The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has raised critical concerns about the proposed N49.7 trillion 2025 national budget, highlighting significant economic challenges and calling for greater transparency and accountability in public spending.
In a statement jointly signed by Yunusa Z. Ya’u, Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room; Franklin Oloniju, Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room; and Mimidoo Achakpa, Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, the group stated that with the prevailing economic situation in the country, there is a need for prudence in managing public resources for effective and efficient service delivery.
The group pointed to alarming economic indicators, including a 34.6% inflation rate, naira devaluation averaging ₦1,600 to a dollar, and a sluggish GDP growth of 2.9%. Particularly concerning is the fact that debt servicing alone accounts for 33% (N15.81 trillion) of the proposed budget, severely constraining investments in essential services.
A key focus of the Situation Room’s critique is the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) controversial demand for an additional N86 billion, raising the proposed budget from N40 billion to N126 billion.
The organization questioned the necessity of such a significant allocation in a non-general election year.
“Additionally, citizens are demanding a clean register of voters in Nigeria and such, INEC should work with other public identity management agencies to clean up the register in way that is devoid of the deficiencies in the current one.
“A register of 93 million voters with just 25 million turnout, leaving about 70 million voters unaccounted for in this age is a big concern. Situation Room is worried that, INEC’s attempt to continue to add up voters to the January 2011 register with its current level of deficiencies, will amount to a waste of public funds,” the group emphasized.
The civil society groups further called on the Federal Government, National Assembly, and INEC to spend within means, establish accountability benchmarks, remove non-critical projects from the budget, and develop a clean voter register.
“The Federal Government should spend within its means with the required level of prudence and establish accountability benchmark for all ministries, departments, and agencies in collaboration with CSOs and the media,” it said.
The Situation Room also urged the National Assembly should remove any budgetary proposal that is not reflective of the level of public prudence required at this time of economic difficulty.”
The group further called on INEC to focus on working with other agencies to develop a clean register of voters, instead of spending public funds to continuously add up voters to a roll that is replete with deficiencies.
“Therefore, the Commission should put in place a new system that will allow citizens who have turned 18 years of age and have any official identify card (National Identity Card, Passport, Driver’s Licence, etc) to indicate where they want to vote in any elections and conduct validation at the hinterlands to enable the aged and not so literate citizens to re-validate their registration.
“INEC should also publish the proposed 2025 budget for public input.
“Finally, we call on the President to ensure that every institution receiving and utilizing public funds is transparent and accountable to the people,” the group demanded.
It also urged citizens to participate in the budgetary process as Section 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly states that sovereignty belongs to the people.
The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible elections and governance in Nigeria numbering more than seventy. The Steering Committee is made up of: Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Emma Ezeazu Centre for Good Governance and Accountability (formerly Alliance for Credible Elections, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC).
Others are: Kimpact Development Initiative, Democratic Action Group (DAG), Women’s Rights to Education Programme, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD), DIG Ebonyi, Life And Peace Development Organization (LAPDO), Rural Youth Initiative, Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), Centre for Health and Development in Africa (CHEDA) and Josemaria Escriva Foundation.