has a capital vote of N23.9 trillion while the recurrent component is N13.6 trillion, both figures improving over those of previous years.
The head of research at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Dr Joseph Ogebe, called for the involvement of the private sector in the implementation of the budget.
He said, “The 2025 approved budget of N54.9 trillion is the highest ever recorded in nominal terms. The increase in capital allocation is a welcome development, signalling a stronger commitment to infrastructure development. However, successful implementation of the capital budget, alongside private sector support, is essential to addressing Nigeria’s significant infrastructure gap”, The Punch quoted the group’s Head of Research, Dr Joseph Ogebe, as saying over the weekend.
But, the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, in rounding off the legislative leg of the budget’s work, reassured Nigerians, saying, “This appropriate bill will contribute to moving Nigeria forward.”
and then