2025 budget: Ministries in dilemma as Accountant-General suspends fund requests

The Federal Government is considering extending the implementation of the 2025 budget into 2026, as slow capital project execution, procurement bottlenecks, and the shutdown of the cash-planning portal have stalled projects eight months into the fiscal year.

This possibility emerged during a stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja on Wednesday, organised by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to assess progress and challenges in implementing the extended 2024 capital budget and the 2025 budget under the Bottom-Up Cash Planning Policy (BUCPP).

Under BUCPP, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) must submit monthly cash plans via an OAGF online portal, detailing projects to be funded and required amounts. These plans are consolidated and sent to the Ministry of Finance for approval before warrants—authorisations to spend—are issued. Without these warrants, MDAs cannot process payment plans or access funds.

However, since May, the portal has been locked for 2025 submissions, effectively freezing new capital disbursements. “We have been unable to upload our cash plans since May,” a director-general in the health sector told The PUNCH.

Accountant-General Shamseldeen Ogunjimi blamed some MDAs for breaching the Public Procurement Act 2007 by awarding contracts simply because they were budgeted for, without considering available cash. He stressed that no new contracts or payments would be processed without warrants and that only previously approved commitments would be honoured.

Finance Minister Wale Edun backed this stance, saying BUCPP was designed to make payments “more rigorous, transparent, and accountable” by paying contractors directly and avoiding middlemen.

Budget Office Director-General Tanimu Yakubu warned that Nigeria had lost nearly 60% of its gross oil revenue to deductions under the Petroleum Industry Act 2022 and suffered further revenue shortfalls due to low oil prices and production. He suggested amending the PIA to recover lost income and said the early use of 2025 funds to close the 2024 budget had forced spending prioritisation.

Procurement Bureau DG Adebowale Adedokun and Auditor-General Shaakaa Chira both emphasised compliance and accountability, warning that projects without proper warrants or planning would not be certified for funding.

Despite these assurances, no date was given for reopening the portal, and senior officials acknowledged that a 2025 budget rollover—similar to the current extension of the 2024 budget to December 31, 2025—was under consideration.

Economist Dr Aliyu Ilias cautioned that repeatedly running two capital budgets concurrently could enable duplication, weaken transparency, and distort Nigeria’s budgetary process.