posted 27th May 2025
Massive Budget Insertions Amplify Corruption Concerns in Nigeria
Amid growing concerns over corruption, BudgIT Nigeria has exposed a troubling trend of substantial project insertions into the budgets of various Nigerian agencies, raising serious questions about their capacity to deliver and the potential for widespread project mismanagement.
This comes as the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives face accusations of being among the most corrupt legislative bodies in the world.
According to BudgIT Nigeria, the National Assembly has allocated billions of naira to agencies, many of which lack the resources or expertise to execute the projects effectively. A staggering 1,142 projects, valued at N320 billion, have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Co-Operative College in Oji River. Similarly, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute has seen an additional 856 projects worth N406 billion added to its budget.
Other agencies have also been burdened with significant allocations. The Federal College of Horticulture in Dadin-Kowa, Gombe, has been assigned 635 projects valued at N181.74 billion, while the Federal Co-Operative College in Ibadan received 317 projects worth N190.89 billion. The National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation in Ilorin was allocated 254 projects for N83.65 billion, and the Nigeria Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research received 161 projects amounting to N78.98 billion.
BudgIT Nigeria has warned that many of these agencies lack the capacity to manage such an influx of projects, which could lead to poorly executed initiatives and wasted resources. This practice of turning agencies into “project warehouses” for budget insertions, compounded by the Nigerian legislature’s reputation for corruption, risks further undermining development efforts and exacerbating inefficiencies in the public sector.
The revelations have sparked renewed calls for greater transparency and accountability in the budgeting process to ensure that funds are allocated to agencies with the capability to deliver projects effectively and to address the deep-rooted concerns over corruption in Nigeria’s legislative institutions.
