In the 2026 budget, the Federal Government (FG) has set up ₦962.83 billion for the purchase of Sport Utility Vehicles and thousands of empowerment initiatives. This sum exceeds the combined budgets of seven main federal ministries.
According to Punch, civic technology organization Tracka’s research of the 2026 Appropriations Act revealed that 2,579 empowerment projects received ₦947.70 billion, while ₦15.13 billion was set aside for the purchase of 39 SUVs.
The sum of the two allotments is ₦962.83 billion for SUVs and empowerment initiatives.
The amount surpassed the ₦960.27 billion allotted to the Federal Ministries of Industry, Trade and Investment, Housing and Urban Development, Women Affairs, Justice, Livestock Development, Aviation and Aerospace Development, and Petroleum Resources, according to Tracka.
The organization claims that ₦156.8 billion was given to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, ₦145.3 billion to Housing and Urban Development, ₦169.39 billion to Women Affairs, and ₦150.7 billion to the Ministry of Justice.
Petroleum Resources received ₦73.1 billion, Aviation and Aerospace Development earned ₦87.3 billion, and Livestock Development received ₦177.6 billion.
Tracka’s Project Transparency Flaws
Tracka expressed concerns about the empowerment projects’ allegedly inadequate disclosure, especially the lack of information about where the majority of them will be carried out.
“Yet, only 70 of the 2,579 empowerment projects have clearly identified implementation locations,” it said.
According to the organization, residents and oversight organizations may find it challenging to monitor and be accountable if project locations are not properly identified.
“How can citizens track projects with no stated location?” was the question posed. How can institutions of oversight confirm implementation? How can taxpayers find out who will eventually profit from these allocations?
Tracka also revealed that 184 implementing entities, including organizations whose statutory duties often do not involve extensive empowerment activities, received the projects.
The National Agricultural Development Fund was given six projects for ₦89.5 billion, while the Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, was given 393 projects totaling ₦127.1 billion.
The Federal Cooperative College in Ibadan received 94 projects costing ₦36.9 billion, while the Federal College of Horticulture in Dadin-Kowa, Gombe State, received 216 projects for ₦88.1 billion.
Fertilizer Program Receives ₦89 Billion
The Renewed Hope Fertiliser Support Programme under the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) received the greatest single empowerment grant of ₦89.09 billion, according to an assessment of the budget based on Tracka’s results.
Additional significant provisions included ₦14 billion for the Federal Cooperative College, Oji River to purchase and distribute utility vehicles and equipment for economic empowerment.
The Federal Ministry of Youth Development received an additional ₦14 billion for youth empowerment programs, and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation received an additional ₦14 billion for medical outreach and youth empowerment.
A number of measures for the purchase and distribution of buses, motorcycles, tricycles, electric cars, sewing machines, fertilizers, vocational tools, grants, and other empowerment items throughout the nation are also included in the budget.
Tracka agreed that, when carried out openly, empowerment programs might enhance livelihoods and generate opportunities.
It stated, “Let’s be clear: empowerment programs are not intrinsically flawed! They can enhance livelihoods, generate economic possibilities, and assist vulnerable Nigerians when they are thoughtfully planned and openly executed.
The organisation, however, warned that poorly defined empowerment programmes had historically created opportunities for political patronage and misuse of public funds.
“Experience over the years has shown that many poorly defined empowerment projects have become vehicles for political patronage, rewarding loyalists rather than delivering broad-based benefits to citizens.
“When projects have no clear location, no transparent beneficiary selection process, and are assigned to agencies without the appropriate mandate, public confidence is eroded, and accountability becomes difficult,” Tracka stated.
Group Raises Concerns Over Borrowing
Tracka also questioned the scale of the expenditure against the Federal Government’s widening fiscal deficit and increasing reliance on borrowing to finance the 2026 budget.
“This concern is even more pressing given that the 2026 Budget is projected to be financed with a deficit of about 46%,” the statement stated.
“Every naira should be allocated to investments with clear development outcomes, measurable impact, and value for money, not opaque allocations that citizens cannot effectively track, at a time when the government is borrowing heavily to fund public expenditure.”
The organization demanded more transparent disclosure in the creation and execution of future budgets.
A budget should inspire public trust in addition to allocating resources, according to Tracka. Each budget item should have a specific goal, a designated location, a legally mandated implementing agency, identifiable recipients, and quantifiable results.
FG Borrowing Increases to ₦29.2 Trillion
Punch claims that after expanding the budget, the Federal Government raised its anticipated borrowing for 2026 to ₦29.20 trillion.
The sum is ₦11.31 trillion more than the ₦17.89 trillion borrowing plan that was first included in the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning’s 2026 Abridged Budget Call Circular.
A budget deficit of roughly ₦31.46 trillion is predicted for 2026, with total spending forecast at ₦68.32 trillion and total revenue at ₦36.87 trillion.
According to Debt Management Office auction data, the Federal Government also raised ₦5.08 trillion from the domestic bond market in the first half of 2026, a 77.8% increase over the ₦2.86 trillion raised during the same period in 2025.
Economist Issues Debt Trap Alert
Excessive deficits and mounting debt could jeopardize Nigeria’s precarious macroeconomic recovery, according to Dr. Muda Yusuf, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise.
According to Yusuf, ongoing borrowing could further strain government resources, therefore debt sustainability was a concern.
Because “high levels of deficits and high levels of debt… can choke the fiscal space and lead to a kind of vicious circle of debt,” he stated, “we need to worry about debt sustainability.”
He claimed that although the nation’s macroeconomic stability has started to improve, the gains might be undone by budgetary irresponsibility.
“Once we lose that recovery… it will create even more problems because that is where the problem of inflationary pressure and the pressure on the exchange rate will come,” Yusuf continued. “We already have a reasonable level of macroeconomic stability.”
He asked the government to lower its borrowing exposure and deficit by using increased revenues.
According to him, Nigeria needs to “leverage on the improved revenue situation to moderate the level of deficit and the level of debt exposure so that we don’t put at risk the macroeconomic stability that we have achieved.”
Atiku Asks About the Oil Windfall
Atiku Abubakar, an African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential contender and former vice president, has also questioned the government’s borrowing strategy and demanded an explanation for what he termed as an expected windfall of ₦7.98 trillion from oil earnings.
In a statement released by Phrank Shaibu, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Atiku questioned why the government kept borrowing a lot of money even while global crude oil prices were still higher than the baseline for the 2026 budget.
“This windfall should be fully accounted for to Nigerians. What happened to the money? Why are the earnings from surplus crude sales not openly disclosed? The statement asked, “Why is the government borrowing so much when oil revenues are much higher than budget projections?”
Timi Frank, a former deputy national publicity secretary for the All Progressives Congress (APC), also demanded that the 2026 budget be managed with more openness.
According to Frank, the public’s anxiety over government expenditure has grown as a result of disputes over budgetary issues.
“The general belief that this administration represents one of the most troubling governments in Nigeria’s recent history has been further reinforced by the recent revelations and controversy surrounding the 2026 Federal Budget,” he stated.
“Allegations of inflated budgetary allocations, fictitious projects, and questionable expenditures have once again raised serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and the stewardship of public resources,” he continued.
Frank urged the National Assembly to improve oversight and thoroughly examine executive spending.
Spending Priorities Are Questioned by Economists
According to Sheriffdeen Tella, an economics professor at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago-Iwoye, empowerment initiatives should be created to promote domestic production rather than fund imports.
Tella contended in an interview with Punch that using borrowed funds for imported machinery and cars would lessen the advantages of such initiatives for the home economy.
“What we create here should be the foundation for any empowerment. The money is not here, it is not being used here, and it cannot have a significant beneficial effect on our economy if empowerment funds are spent on imports, he stated.
Tella advised the government to make sure that borrowed money was utilized to help Nigerian industry and to look into the import component of empowerment programs.
He claimed that a stronger reliance on domestically made items would boost household incomes, generate jobs, and preserve the nation’s economic worth.
Adewale Abimbola, an economist from Lagos, also took issue with the allocation pattern, calling it a sign of poor fiscal prioritization.
It demonstrates the Federal Government’s lack of prioritization. It portrays the federal government as a bad financial resource manager, he claimed.
While empowerment initiatives would be helpful, Abimbola contended that investments in human capital and infrastructure would have greater long-term advantages.
Sustainable development benefits greatly from investments in human capital development and infrastructure. But because government empowerment programs haven’t worked and there have been reports of financial mismanagement, I have concerns about them,” he said.
According to him, the government needs to set up systems to make sure that assistance reaches Nigerians who are at risk rather than being squandered or used for personal gain.
“To ensure that these programs reach the actual vulnerable population segment, government must be deliberate,” Abimbola continued.
He asserts that recipient selection, appropriate funding utilization, and the provision of supplementary technical support are critical to the success of empowerment efforts.
“A properly planned and implemented empowerment program acts as temporary relief and could potentially stimulate economic growth,” he continued. The impact, however, depends on a number of variables, such as whether assistance reaches those who actually need it, whether the money is used appropriately, and whether beneficiaries obtain the resources, equipment, and technical assistance they need to become self-sufficient. It takes more than just money for empowerment initiatives to spur progress.
Additionally, Abimbola criticized the practice of assigning empowerment projects to organizations that lack explicit statutory obligations, claiming that this could further erode public trust in the budgeting process.
