*Overlapping Budgets: How Weak Budgeting Culture Aids Graft, Poverty and Ghost Allocations*


 

*NEXVIEW TV NEWS* 

BY 

Sarki Halima Musa 


*Overlapping Budgets: How Weak Budgeting Culture Aids Graft, Poverty and Ghost Allocations*


 

The culture of budgeting in Nigeria has weakened significantly under President Bola Tinubu. What should be a yearly fiscal blueprint built on predictability, clarity, accountability and economy has lost its value. The government has kept only "flexibility" and stretched it to the limit, opening room for executive delays, political compensations, and line-item padding.

 

Instead of serving as a proper plan, the yearly budget is now repeatedly extended, revised, and implemented alongside previous appropriations. This has created a chaotic fiscal environment with poorly executed programmes and projects that nobody is actively monitoring. 


The erosion of fiscal discipline has weakened legislative oversight and reduced public accountability. This bad template is now copied by states. The result: over 200 million Nigerians get near-zero value from the budget yearly, while a handful of "emergency billionaires" benefit from the faulty system.


In recent weeks, controversy erupted over the _Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC)_ - a ghost agency that allegedly had N1.3 billion smuggled into the 2026 budget. That a non-existent agency could scale legislative hurdles exposes how broken the process is. Analysts say the PFIPC case is worse than the budget padding scandals of the Buhari era.


For over a decade, the FG has failed to control its deficit. In 2024, the deficit hit N13.51 trillion - 47% above projection and 65% of total retained revenue of N21 trillion. Capital expenditure was N11.59 trillion, but with padding and ghost allocations, actual spending on projects may be 50% or less. Capital expenditure to net debt ratio is already at 70%.


Data from 2020 to 2024 shows about N109,000 was spent on each Nigerian. Yet with weak execution and corruption, the impact is not felt. The report warns that until budgeting returns to discipline and transparency, public funds will continue to fuel graft and poverty instead of development.



 #BudgetPadding #GhostAllocations #CorruptionInNigeria 

#FiscalDiscipline #PFIPCGate #PublicFunds #TinubuGovt #Transparency 

#NEXVIEWTV #NEXVIEWNews 

 #NigeriaNews

 #Politics #Economy #FollowTheMoney 

#GovtAccountability #Budget2026 #Budget2024 #200MillionNigerians

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