The National Assembly received N172 billion of its budgetary allocation in the first half of 2024, a figure significantly more than the amounts disbursed to the ministries of power, works and housing, land housing and urban development, transportation, communication technology, and water Resources combined, an analysis by EQ has revealed.

While comparing the budget performance of government ministries, agencies, and departments up until June 2024, as published on the National Open Treasury Portal, EQ observed that the National Assembly, with a N172 billion disbursement and a 50 percent budget performance, received more funds than the above-listed ministries within the same time frame.

The ministries of power, works, and housing received only 2.08% of their 2024 budgetary allocation, amounting to N46.9 billion for all their agencies and departments.

As a result, important agencies received only a fraction of their budgets: the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) got about N9 billion (3.89 percent of its budget), the Transmission Company of Nigeria received about N1 billion (less than a percentage), and the National Rural Electrification Agency got about N20 billion (just 5.25% of its allocation).

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Core Federal MinistryBudget AmountPayment Made till JuneBudget BalancePercentageNASS344 852 880 669.00172 426 440 334.50172 426 440 334.5050.00Education2 033 107 763 458.65600 245 774 866.281 432 861 988 592.3729.52Health2 233 875 041 750.28331 294 147 173.901 902 580 894 576.3814.83Land, Housing and Urban Development168 828 569 531.183 734 739 054.32165 093 830 476.862.21Power Works and Housing2 255 073 408 142.1146 944 808 269.162 208 128 599 872.952.08Finance13 428 527 465 950.894 960 515 815 468.768 468 011 650 482.1336.94Defense2 413 327 358 325.021 032 890 287 590.741 380 437 070 734.2842.80Transportation607 653 066 350.3321 060 089 461.12586 592 976 889.213.47Communication Technology192 665 749 355.5112 460 000 817.25180 205 748 538.266.47Water Resources1 176 278 052 679.2528 452 451 741.231 147 825 600 938.022.42Police Affairs1 005 740 303 612.57424 127 990 020.09581 612 313 592.4842.17Budget Performance in Core Ministries in H1, 2024. Source: Open Treasury Portal

The Ministry of Transportation received only N21 billion, which is about 3.47% of its 2024 budgetary allocations. Relevant agencies like the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the National Port Authority, and the National Railway Corporation have had to share this amount alongside other agencies.

As for the Ministry of Water Resources, the FG has disbursed 2.42% of its 2024 budget allocation to it, totaling about N28 billion. As a result, agencies and departments under this ministry did not record high budget performance rates. For instance, the National Hydrological Services Agency received only 12.75% of its total budgetary allocation for 2024, amounting to about N329,000.

Bosun Tijani’s Ministry of Communication Technology on the other hand was paid 6.47% of the amount allocated to it in the 2024 fiscal year. This is just about 12.4 billion for all of the agencies and departments under this ministry.

Also, the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban development recorded a budget performance rate of 2.21% with a payment of only N3.7 billion between January and June.

While the Ministry of Education has received a higher amount than the National Assembly, it has only recorded a 29.52% budget performance rate in the 2024 fiscal year. This means it has had to share about N600 million among relevant agencies such as the National University Commission, Universal Basic Education Commission, federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges.

The Ministry of Health has had a 14.83% half-year budget performance rate. Federal Medical Hospitals, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, the National Centre for Disease Control, teaching hospitals, among others, have received N300 billion out of the allocations made to them in the 2024 budget.

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Functionally, however, Nigeria enjoyed a fairly decent budget performance in defence and public safety. The Ministry of Defence recorded a 42.50% budget performance in the first half of the 2024 fiscal year. The Federal Ministry of Police Affairs also recorded a comparatively fair amount of 42.71%.

Meanwhile, the budget performance report shows that there are Federal Government-dependent departments that have not recieved any payment in the 2024 fiscal year. Some of these departments include the Nigerian Foreign Missions, the National Theatre, the National Gallery, and the National Pension Commission.

In December, EQ reported how the National Assembly inflated its budget by 75%, allocating N4 billion to construct a NASS recreational centre, N6 billion to build car parks in the NASS complex, and N2.7 billion for furnishing committee meeting rooms, among other things.
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