Saving Nigeria’s budget process from calamitous mismanagement and corruption

By Oludare Mayowa

Nigeria’s federal budget has been plagued by mismanagement and corruption year after year, depriving the majority of Nigerians of the benefits of the nation’s resources while enriching a few political elites.

From dubious infrastructure provisions that are never implemented to budget padding, members of the National Assembly have continued to perpetuate illegality and engage in corruption, diverting public funds for personal gain.

In recent weeks, BudgIT, a tech-savvy civil society organization, has been exposing the corruption within Nigeria’s budgeting system. They have revealed allocations of huge sums of money to projects that are irrelevant to the organizations and institutions receiving the funds, as well as frivolous spending without transparency and accountability.

BudgIT’s social media posts have highlighted several examples of corruption, such as N2.5 billion allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for sports complexes and road construction in Lagos.

They have also exposed N1.8 billion allocated to the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, for boreholes in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, despite being an agricultural research institute.

These examples are just a few of the many instances where the National Assembly has inserted irrelevant projects into the budget for personal gain. This practice, known as budget padding, has been prevalent since the advent of democracy in Nigeria.

Such allocations leave institutions and government agencies underfunded and handicapped, hindering their contributions to national development. BudgIT has called out the National Assembly for these practices, emphasizing the need for a more transparent and accountable budgeting process.

“This is how members of the National Assembly insert projects for personal gain. Nigeria’s budget cannot continue like this,” BudgIT wrote in a post, decrying the cycle of misallocation and corruption.

Unfortunately, despite public awareness of this rampant corruption, the majority of Nigerians are unable to effectively protest due to the widespread poverty in the country. Many legislators use these allocated funds to address the needs of their constituents, which can lead to a cycle of dependency and corruption.

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Nigeria cannot develop with such a flawed budget process that prioritizes tokenism over concrete social welfare, infrastructure development, and a conducive business environment.

The resources generated from taxes and other sources are being squandered through budget padding by the National Assembly, ministers and top civil servants.

As a result of excessive spending, Nigeria continues to borrow to supplement its budget, leaving essential development needs unattended.

Nigeria’s budget process must be reformed to ensure transparency, accountability, and efficient allocation of resources. The practice of padding the budget for personal enrichment cannot continue if the country is to make progress in addressing its developmental challenges.

The system needs to return to a structure where the budget is a tool for stimulating economic growth and improving the welfare of the people, not for the self-enrichment of politicians and officials.

Since the advent of democracy, except for a brief period during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the budget process has been primarily used for self-enrichment by successive administrations.

Nigeria must redirect its focus toward a developmental process that liberates its citizens from economic hardship and ensures the country’s rightful place among the nations of the world. The prevailing economic hardship faced by many Nigerians is largely due to systemic corruption, which must be addressed to prevent civil unrest.

A clear set of guidelines for the budget process must be adopted by both the executive and the legislature to ensure that resources are allocated effectively and transparently. The president must take a firm stance against the misuse of public funds by members of the National Assembly and prioritize the interests of the majority of Nigerians.

Citizens, the media, and civil society organizations must also actively advocate for transparency and accountability in the budgeting process.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption agencies should focus on investigating and prosecuting white-collar crimes to stem the leakages in the budget process and ensure proper implementation of fund allocations.