A coalition of civil society organisations has strongly condemned what it described as “fiscal rascality” in the handling of Nigeria’s 2024 and 2025 federal budgets, accusing President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly of constitutional breaches, lack of transparency and the systematic exclusion of citizens from the budgeting process.
The organisations – Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), PLSI, BudgIT and PRIMORG- made the allegations in a joint statement titled “Stop This Fiscal Rascality in Nigeria,” on Tuesday.
|
|
Their concerns arise against the backdrop of Mr Tinubu’s transmission of fresh Appropriation (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bills for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years to the National Assembly on 19 December 2025.
The president requested legislative approval to repeal the existing budgets and replace them with revised expenditure frameworks, which the presidency said were aligned with prevailing fiscal realities.
|
|
|---|
According to details accompanying the request, the first bill seeks to repeal the 2024 Appropriation Act, originally passed at ₦35.06 trillion, and re-enact it with an increased total expenditure of ₦43.56 trillion for the year ending 31 December 2025.
The revised 2024 budget comprises ₦1.74 trillion for statutory transfers, ₦8.27 trillion for debt service, ₦11.27 trillion for recurrent non-debt expenditure, and ₦22.28 trillion for capital expenditure and development fund contributions.
The second bill seeks to repeal the 2025 Appropriation Act of ₦54.99 trillion and re-enact it with a reduced total expenditure of ₦48.32 trillion for the period ending 31 March 2026. The revised proposal allocates ₦3.65 trillion for statutory transfers, ₦4.32 trillion for debt service, ₦13.59 trillion for recurrent non-debt expenditure, and ₦16.71 trillion for capital expenditure and development fund contributions.
Following the transmission, the relevant committees of the National Assembly immediately met to consider the president’s request. They concluded their work within days and presented their report at the next plenary sitting on Tuesday, 23 December 2025.
The report was adopted the same day, paving the way for the swift approval of the repeal and re-enactment of both Appropriation Acts.
Assault on Constitution and Fiscal Order
However, the civil society groups argued that beyond the figures and the speed of legislative action, the entire process represents a grave assault on Nigeria’s constitutional and fiscal order.
They expressed grave concern over what they described as constitutional breaches arising from the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts, alleging a collaboration between the executive and the legislature that undermines fiscal accountability.
The organisations also decried the opacity surrounding the federal budgeting process, noting that 18 days after the presentation of the federal executive budget, neither the Budget Office of the Federation nor the National Assembly had uploaded the budget documents on their websites.
“We are concerned about the opacity, lack of transparency and popular participation in the federal budgeting process, to the extent that eighteen days after the presentation of the federal executive budget, the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and the NASS have failed, refused and neglected to upload same to their websites,” the statement read.
They further stated that the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts (Repeal and Re-Enactment) bills approved by the National Assembly were not available to Nigerians on any electronic portal and that there was no opportunity for public participation in their consideration and passage.
According to the groups, these actions raise fundamental questions about the management of public revenues and expenditures, as well as the commitment of both arms of government to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The organisations recalled that Section 81 of the Constitution explicitly provides for the submission of expenditure proposals by the president to the National Assembly and requires legislative approval before public expenditure is incurred.
They noted that this requirement is reinforced by Sections 80(2), (3) and (4) of the Constitution, which collectively establish that expenditure must be based on prior legislative approval and not retrospective endorsement of spending already incurred.
They argued that the 2024 Appropriation Act should have expired on 31 December 2024 but was controversially extended by the National Assembly first to June 2025 and later to December 2025.
Even during the extended lifespan, the organisations said, the executive failed to implement the budget in line with its provisions. They contended that seeking to repeal and re-enact the expired Act while increasing its size by more than ₦8 trillion amounts to a legal and constitutional impossibility.
“This is a legal and constitutional impossibility and can only be possible in a country where the rule of law is continuously desecrated.
“It is an affront to the fiscal provisions of the Constitution for the President to spend extra N8trillion in public funds without prior legislative approval and Nigeria was not operating under any declared fiscal emergency,” the statement said.
The CSOs accused the president of seeking legislative endorsement only after the expenditure had already occurred, while describing the National Assembly’s role as that of a “supine rubber stamp.”
On the reduction of the 2025 budget, the organisations argued that budgets are ordinarily reviewed mid-year, around June, with outcomes reflected through formal amendments, not arbitrarily revised in December when their lifespan should end.
They rejected claims by the National Assembly that the repeal and re-enactment exercise was meant to align Nigeria’s budgeting process with global best practices, enhance transparency and resolve implementation challenges.
According to them, such justifications find no support in Nigerian fiscal laws, policies or international best practice, and instead reflect mismanagement and a gross abuse of due process.
The groups also cited Section 48(1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which mandates the federal government to conduct its fiscal affairs transparently, ensure full and timely disclosure, and widely publish all transactions involving public revenues and expenditures.
They argued that the refusal to make public the 2026 Appropriation Bill, as well as the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts (Repeal and Re-Enactment), constitutes a clear violation of the law.
They lamented that citizens cannot engage meaningfully with fiscal processes when budget documents are inaccessible, noting that in the past the Budget Office produced citizens’ budgets to simplify complex fiscal documents, a practice they said has now been abandoned.
Against this backdrop, the civil society organisations demanded that the National Assembly ensure there is no expenditure without appropriation, warning that unbudgeted spending carried out in violation of constitutional provisions amounts to an impeachable offence.
They also demanded an unconditional commitment from President Tinubu to abide strictly by constitutional limits, spending only what has been duly appropriated.
READ ALSO: Group spotlights red flags in Tinubu’s N900bn Renewed Hope Ward Development Fund
The groups further called for the immediate publication of the 2026 federal budget estimates on the websites of the Budget Office of the Federation and the National Assembly, alongside the prompt release of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts (Repeal and Re-Enactment) bills and the enacted laws.
They also demanded a firm commitment to fiscal transparency in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act and a guarantee of popular participation in the consideration and approval of all fiscal laws and policies.
They warned that continued disregard for constitutional and fiscal safeguards risks eroding accountability, weakening democratic governance and deepening public distrust in the management of Nigeria’s public finances.
