Several civic organizations have strongly condemned the National Assembly for allegedly inserting projects worth N10.96 trillion into national budgets spanning from 2021 to 2025, describing the action as a blatant abuse of legislative powers.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) have called for immediate investigations by anti-graft agencies into what they termed as fraudulent budget manipulations.
According to a report released on Thursday by BudgIT, a civic tech organization, the National Assembly inserted a total of 30,632 constituency projects across four budget cycles between 2021 and 2025.
Breakdown of Inserted Projects
The report revealed that 5,601 projects worth N913.15 billion were inserted into the 2021 budget; 6,462 projects valued at N910.37 billion in 2022; 7,447 projects worth N2.24 trillion in 2024; and a staggering 11,122 projects totaling N6.9 trillion in the 2025 appropriation.
For the 2025 budget alone, BudgIT reported that 3,573 projects valued at N653.19 billion were allocated to federal constituencies, while 1,972 projects worth N444.04 billion were earmarked for senatorial districts.
Some of the projects inserted in the 2025 budget include streetlights (N393.29 billion), boreholes (N114.53 billion), ICT-related projects (N505.79 billion), community town hall construction and renovation (N17.23 billion), and education-related projects (N179.69 billion).
Other insertions include health-related projects valued at N420.09 billion, empowerment of traditional rulers (N6.74 billion), road construction and rehabilitation (N1.44 billion), and purchase of security vehicles (N11.7 billion).
BudgIT stated, "A total of 11,122 projects culminating in N6.93 trillion were inserted in the 2025 budget by the National Assembly, an ugly trend that was accelerated in the 10th Assembly. The additional N3.18 trillion was added to the capital supplementation which makes up N9.11 trillion in capital projects."
The organization further noted, "238 of the projects worth N2.29 trillion are in the range of values greater than N5 billion. We also noticed that 984 projects worth N1.71 trillion, and 1,119 projects within the range of N500 million–N1 billion, worth N641.38 billion, were inserted into the budget."
Civic Groups Demand Investigation
SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, told BenriNews that lawmakers were elected to make laws and pass budgets, not to allocate or execute projects.
"The legislature has no business executing or allocating projects. This conduct undermines the principles of constructive oversight and compromises accountability," he said.
Oluwadare called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the inserted projects.
CACOL Executive Director, Debo Adeniran, described the practice of secretly inserting projects without public scrutiny as fraudulent.
"Lawmakers have the constitutional right to amend the budget, but any insertions must be transparent, debated, and subjected to public input. Where insertions are secretly made, and execution of such projects are shoddy or inflated, it should not be called padding, but stealing. It is fraud, and those involved must be prosecuted," he emphasized.
Adeniran urged the Bureau of Public Procurement, EFCC, and ICPC to investigate all persons linked to questionable insertions and prosecute them where necessary. He also noted that the President has a constitutional responsibility to thoroughly vet appropriation bills before assenting to them, warning that negligence in that regard could amount to an impeachable offense.
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