The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has raised serious concerns over the adequacy of the 2025 federal budget, calling it insufficient to meet the country’s urgent social and infrastructure demands.
In its latest report titled “2025 FGN Budget Analysis: Can the Budget Deliver a Major Economic Boost?”, the NESG highlighted that public investment continues to be treated as a “residual budget item,” with funding allocated only after recurrent expenditures are covered. This, according to the group, has consistently disrupted the successful execution of long-term infrastructure and social development programs in the country.
The report noted that between 2015 and 2024, the Nigerian government’s total spending averaged just 13.1 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a figure significantly below the global average of 30 percent and the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) average of 21.2 percent.
For 2025, the federal government allocated N27.96 trillion for recurrent spending, which represents 50.8% of the total N54.99 trillion budget. This includes provisions for debt servicing and non-debt recurrent expenditure. Capital expenditure, essential for funding public investments and social infrastructure, received 49.2% of the budget, the report added.
“This chronic underinvestment limits the country’s ability to build human capital, develop infrastructure, and diversify the economy,” the NESG stated. The group further criticized the government’s public finance management framework, calling it ineffective in ensuring that the annual budget adequately stabilizes the economy and improves the welfare of citizens.
The report also pointed out that while the 2025 budget’s total value is historically high, the persistent issues of inefficient public expenditure, poor revenue optimization, and increasing debt servicing costs continue to hamper economic growth. These issues, the NESG warned, have been recurring obstacles for several years.
A critical concern raised by the NESG was Nigeria’s low per capita public spending, especially in comparison to peer economies. With a 2025 budget of N54.99 trillion (approximately $36.7 billion) and a population of 230 million, the per capita allocation stands at just N239,087 ($159.4) annually. This figure is starkly lower than South Africa’s public spending of approximately $1,957 per capita and falls well short of the $800 per capita average seen in other similar countries.
In sectors crucial to Nigeria’s development, such as health and education, the allocations remain worryingly low. For 2025, the federal government has allocated only N2.38 trillion ($1.49 billion) for health services and less than N2.59 trillion ($1.62 billion) for education.
The NESG warned that such underfunding in vital sectors could have serious long-term consequences for Nigeria’s competitiveness, human capital development, and efforts to reduce poverty.
“These figures indicate that Nigeria’s budgetary provisions are grossly inadequate to address pressing social and infrastructure needs,” the group concluded.
