The Federal Government has set aside a lot of money, N962.83 billion, in the 2026 budget for things like empowerment programmes and buying Sport Utility Vehicles.
This is more money than what seven federal ministries got combined. A group called Tracka looked at the numbers. Found this out.
They saw that N947.70 billion was for 2,579 empowerment projects and N15.13 billion was for buying 39 SUVs.
The total amount is more than what the Ministries of Industry, Trade and Investment, Housing and Urban Development, Women Affairs, Justice, Livestock Development, Aviation and Aerospace Development, and Petroleum Resources got combined, which is N960.27 billion.
Tracka is worried because they do not think it is clear how these projects will be done. They found out that only 70 of the 2,579 empowerment programmes said where they would be done.
This makes it hard for people and the government to check if the projects are working and who is getting help.
The projects are being done by 184 groups, including some that do not usually do this kind of work. One of the amounts of money, N89.09 billion, is for a fertiliser programme.
There is also N14 billion for equipment and vehicles, N14 billion for youth empowerment, and N14 billion for youth empowerment and medical help.
Tracka thinks that empowerment programmes can be good if they are done right.. They are worried that if the projects are not planned well and it is not clear what is happening, people will not trust the government.
The Federal Government is borrowing a lot of money to pay for the 2026 budget, which’s N29.20 trillion. They want the government to choose projects that will clearly help people and make sure that the money is being used well.
Tracka wants the government to be more open about how they’re spending money. They think that every project should say where it is, who is doing it, who is getting help, and what it will achieve.
The Federal Government recently said they will borrow more money, N29.20 trillion, which is more than they thought before, N17.89 trillion. They think they will spend N68.32 trillion.
They will only get N36.87 trillion, so they will have a deficit of N31.46 trillion. The government also got N5.08 trillion from selling bonds in the first half of 2026, which is a lot more than the same time last year.
