Nigeria’s Budget Turmoil Deepens as Missing Plans, Overlapping Spending and Fiscal Drift Shake Economic Stability
Story: Written by Uzuh Rita November 24,2025
Nigeria is heading into another financial year with its public finances stuck in chronic disorder. As 2025 winds down, the country is still grappling with multiple overlapping budgets, shifting figures, delayed reports, and the absence of a clear medium-term fiscal roadmap.
#NigeriaInCrisis #EconomicGovernance #BudgetReform
Lawmakers now warn openly that the confusion between the 2024 and 2025 budgets casts serious doubt on when the 2026 Appropriation Bill will be presented—if it arrives on time at all. What should be a simple process of planning, approval, implementation, and reporting has devolved into extensions, amendments, and explanations after the fact. For an economy of over 200 million people, this isn’t a mere paperwork glitch—it signals weak growth, waste, and declining public trust.
#GoodGovernance #AccountabilityNow
A Country Running Multiple Budgets at Once
Despite Nigeria’s official January–December fiscal cycle, the reality is far more chaotic.
The 2023 budget (N21.8trn) and its supplementary bill (N2.17trn) were extended multiple times—March 2024, June 2024, and eventually December 2024—to avoid abandoned projects.
At various points in 2024, four budgets were active simultaneously:
- 2023 main budget
- 2023 supplementary
- 2024 main budget
- 2024 supplementary
The trend continued. The capital portion of the 2024 budget—meant to lapse in Dec 2024—was extended to June 2025 and then December 2025. Analysts note that Nigeria is now running two budgets at the same time: the extended 2024 capital budget and the 2025 N54.2trn budget.
#BudgetConfusion #NigeriaFinance
2025 Budget: A Document That Won’t Sit Still
President Tinubu first presented a N49.7trn budget in December 2024. By the time the National Assembly completed its adjustments, the figure ballooned to N54.99trn, with a deficit of N13.08trn.
In November 2025, lawmakers approved an extra N1.15trn domestic loan, pushing the total budget size to N59.99trn—Nigeria’s biggest ever on paper. But the real issue is not the size; it is the ability to implement.
#NigeriaBudget2025 #DeficitSpending #PublicFinance
Implementation: A Budget That Barely Moves
The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) mandates quarterly budget implementation reports within 30 days. This rule collapsed completely in the past year.
Civic group BudgIT revealed in August 2025 that the government had not released a single BIR in almost a year. When the long-delayed 2024 report finally appeared in October, it showed that only 32.28% of capital spending had been released by June 2025.
#TransparencyNow #BudgetTracking
Contractors now complain of unpaid certificates from two different budget cycles, and banks are growing anxious over stalled project loans. The 2025 capital budget is barely moving, suffocated by the extended 2024 projects still waiting for funding.
A budget that exists mainly on paper is no budget at all.
#ProjectDelay #EconomicStagnation
A Missing Medium-Term Compass
The deeper crisis lies in the collapse of medium-term planning.
The FRA requires the federal government to produce a three-year Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) ahead of each budget. But by October 2025, no 2026–2028 MTEF had been submitted.
States are already presenting their 2026 budgets with no federal benchmarks. Nigeria is navigating without a fiscal compass—and drifting further off course.
#PlanningFailure #MTEF
Debt: Encouraging Ratios, Troubling Realities
On paper, Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio dropped to 39.8%, thanks to GDP growth and exchange-rate effects. But the financing of the 2025 budget tells a harsher story.
Nigeria issued $2.35bn in Eurobonds in November at some of the highest interest rates in its history—8.625% and 9.125%. Combined with extra domestic borrowing, the country is paying dearly for budgets that are poorly executed and weakly reported.
#DebtStress #Eurobond #NigeriaDebt
Citizens Feel No Relief
For ordinary Nigerians, the fiscal gymnastics mean little. Poverty continues to surge:
- 46% of Nigerians live below the national poverty line
- Food prices have risen nearly fivefold since 2019
- An estimated 139 million Nigerians live in poverty in 2025
Inflation remains high, real incomes are falling, and households feel none of the supposed “benefits” of massive budgets.
#CostOfLivingCrisis #NigerianPoverty #FoodInflation
Budgets mean nothing if the people cannot see roads, schools, hospitals, and electricity. Right now, Nigerians see little.
#PeopleNotPaper #EconomicReality
How to Fix a System That Has Gone Off the Rails
At least five urgent reforms are needed to end the fiscal drift:
- Restore the real January–December cycle
Stop blanket extensions. End overlapping budgets. - Treat fiscal laws as binding, not optional
Enforce FRA timelines. - Publish implementation data on time
Make BIRs timely, frequent, and accessible. - Tie borrowing to a clear strategy
Limit interest-to-revenue ratios and adopt multi-year debt planning. - Repair Executive-Legislative coordination
Agree on fixed, public timelines for MTEF, budget submission, and passage.
#ReformNow #FiscalDiscipline #NigeriaFuture
Nigeria’s budget is more than a document—it is the nation’s economic roadmap. Until the country returns to a single, timely, transparent budget cycle, aligned with a clear medium-term plan, the result will remain the same: soaring spending on paper, rising debt in reality, and little impact on the daily lives of citizens.
