BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organisation promoting transparency, accountability, and effective service delivery in Nigeria, has observed certain legacy issues with the 2025 Federal Government Proposed Budget and 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, and ensure that the approved budget reflects the needs and preferences of Nigerians through job creation, poverty reduction, and inclusive broad-based economic growth.

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). 

The 2025 Proposed Budget also excluded the budgets of over 60 government-owned enterprises (GOEs), including the Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

It is worth noting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent pronouncement regarding the retirement package of military generals, which includes the provision of a bulletproof SUV, fully paid foreign medical treatment, $20,000 as estacode for medical trips, and payments for domestic help, contradicts his previous commitments to reduce the cost of governance and civil servants