A viral social media post by civic advocate Sarah Ibrahim has sparked fresh outrage over what she described as the fraudulent insertion of fake and unjustifiable projects into Nigeria’s 2025 budget by the National Assembly under Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Ibrahim, in a fiery post on her X handle (@TheSarahIbrahim) on Tuesday, warned that Nigerians are not paying enough attention to what she termed a criminal hijack of public funds. Her post has since garnered over 30,000 views.
“NIGERIANS SHOULD BE SCREAMING. This is more than criminal. Are Nigerians awake at all?” she wrote.
“Fake projects of 7 TRILLION NAIRA. NOT MILLION. NOT BILLION. But 7 TRILLION NAIRA. That money, planned to be stolen by politicians, is more than enough to end poverty in Nigeria.”
The alarming figure came up after a report by BudgIT Nigeria (@budgitng), a civic-tech non-profit organization, revealed that over 11,000 dubious projects worth N6.93 trillion were inserted into the 2025 federal budget by lawmakers. The organization shared its findings on Monday, noting that it had thoroughly analyzed the budget and found the insertions deeply troubling.
In its words: “@BudgITng Uncovers 11,122 Projects Worth N6.93 Trillion Inserted by National Assembly in 2025 FG Budget.”
Sarah’s post also drew attention to suspicious budgeting in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. She pointed out the glaring inflation of its proposed allocation from N24 billion to a staggering N291 billion.
“ALSO the proposed bill for 2025 Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is ₦ 24 billion, but @nassnigeria approved N291 BILLION,” she posted.
She expressed concern that such budget padding would be followed by unverifiable disbursement claims by the ministry, a reference to previous allegations of corruption within the same ministry under Tinubu’s government.
READ MORE: Budget Padding: National Assembly Inserts N6.93 Trillion Worth of Projects into 2025 Budget
“Tomorrow, the ministry would later declare that they have shared 50 billion to 5 million homes in Nigeria. HOWWWWWW,” she queried, adding, “Nigeria, are you awake at all?”
The development adds to growing concerns about transparency in Nigeria’s fiscal planning process under the current administration. Critics argue that budgetary abuse, inflated figures, and phantom projects have become a recurring tool for looting, especially with no effective checks by the executive led by Tinubu.
While the National Assembly has yet to respond to the viral claims, civic actors are now calling for urgent investigation, transparency, and accountability. Many have also questioned the silence of anti-graft agencies in the face of what appears to be a systematic fleecing of national resources.
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