The Federal Government has allocated N126.91bn to ministries leadingsports, regional development, and the arts.
This development follows a significant restructuring of these ministries by President Bola Tinubu’s administration in October 2024.
Following the reshuffling of his cabinet, the President renamed the Ministry of Niger Delta Development to the Ministry of Regional Development, scrapped the Ministry of Sports Development, and merged the Ministries of Tourism and Arts and Culture to become the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy.
The commissions to be under the supervision of the new Regional Development Ministry are the Niger Delta Development Commission, the South East Development Commission, the North East Development and the North West Development Commission.
Shehu Dikko was appointed as Chairman of the National Sports Commission, which took over the role of the sports ministry.
Despite these changes, the 2025 budget continues to list allocations under the former ministry names.
What does the proposed 2025 budget say
The budget lists N90.67 billion for the Federal Ministry of Sports Development, N29.32 billion for the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta, and N6.92 billion for the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy.
These allocations have sparked questions due to discrepancies between the budget provisions and the recent restructuring of these ministries.
- Nairametrics observed that while there was no allocation for the Ministry of Tourism, two agencies under the ministry got allocations.
- Under the Ministry of Tourism, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation got N2.51 billion and the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (Nihotours) got N3.63 billion.
- For the Ministry of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, the proposed 2025 budget showed that out of a total allocation of N6.92 billion, N975.95 million was for personnel costs, N1.54 billion was for overhead costs, while over N4.4 billion was for capital expenditure.
- Nairametrics also observed that there was no allocation for personnel costs under the Ministry of Sports Development despite having the largest amount among the restructured ministries.
- While the sports ministry was allocated over N12 billion for overhead costs, the remaining N78.67 billion was for capital expenditure.
- Nairametrics further observed that there was no specific allocation for a sports commission, raising questions about how responsibilities and funds are being redistributed in light of the restructuring.
Out of the N29.32 billion for the Ministry of Niger Delta Development, N3.17 billion was for personnel costs, N1.67 billion for overhead costs, and the remaining N24.48 billion for capital expenditure.
The inclusion of these outdated ministry names in the budget could indicate a transition period or administrative lag between the restructuring and the budget drafting process.
While the Ministry of Regional Development was still referred to as Niger Delta Development, Nairametrics observed that the commissions listed under it are in line with the earlier restructuring.
Niger Delta Development Commission got N776.53 billion, South West Development Commission got N498,4 billion, North West Development Commission got N585,93 billion, and South East Development Commission got N341,27 billion.
What you should know
- President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday presented the 2025 budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly, outlining an ambitious N49.70 trillion spending plan titled “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity.”
- The budget prioritises defence, infrastructure, and human capital development, with a projected deficit of N13.39 trillion to be financed majorly through borrowing.
- Nairametrics observed that the allocations to the three ministries mentioned in this report make up only about 0.26% of the total budget for 2025.
