‘Nigeria’s Political System Responsible for Poor Budget Implementation’

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

A former Minister of National Planning, Osita Ogbu, has blamed the culture of poor budget implementation across states on the political system in Nigeria which allows individuals to win elections not on the basis of their performance but ability to manipulate the process.

Ogbuo was speaking during a presentation on the research output from analysis of the 2025 budgets of various state governments in Nigeria by a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Dr. Uzochukwu Amakom.

In his address, Ogbu, a former director at the institute, said that some governors do not care about the budgets in their states and how it is implemented because they did not win in the first place with the support of the people, hence they are not committed to working for them.

“From the first day in office, many governors are already focused on re-election, they don’t care about their performance and that is why they only make budget provisions but fail to release funds for implementation,” he said.

Speaking further, he said:  “To be able to fix budgetary issues, we must fix the politics in Nigeria; our governors must begin to understand that allocation is not the same thing as actual expenditure.”

In his presentation, Amakom said that the analysis was informed by the need to help the public to understand the priorities of different states across the country beyond the public declarations made by state governors and the various challenges facing the budgeting process in Nigeria.

“Several presentations have been ongoing since November 2024 on states fiscal year 2025 budget, but most of these presentations have exaggerated sectors and items while some have carefully avoided mentioning some key issues,” he said. 

He explained that the analysis utilised the classification of the functions of government (COFOG) which is used to categorize government expenditures according to the purpose or function of the spending, enabling comparisons across countries and over time.

Amakom noted that one of the major issues with the budgeting process in Nigeria for instance is the fact that many states capture recurrent expenditure as capital expenditure.

“We still have some states that include fertilizer, school feeding, tuition / exam fees and scholarships, diesel for generators, risk communication and promote awareness on girl-child education,” he said.

Earlier in his address, the Director of the Institute, Dr. Ben Nwosu, thanked all those who attended the event, noting that the institute remains committed to contributing to the growth and development of Nigeria by bringing together experts who proffer solutions to the most pressing challenges in the country.