The federal government has appropriated the sum of N2.3 trillion for two the scrapped ministries of Niger Delta and Sports Development in the 2025 budget estimate.
In October 2024, President Bola Tinubu through Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, scrapped ministries after presiding over the federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
According to Daily Trust, said there was no due diligence in allocating the monies into the sectors even if it turned out that the monies earmarked were meant for the new Ministry of Regional Development and the National Sports Commission (NSC).
The outlet said the scrapped Ministry of Sports Development, the budget shows an allocation of N95 billion, with N0.9 billion allocated for personnel, N14 billion for overhead and N79.7 billion for capital expenditure.
The National Sports Commission took over the role of the Ministry of Sports Development, which was not allocated any fund, according to the budget document.
The document shows that North West Development Commission (WDC), got N585.93 billion, while South West Development Commission (SWDC) got N498.40 billion.
Similarly, South East Development Commission (SEDC) was allocated the sum of N341.27 billion; while
North East Development Commission (NEDC) got N290.99 billion in adding to NDDC, which got N776.53 billion.
Personnel cost will gulp N2.205 trillion, while N1.7 billion is budgeted for overhead.
Also, Capital expenditure will gulp N24.5 billion, according to the plan.
The scrapped Niger Delta ministry, all the five regional development commissions also have their separate allocations in the total budget package of N49.7 trillion, which was presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by the president last week.
The development has raised fundamental questions about budget padding among Nigerians, including other prominent Nigerians and stakeholders.
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