In just four years, the value of budget insertions by the National Assembly has skyrocketed by a staggering 656%, growing from ₦913.15 billion in 2021 to ₦6.9 trillion in 2025, according to new data by BudgIT, a civic tech group.
The consistent annual increase in both the number and value of these projects added by lawmakers after the executive has proposed the federal budget highlights a deepening trend of legislative interference in Nigeria’s budgeting process, the organization has lamented.
In 2021, the National Assembly inserted 5,601 projects worth ₦913.15 billion.
This grew to 6,462 projects in 2022 valued at ₦910.37 billion, then to 7,447 projects totaling ₦2.24 trillion in 2024.
By 2025, the figures reached an all-time high, with 11,122 projects totaling ₦6.9 trillion.
This sharp escalation has raised serious concerns among public finance experts and civil society organizations, who warn that unchecked insertions compromise transparency, encourage project duplication, and create opportunities for mismanagement of public funds.
“As the volume of insertions increases, so does the risk of misallocation and abuse of public funds,” it noted.
BusinessDay reports that those insertions, often referred to as constituency or zonal intervention projects, are frequently criticized for lacking feasibility studies, proper cost analysis, or alignment with national development priorities.
In many cases, they are assigned to obscure implementing agencies, making tracking and accountability difficult.
The ₦6.9 trillion inserted in 2025 alone is more than the entire capital expenditure of key ministries combined, further fueling debates about the distortionary effects of legislative additions on national priorities.
Despite recurring promises by the executive arm of government to clean up the budgeting process, the rising trend suggests that lawmakers are wielding more power over public funds than ever before.
Lawmakers have often argued that the National Assembly has constitutional powers to amend budgets, the current scale of insertions amounts to budget hijacking, and calls are growing for institutional reforms to address the anomaly.
BudgIT had earlier lamented that what started as isolated irregularities in budget implementation has become a deeply entrenched culture of exploitation, hijacked by powerful political interests, particularly top-ranking National Assembly members.
It called on President Bola Tinubu to lead a reform of the budgeting process aligned with the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025).
It further called on the Attorney General to seek a Supreme Court ruling on the scope of legislative appropriation powers, and the EFCC and ICPC are to investigate these insertions and ensure accountability.
BudgIT further noted that the National Assembly has turned some agencies into “project warehouses.” (BusinessDay)
