Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed concerns that the federal government’s budget estimates for 2025 are inadequate to address Nigeria’s structural challenges.
In his statement, Atiku noted that the total federal budget for 2025 amounts to N48 trillion, with a projected revenue of N35 trillion. This results in a deficit exceeding N13 trillion, which represents 4% of the country’s GDP. He described this budget as a continuation of the usual fiscal practices.
”This represents a persistent trend under the APC-led administration since 2016, wherein budget deficits have been consistently presented, accompanied by an increasing reliance on external borrowing.
”To bridge this fiscal gap, the administration plans to secure over N13 trillion in new borrowings, including N9 trillion in direct borrowings and N4 trillion in project-specific loans.
”This borrowing strategy mirrors the approach of previous administrations, resulting in rising public debt and exacerbating the attendant risks related to interest payments and foreign exchange exposure,” he said.
Atiku said the 2025 budget’s capacity to foster sustainable economic growth and tackle Nigeria’s deep-rooted challenges was questionable
He said this was because some of the key issues arose from several factors such as ”Weak Budgetary Foundations: The 2024 budget’s underperformance signals poor budgetary execution. By Q3 of the fiscal year, less than 35% of the allocated capital expenditure for MDAs had been disbursed, despite claims of 85% budget execution.
”This underperformance in capital spending, crucial for fostering economic transformation, raises concerns about the execution of the 2025 budget.”
Atiku said ”Disproportionate Debt Servicing: Debt servicing, which accounts for N15.8 trillion (33% of the total expenditure), was nearly equal to planned capital expenditure (N16 trillion, or 34%).
”Moreover, debt servicing surpasses spending on key priority sectors such as defence (N4.91 trillion), infrastructure (N4.06 trillion), education (N3.52 trillion), and health (N2.4 trillion). This imbalance will likely crowd out essential investments and perpetuate a cycle of increasing borrowing and debt accumulation, undermining fiscal stability.”
On Unsustainable Government Expenditure:, Atiku said, ”The government’s recurrent expenditure remains disproportionately high, with over N14 trillion (30% of the budget) allocated to operating an oversized bureaucracy and supporting inefficient public enterprises.
“The lack of concrete steps to curb wastage and enhance the efficiency of public spending exacerbates the fiscal challenges, leaving limited resources for development.”
SERAP Warns Against Unnecessary Spending
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, “to cut the proposed budget of N9.4bn on travels, refreshment/meals, and foodstuff/catering materials for the presidency, and the proposed N344.85bn for the lawmakers, and use the savings to address the budget deficit.”
SERAP urged Akpabio and Abbas “to request President Bola Tinubu to present a fresh supplementary appropriation bill, which reflects the reduced presidency budget and National Assembly budget, for the approval of the National Assembly.”
SERAP urged Akpabio and Abbas “to promptly disclose the detailed breakdown of the proposed National Assembly budget of N344.85bn, including the details for personnel cost, salaries and allowance of lawmakers.”
SERAP asked them “to invite the heads of the alleged corrupt ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to explain the whereabouts of the missing billions of naira of public funds, as documented in the recently released 2021 audited report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.”
In the letter dated 21 December 2024 and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Any proposed unnecessary spending by the presidency and the National Assembly would amount to a fundamental breach of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
