Ministers overseeing critical infrastructure agencies in Nigeria face severe funding challenges, with capital releases for projects in the first seven months of 2025 totaling just N834.80 billion, significantly below the expected N10.81 trillion. The Budget Office of the Federation has been criticized for delays in providing budget performance data and low transparency. Despite an appropriated capital expenditure of N18.53 trillion, actual spending demonstrated a mere 7.72% performance rate. Overall capital expenditure for 2025 was N3.60 trillion, indicating a 73.7% shortfall. Ministerial frustrations have arisen from insufficient funds, with notable examples including the Ministry of Health receiving only N36 million of its N218 billion allocation and the Ministry of Transportation getting merely about 1% of its N256.73 billion budget. Funding issues stem from a bottom-up cash planning system, systemic bottlenecks, and reliance on external loans, highlighting significant challenges in executing government projects effectively.
Index to Nigerian Newspapers
