Issued in Abuja, @2:30pm on 31st January 2025
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) has been following up on the 2025 appropriation and budget defence process in the National Assembly since the presentation of the proposed ₦49.7 trillion budget tagged “The Restoration Budget: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity” by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, December 18th, 2024.
The 2025 budget proposal has an increase of 74.18% over the 2024 Appropriation Act, typifying the disturbing incremental budget approach practised by the three tiers of government in Nigeria.
Economic Context and the appropriation process
The economic landscape in Nigeria highlights negative indices and variables, including and principally the continuously rising inflation at 34.6% as of December 2024, significant naira devaluation averaging ₦1,600/$, and sluggish GDP growth of 2.9%. With a public debt burden exceeding 40% of GDP and a projected budget deficit of ₦13.08 trillion, fiscal sustainability is under threat. Debt servicing alone accounts for 33% (₦15.81 trillion) of the proposed budget, constraining investments in essential services.
With the prevailing economic situation in the country, there is a need for prudence in managing public resources for effective and efficient service delivery. The Situation Room is worried that the proposed budget and the ongoing defence process do not reflect the current economic realities in the country.
During the 2024 appropriation process, the National Assembly increased the proposed budget by over one trillion naira by inserting several projects with no national significance into the budget of ministries and agencies that have no mandate to undertake such projects. In fact, the way the projects were inserted by the Lawmakers suggests that the Federal Government has deliberately usurped the Local Government councils in its duties to the people as the majority of the projects are within the purview of the local government.
The 2025 appropriation process is trying to re-enforce this negative occurrence introduced into Nigeria’s Federal budget in recent times and heightened by both the 9th and 10th Assemblies. This has consequences on the economy, including inflation and poverty levels.
Concerns over INECs demand for additional 80 billion naira
Situation Room is deeply concerned with the recent demand by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for an increase in budgetary allocation to the Commission from N40 billion to N126 billion to conduct the off-cycle Governorship election in Anambra State, carryout the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, and replace damaged materials, among others. Situation Room is alarmed that INEC is demanding such an amount in a year that it is not conducting a general election.
Additionally, citizens are demanding a clean register of voters in Nigeria and such, INEC should work with other public identity management agencies to clean up the register in way that is devoid of the deficiencies in the current one. A register of 93 million voters with just 25 million turnout, leaving about 70 million voters unaccounted for in this age is a big concern. Situation Room is worried that, INEC’s attempt to continue to add up voters to the January 2011 register with its current level of deficiencies, will amount to a waste of public funds.
Situation Room is therefore making the following demands:
FG:
- That the Federal Government should spend within its means with the required level of prudence.
- Establish accountability benchmark for all ministries, departments and agencies in collaboration with CSOs and the media.
NASS:
- The National Assembly should remove any budgetary proposal that is not reflective of the level of public prudence required at this time of economic difficulty.
- Only critical projects with high national socio-economic benefits should be considered. This, therefore, means that projects meant for Local Government councils should not appear on the Federal budget.
INEC:
- INEC should focus on working with other agencies to develop a clean register of voters, instead of spending public funds to continuously add up voters to a roll that is replete with deficiencies.
- Therefore, the Commission should put in place a new system that will allow citizens who have turned 18 years of age and have any official identify card (National Identity Card, Passport, Driver’s Licence, etc) to indicate where they want to vote in any elections and conduct validation at the hinterlands to enable the aged and not so literate citizens to re-validate their registration.
- INEC should also publish the proposed 2025 budget for public input.
Finally, we call on the President to ensure that every institution receiving and utilizing public funds is transparent and accountable to the people.
There is a need for citizens and civic groups to participate in the budget process at different levels. As public institutions defend their proposed budgets, it is expected that the citizens should be given the opportunity to make inputs and be involved in budgetary processes at all stages. Section 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly states that sovereignty belongs to the people. The government, which derives its powers from the Constitution, must adhere to this obligation in all its processes.
SIGNED:
Yunusa Z. Ya’u
Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
Franklin Oloniju
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
Mimidoo Achakpa
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
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The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible elections and governance in Nigeria numbering more than seventy. The Steering Committee is made up of: Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Emma Ezeazu Centre for Good Governance and Accountability (formerly Alliance for Credible Elections, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Kimpact Development Initiative, Democratic Action Group (DAG), Women’s Rights to Education Programme, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD), DIG Ebonyi, New Initiative for Social Development (NISD), Life And Peace Development Organization (LAPDO), Rural Youth Initiative, Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), Centre for Health and Development in Africa (CHEDA) and Josemaria Escriva Foundation.
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