BudgIT, an accountability-focused civil society group, recently alleged that 11,122 new items, totaling ₦6.9 trillion, were inserted into the 2025 budget by the National Assembly—a practice widely known in Nigerian parlance as padding.
There has been no word from the presidency, only insufficient denial from the National Assembly so far.
From ₦49.7 Trillion to ₦55.99 Trillion—The Budget That Grew
Initially, President Tinubu proposed the sum of ₦49.7 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year, but the National Assembly, following concurrence of its two chambers, arrived at the amended sum of ₦55.99 trillion.
Nigeria is indeed a country of contrasts.
Sadly, this is the act our ‘distinguished’ and ‘honourable’ lawmakers indulge in when they tell us the budget is under ‘scrutiny’ after presentation of the proposed budget at the National Assembly by the president.
Lawmakers Exploit Budget Review Window
The law allows lawmakers to review and amend our budgets.
By contrast, the budget review window in Nigeria is now ample time for padding.
Only last year, Senator Abdul Ningi alerted the world to the existence of two budgets in one fiscal year—one being the real appropriation law enacted by the lawmakers (₦25 trillion), and the other (₦28.7 trillion), being implemented by the federal government, but allegedly ‘alien’ to the National Assembly.
Although Ningi nearly capitulated under pressure, his allegation points to a lack of fiscal discipline in the National Assembly.
Budgeting Process Undermined by Arbitrary Adjustments
Budgets don’t just happen.
Designing a budget requires that certain aggregations and adjustments be made.
In the case of Nigeria, which operates a multi-year budget system, these adjustments are done relying on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), and the Finance Act, which are macroeconomic indicators used to design a budget template.
Amending (read: padding) the budget the way our lawmakers do affects fiscal planning.
Padding itself is not planning.
Approval Stage Becomes Hotbed for Fiscal Abuse
Budgets have phases and stages they go through before becoming operational—beginning from planning, approval, execution, and then evaluation.
It is at the approval stage that the National Assembly exercises the fiscal recklessness that is padding.
Oversight, which is a legislative function, has become a suitable occasion for padding as well.
‘Attracting Projects’ or Institutionalized Deal-Making?
Since budgets require a stamp of authority to become law (Appropriation Act), federal lawmakers, eager to advance their political ambitions or gain popularity in their constituencies, often smuggle additional items in the form of projects into the budget, thereby bloating the numbers.
And since it is hard accessing funds directly like the executive, lawmakers ‘play ball’ with intervention agencies like the NDDC and others.
This way, the budgetary allocations of these agencies are bloated, and in appreciation, the agencies agree to build roads, sink boreholes, or fix infrastructure in the senatorial zones and federal constituencies of lawmakers who facilitate the expansion of their budgets.
This is how lawmakers claim to ‘attract projects’, but in practice, it is what Nigerians call ‘scratch my back, I scratch your back’.
Budget Defence as Political Theatre
Budgets are sometimes padded simply to allocate more funds to certain Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) that may need more than what the Ministry of Finance or relevant authorities provided.
We may need to interrogate what happens at the committee level during budget defence to determine whether it fosters accountability or finalizing of ‘deals’.
Just like ‘attracting projects’, budget defence could be a national drama, corruptly staged to favour certain MDAs and lawmakers.
Statutory Transfers and the Opaque Service Wide Vote
In many cases, some items are captured as First Line Charges or Statutory Transfers under opaque headings.
This is where part of the funding for the National Assembly is captured.
There is also the Service Wide Vote (SWV), a flexible budgetary allocation that can be drawn in unforeseen circumstances.
These are the channels the National Assembly leverages to increase its spending—budgets which are rarely reviewed or audited.
Also Read: Tinubu’s Economic Reforms: Growth Without Development?
Padding: The Leviathan That Won’t Die
It remains a fact that budget padding, given the romance between the MDAs and the National Assembly, is a leviathan that may never be defeated in Nigeria.
It is sometimes through padding that the National Assembly receives its ‘tokens’ and ‘prayers’.
Fiscal Cliff Ahead: Budget Deficits and Borrowing Spree
The disturbing thing is that budget padding pushes Nigeria to the fiscal cliff.
Under the current republic, Nigeria has never operated a surplus budget.
It has always been deficit-based, leaving the nation with the need to borrow—either domestically or externally—to execute budgets.
The National Assembly knows this fiscal recklessness, called padding, may force the nation to borrow more, increasing the public debt profile.
Yet, it never exercises fiscal restraint.
Even though lawmakers are aware that Nigeria’s fiscal space is shrinking, they continue to support borrowing at the expense of prudence, just to help the executive achieve its spending plans.
Checks, Balances, and Accountability Needed
To end this, the National Assembly must be subjected to internal and public scrutiny under a system of checks and balances.
Their bank finances MUST be audited.
Our fiscal laws need to be expanded to clearly define the role of the legislature in fiscal matters.
Not subjecting the National Assembly to scrutiny is why they sometimes operate outside their constitutional limits.
Quarterly Budget Defence as a Reform Solution
Budget defence, currently conducted annually, should be held quarterly to allow lawmakers to evaluate reporting periods and expand oversight.
This will put in place an adequate monitoring and evaluation mechanism to reduce fiscal recklessness.
Conclusion: Making Money, Not Just Laws
In the Tenth Assembly, like others before it, we have men and women who prefer making money to making laws.
It is only unfortunate that padding has become the moneymaking avenue of choice.
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