Mandate hijack: How 16 MDAs got N206bn for constituency projects

No fewer than 16 federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) received more than N205.96 billion for projects outside their statutory mandates in the 2026 Appropriation Act, raising fresh concerns over the growing use of government agencies to execute constituency and infrastructure projects unrelated to their core responsibilities.

An analysis of the budget by Weekend Trust shows that the affected agencies collectively set aside N205,957,972,172 for road construction, solar electrification, hospitals, schools, dams, motorcycle distribution, empowerment programmes and other projects that fall outside their mandates.

The review found that in several cases, the off-mandate allocations account for a significant share of the agencies’ entire budgets, with some dedicating more than 70 per cent of their total appropriations to projects unrelated to their core responsibilities.

The affected MDAs include the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Centre for Management Development (CMD), National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) and Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).

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Others are the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Ministry of Defence, Nigeria Press Council (NPC), Federal Ministry of Communications, the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP), the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa, Gombe and the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education (NCAOOSCE).

Among the agencies, the IPCR under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs earmarked N17.78 billion for off-mandate projects out of its N19.34 billion allocation, representing 91.98 per cent of its budget. The projects include solar streetlights, motorcycle and fertiliser distribution, and classroom construction.

The NPC allocated N10.40 billion to roads, electricity, school renovation, motorcycles and fertiliser distribution despite receiving a total budget of N11.89 billion, representing 87.47 per cent of its allocation.

Similarly, the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, budgeted N59.12 billion for roads, bridges, solar projects and health infrastructure from its total allocation of N71.03 billion, amounting to 83.24 per cent of its budget.

NEPAD, under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, proposed N12.74 billion in off-mandate projects, representing 71.9 per cent of its N17.71 billion allocation. The projects include classroom construction, hospitals, roads, markets, motorcycles and solar electrification.

OGFZA also earmarked N32.10 billion, or 47.71 per cent, of its N67.29 billion allocation for roads, dams, schools, police stations, solar projects and constituency generators.

The IAP under the Ministry of Labour and Employment dedicated N14.24 billion of its N44.95 billion allocation to constituency roads and electrification projects, representing 31.67 per cent of its budget.

The CMD budgeted N12.56 billion for solar electrification, roads, bridges and stadium renovation from its N45.92 billion allocation, representing 27.35 per cent.

The NCAOOSCE allocated about N8.4 billion for road construction across Ogun, Katsina and Ekiti states from its N29.4 billion budget, representing nearly 29 per cent of its total allocation, despite its mandate being centred on reducing illiteracy and integrating Almajiri and out-of-school children into formal education.

NIHOTOUR, on its part,  earmarked N8.64 billion for roads and solar electrification from its N18.01 billion allocation. NASRDA budgeted N7.75 billion for solar projects, mini-grids, sewing machines, block-making machines, farm machinery and health facilities from its N71.04 billion budget, representing 10.91 per cent.

And NAPRI, under the Ministry of Livestock Development, proposed N2.39 billion worth of roads, solar projects and training for Islamic scholars from its N25.90 billion allocation, accounting for 9.23 per cent of its budget.

Also, NALDA earmarked N6.27 billion for roads, drainage channels, motorcycles, vehicles and solar projects from its N73.31 billion allocation, representing 8.54 per cent.

The Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa, Gombe, under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, proposed N26.24 billion for roads and electricity projects from its N439.38 billion allocation, representing at least six per cent of its budget, just as the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) allocated N1.81 billion to roads, motorcycles and solar projects from its N33.88 billion allocation, amounting to 5.33 per cent.

The Federal Ministry of Communications also earmarked N798.6 million for solar, water and school rehabilitation projects outside its core mandate from its N47.06 billion budget, representing 1.70 per cent.  Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence budgeted N1.9 billion for solar projects, roads, culverts and pumping machines for farmers from its N3.16 trillion allocation, accounting for 0.06 per cent. This is even as insecurity, which forms part of its core mandate continues to ravage the country. The findings add to growing concerns over off-mandate spending by federal agencies.

Earlier analysis of BudgIT’s GovSpend platform showed that three agencies under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security spent more than N810 million on projects unrelated to their statutory responsibilities in December 2024.

The agencies – the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) and Federal College of Veterinary and Medical Laboratory Technology (FCVMLT), were involved in the purchase and distribution of transformers, tricycles and empowerment programmes despite their mandates focusing on agricultural mechanisation, post-harvest research and veterinary education.

The trend follows earlier findings that the Federal Co-operative College, Oji River, and the Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin-Kowa, disbursed billions of naira on constituency projects and infrastructure unrelated to their mandates, with some transactions flagged as duplicate payments.

Projects inserted by lawmakers – MDAs

Responding to an earlier Daily Trust report, NCAOOSCE said the commission did not initiate the off-mandate budget items, but they were constituency projects assigned to it by the National Assembly for implementation.

In a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Communications to NCAOOSCE Executive Secretary, Mr. Nura Muhammad, the commission said the projects were incorporated into the 2026 Appropriation Act in line with the long-standing budgetary practice of assigning constituency projects to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“The Commission wishes to clarify that these projects are National Assembly constituency projects incorporated into the 2026 Appropriation Act for implementation through the Commission. This is in line with the long-standing budgetary practice under which constituency projects are assigned to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for execution through the Appropriation Act.

“As part of the duly enacted federal budget, every project assigned to the commission formed part of its implementation responsibilities and would be executed in strict compliance with extant laws, financial regulations and due procurement processes,” the statement said.

The commission stressed that the inclusion of the road, ambulance, medical equipment and solar power projects did not alter its statutory mandate, which remains focused on reforming the Almajiri education system and tackling the challenge of out-of-school children.

According to the commission, it has so far identified and profiled more than 700,000 out-of-school children nationwide and established 119 learning centres across the country, while sustaining ward-to-ward advocacy and implementing the National Policy on Almajiri Education.

A senior management official of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, also defended the inclusion of the projects, describing them as National Assembly constituency projects assigned to the agency for implementation.

The official said the projects should not be interpreted as a departure from the agency’s statutory responsibilities, noting that similar constituency projects are routinely channelled through various Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“Those projects are constituency projects—continuity projects of senators and members of the National Assembly. It is not only NASRDA; they channel such projects through different MDAs for implementation,” the official said.

“It doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own mandate or that we won’t carry out our own mandate. The projects are meant to benefit the people, and they have to be implemented through a government agency.

“So, those are constituency projects, not the main projects of the space agency. Apart from them, the agency has its own core programmes that are in line with its statutory mandate.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, recently warned agencies under his ministry against executing projects outside their statutory responsibilities.

“All the programmes and initiatives of the ministry shall be completely aligned to attaining the four presidential priorities, which are food security, economic growth and job creation, poverty eradication, inclusivity (youths and women), and enabling environment for individuals, groups and the private sector to participate in governance and economic activities,” Kyari said.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had presented the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N58.18 trillion to the Senate on December 19, 2025 and later proposed a N9.3 trillion increase, pushing the budget to N67.7 trillion.

However, President Tinubu eventually signed a budget of N68.32 trillion, about N600 billion higher than the amount submitted to the National Assembly. Weekend Trust cannot independently verify how the additional N600 billion came about.

CSOs raise concerns over ‘budget padding’

Reacting to the issue, the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR) called on the federal government to provide immediate explanations for what it described as the continued proliferation of what it called budget padding and off-budget projects in the country’s appropriation process.

Speaking to Weekend Trust on Wednesday, its Chancellor, Chief Dr. Omenazu Jackson, said persistent reports of off-mandate and allegedly unauthorised projects undermined constitutional governance, weakened democratic accountability and eroded public confidence in public institutions.

Jackson argued that “the Nigerian Constitution provides a clear framework for public expenditure.” It noted that sections 80 to 84 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) require that public funds be appropriated and spent only in the manner approved by the National Assembly.

The group also cited the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, saying it requires transparency, prudent management of public resources and accountability in budget implementation.

He called on the federal government, the Budget Office, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the National Assembly to publicly explain all projects alleged to have been inserted outside approved budgetary provisions or financed without clear legislative appropriation.

Specifically, the organisation demanded the disclosure of the legal authority for such projects, their funding sources, the MDAs responsible for implementing them, the contractors involved, procurement procedures, implementation status and the identities of officials who approved the expenditures.

To curb future abuses, the ISSJHR recommended an independent forensic audit of federal appropriations and supplementary expenditures over the last five years, the establishment of a publicly accessible digital budget portal containing details of approved projects and payments, stronger oversight by the Auditor-General of the Federation, the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees, anti-corruption agencies and civil society groups, as well as criminal investigation and prosecution of any public official found to have manipulated the budget or violated procurement and fiscal laws.

The organisation also called for legislative amendments prescribing stiffer penalties for budget manipulation and quarterly publication of budget implementation reports to enhance public scrutiny.

”Transparency is not an act of charity by the government; it is a constitutional obligation owed to every Nigerian citizen,” Jackson said, adding that public office holders remain trustees of public resources and must be fully accountable for how public funds are appropriated and spent.

Also reacting, the Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Friday Odeh, said the growing trend of off-mandate projects reflected deeper structural problems in Nigeria’s budgeting process, particularly the insertion of projects that do not originate from the implementing agencies.

According to him, many of the projects being executed by federal agencies neither align with their statutory responsibilities nor their approved development plans.

“A major part of the problem is that projects are being inserted into the budget without coming from the mandates or plans of the implementing MDAs. This has been repeatedly documented by anti-corruption and budget oversight bodies, including civil society organisations,” Odeh said.

”We have recently seen a university budget being padded with constituency projects for building roads. We have seen the Ministry of Water Resources installing solar street lights,” he added.

To address the trend, Odeh said every capital project should originate from the responsible MDA and align with its statutory mandate and approved sector plans.

”Every capital project should originate from the responsible MDA and align with its statutory mandate and approved sector plans, not a university constructing a federal road,” he said.

He also called for greater transparency in the budget process, urging that every project inserted or amended by the National Assembly should be publicly disclosed, including the lawmaker who proposed it, the justification for its inclusion and the agency responsible for implementation.

The Accountability Lab country director recommended that the Budget Office of the Federation, the Office of the Auditor-General, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and civil society organisations should scrutinise budget proposals before passage to identify and flag projects that fall outside the mandates of implementing agencies.

He added that audit reports highlighting such discrepancies should be acted upon, while officials responsible for inserting off-mandate or duplicated projects should face sanctions.

”Ultimately, Nigeria’s challenge is ensuring that public funds are allocated to legitimate, well-planned projects that respond to national priorities rather than political interests,” Odeh said.

‘Agencies can push back’

Efforts to get the reaction of the Presidency on the issue of the Budget was not successful, as Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy line could not be reached.

Also, Dr Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications’ did not respond to calls made to his phone.

As at the time of filing this report, messages sent to Mr. Onanuga and Bwala, including WhatsApp messages were yet to be replied to.

But speaking on the development during Matankadi, a Hausa programme on Trust Radio, Malam Garba Shehu, who served as spokesman to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, said such anomalies could only find their way into willing agencies.

According to him, heads of agencies have every right to resist accommodating budget items outside their mandate.

“I recall some heads of agencies that pushed back. So, the legislators know where they can go and have their way,” he said.

Repeated efforts to seek clarification from the Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramondu, yielded no results, but a source with the Senate Appropriations Committee said the practice is not unusual.

According to him, some senators often approach federal government agencies of their choice to execute constituency projects on their behalf.

He said that when a lawmaker sealed an agreement with such an executing agency, the constituency project would be inserted into such an agency’s budget and when it is approved, the agency would execute the project, irrespective of its mandate.

He said, “You see, this is not new. If a lawmaker gets an approved constituency project, the execution must be done through any of the federal government agencies, irrespective of the mandate of such agencies. So, there is nothing new there; it has been the practice.”

He said it is now the duty of such a lawmaker to monitor the fund disbursement as well as the execution of such projects.

Also, a former minority leader in the House of Representatives, Dr. Wunmi Bewaji, in a chat with one of our correspondents, said the practice is not peculiar to Nigeria alone.

He said, “It is not peculiar to Nigeria. Even in the US Congress, they call it special earmarks. However, that does not make it right. Most of the time, it happens that a particular parliamentarian wants a project in its constituency and people doing the budget will put that money in a particular agency. What is most important is to ensure the project is executed.

“The focus should be on whether the project is executed or not. If that money is appropriated, will it be spent as appropriated? If it is spent as appropriated and it is implemented as budgeted, I don’t think there is an issue. It is a widely accepted practice in the US Congress.

“If the project is executed, it should not matter what agency is handling it. Our concern should be whether the project has been executed. As a former parliamentarian, it happens sometimes that a particular agency may have been given its ceiling for the year and other projects can no longer be accommodated; that is why people do this in the budget office to look for an agency that can still accommodate more projects.”

A former senator said all members of the National Assembly have insertions in off-mandate federal agencies and commissions of their choice in the name of constituency projects.

He said there are funds specifically set aside for them by the executive, and it is at the discretion of senators or members of the House of Representatives to insert the allocations wherever they want, without regard to the mandate of the agency or commission.

The senator, who spoke in confidence, also said that, depending on the size and influence of the committees they chair or the number of committees they belong to as members, lawmakers can have their projects accommodated in as many MDAs as possible.

With that in view, the senator said this explains why some members of the Senate or House of Representatives have more projects than others with less influence within the executive or the National Assembly.

The senator was responding to the discovery of budget lines for the construction of roads, installation of solar lights, among other projects, in the 2026 budget of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children, despite such projects being outside its mandate.

He said only those who have not been paying critical attention to previous budgets since the advent of the Fourth Republic would be surprised by the recent development. According to him, the practice has become institutionalised.

He said it does not matter whether the development is described as budget padding or by any other name.

“It is not a new thing at all. The way it is done is that, as a member of the National Assembly, you make your arrangement with the agency or commission that you think will not mess you up.

“Once they agree, their mandate does not matter at all. You simply tell the people making the allocations in the National Assembly to put your funds in those agencies.

“Nobody cares about the mandate of the agency. What is being considered is that once the money has been allocated there, it is left for you to carry out the constituency project that you want,” he said.

When asked whether it was justified for the Almajiri Commission to receive just a little over N1 billion directly for its services from a budget of more than N22 billion, the senator said: “It is not their money. Some legislators directed that their funds should be domiciled at the Almajiri Commission.”

When told that a large chunk of the projects to be executed under the name of the commission involved roads located in the southern part of the country, where there are fewer cases of Almajirai and out-of-school children, he said it did not matter.

“If I have an understanding with an agency that is meant to improve agriculture, I can put my project for the provision of solar lights or the construction of schools in its budget, and they can come to my constituency to execute it.

“There is nothing wrong with that. The most important thing is for the constituency project to be executed,” he said.

It’s an anomaly— Prof Nwokoma

Experts who spoke to our correspondents on the development described it as an anomaly that must not be allowed to continue. According to them, the practice smacks of corruption and abuse of the budgeting process. They stressed the need for a redress to preserve the integrity of the country’s budgeting process.

Professor of Economics, Ndubisi Nwokoma, in a chat with one of our correspondents, said, “This should not be allowed to happen and it should be corrected. This is an element of corruption. If something is not within your mandate, why are you doing it? It means somebody is benefitting from it or there is an error somewhere, but it is an anomaly. Like I said, somebody is pushing it for some advantage. But basically, it is an anomaly.”

He said the media and the civil society should be more alive to their responsibility to expose the anomalies.

“The first thing is what you are doing, to point it out. That is the first thing. You are doing a good job as a media organisation. When you point it out, it is now left for the government to take it up from there and make sure that does not repeat itself and those who have compromised are brought to book,” Nwokoma added.

Also speaking, another economist, Dr. Marcel Okeke, said the development is a reflection of the pervasive corruption in the system.

He said, “It goes to show the level of pervasive corruption in the system. It is corruption; I don’t know what else to call it and it is unacceptable. You cannot have an agency that is supposed to be taking care of humanitarian needs being the one that is constructing trunk roads in various parts of the country.  It doesn’t go that way. So, something is fundamentally wrong, and that is pervasive corruption.”

According to Dr Okeke, this has made “nonsense” of the entire budgetary process.

“It puts a big question mark in the entire budgetary process. It completely faults it and makes nonsense of all that they can claim to have done to get the budget approved including the fact that the President had to assent to that document,” he stated.

The economist insisted that the National Assembly cannot feign ignorance of the anomaly in the budgeting system, saying each agency must be allowed to focus on its area of strength.

“They cannot say they don’t know. They know what they’re doing, honestly. When they know they cannot get it directly into their communities, they go and find a way to allocate it to whatever agency and still go ahead to make sure that the budget comes to their constituency by all means. That is the height of corruption in the system,” he added.

Practice, a serious governance issue – Centre

Speaking to Weekend Trust, Dr. Umar Yakubu of the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity, said when agencies engage in off-mandate projects, it becomes a very critical governance issue at the heart of public financial mismanagement.

He explained that public financial management entails having discipline for budget implementation, institutional integrity and public sector efficiency.

“So when you are doing your budgetary allocations and include off-mandate projects, anyhow, it will create a systemic failure. Nothing will even work, even if you are doing 50 per cent, the other 50 per cent is likely to fail, because that percentage is way too much to enable you to focus on your core mandate.

“As such, it’s a critical governance issue that affects the philosophy behind public financial management, institutional integrity, and public sector efficiency. So if these three things are absent or they are altered, you are going to have problems with any budget implementation, not to mention about 50% of the mandate. You are going to have problems and once you have problems, you’re having a systemic failure because you have planned something for a year.

“This shows that they did not plan with the concept of the people because if you are implementing a people’s budget, there’s no way you can implement projects that are off-mandate,” he stated.

My encounter with lawmakers during budget defence – Dalung

Sharing his experience during a budget defence session at the National Assembly, a former Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr Solomon Dalung, alleged that lawmakers asked him to raise N200 million.

In a Facebook post during the week, Dalung, who served under the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration, described the encounter as entrenched culture of corruption that had become normalised within the public institutions.

He wrote, “I remember vividly my first budget defence before the National Assembly. After presenting the summary of my ministry’s budget, I expected questions about the figures, the programmes and our implementation strategy. Instead, I was confronted with a demand that had nothing to do with governance.

“I was asked to raise N200 million. I looked through the budget documents before me and replied that I had not seen any budget line titled ‘bribe.’ I told the committee that since no such provision existed in the ministry’s appropriation, I had no idea where they expected me to obtain N200 million to satisfy their demand.

“My response was obviously not what they wanted to hear. Rather than continue the discussion, they simply told me, ‘Okay, Mr. Minister, you are excused. We will take it up with the Permanent Secretary.’

“From that day onward, my role in budget defence became largely ceremonial. I would only be invited to present the broad highlights of the ministry’s budget, after which I would be asked to leave while the committee continued discussions with the Permanent Secretary behind closed doors. I was deliberately excluded from the detailed budget sessions because I had refused to participate in an illegal arrangement.”

Dalung explained that he later realised that his encounter was not an isolated incident but a part of a deeply entrenched system.

“This experience opened my eyes to how corruption can become institutionalised. When oversight is transformed into an avenue for extortion, accountability is compromised, public resources are diverted, and the integrity of governance is eroded.

“That is precisely why I continue to argue that many of the scandals we witness today do not emerge in isolation. They flourish because institutions that should serve as checks and balances have themselves become vulnerable to illicit financial interests. When the budget process is driven by kickbacks instead of national interest, fraud, abuse and institutional failure become almost inevitable,” he added.

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