Members of the National Assembly are currently having a swell time as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu increased capital project allocation to individual lawmakers by 400 per cent in the 2025 budget. The increment, when added together would amount to over N1 trillion worth of projects in the budget.
President Tinubu had last week Friday signed the N59.99 trillion 2025 Appropriation Act.
However, the largesse may not be unconnected to moves by the president to woo the lawmakers for support ahead of his 2027 reelection bid.
The Verge can authoritatively confirm that most lawmakers across political party divides are already smiling to the bank, as contractors lobby for their recommendations to the various MDA’s where their projects are domiciled.
Senior legislative aide to a prominent Senator from the South East geo-political zone said, “The 10th National Assembly will be the most financially rewarding for the lawmakers. I have been around the National Assembly for over 16 years and I can tell you that the lawmakers have never been this pampered by any president in the past. They may end up working assiduously for the Tinubu’s re-election, irrespective of their political party affiliations,” the aide said.
Also, multiple sources within the National Assembly confirmed to our correspondent that the Tinubu administration increased the minimum capital project allocation for each Senator from about N400 million to N2 billion, and from N200 million to N1 billion for each member of the House of Representatives.
Photo: L-R Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriations, Olamilekan Adeola; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; minister of budget and economic planning, Atiku Bagudu; speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (middle); chief-of-staff to the president, Femi Gbajabiamila; minister of finance, Wale Edun and the national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, when President Tinubu signed the 2025 appropriations bill into law.
This, however, does not include the Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIPs) which is shared equally among lawmakers per state.
The Verge also confirmed that each of the eight principal officers in the Senate are entitled to a minimum of N8 billion while the principal officers in the House get a minimum N6 billion.
Another source familiar with the budget details, but does not want his name mentioned, confirmed the figures, “Yes, the capital project allocation to each senator has been increased to N2 billion from N400 million, while projects each member of the House was increased from I think N100 million or N200 million to N1 billion.
“For principal officers, it actually depends on your influence and how well you can lobby. But statutorily, in the Senate the minimum for each member of the leadership is N8 billion, even if you are the minority whip, that is the minimum. But in the House, it ranges from N6 billion to N10 billion, like I said, some of them will have more, it all depends.
When asked about the allocation ceiling the four presiding officers, the source said, “I can’t tell specifically about the presiding officers, but that would be in hundreds of billions. I know about a Senator who has over N200 billion projects in the budget, that’s because of the committee he chairs.”
He further explained that individual lawmakers who chair a committee would enjoy an extra project allocation of 2.5 per cent of the entire budget of the MDA’s under their committee.
“It is all about lobby, some ordinary senators or members could have projects worth as much as N5 billion in the budget. But for committee chairmen, it is entirely a different ball game, they take 5 per cent of the total budget of the MDA’s they supervise. For instance, if the entire budget for the Ministry of Works is N800 billion, 5 per cent of the N800 billion, which is N40 billion will be shared equally between the chairman of the Senate Committee on Works and the chairman of the House Committee on Works. In some instances the chairmen could give their deputies a paltry sum from the 2.5 per cent, maybe N200 million worth of projects, depending on their relationship, but other members of the committee do not get to share from it, they will have to wait for their time,” he added.
When contacted about the reasons for the increment and the measures put in place to ensure that these projects are fully implemented, Special Adviser to President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Sen. Bashir Lado Muhammad did not respond to telephone calls and text messages. His counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ibrahim Kunle Olanrewaju referred The Verge to the leadership of the House. “You may wish to talk the leadership of the house for the answer, sir,” he said.
