Nigeria’s budget per person far below $2.15 poverty mark – report

Nigeria’s 2025 budget both federal and state governments combined when analysed based on budget per capita amounts to $0.63, way lower than the average $2.15 per day marked by the World Bank for people living in extreme poverty.

This is a big blow for a country ranked closely behind India as the second most populous nation with highest poverty levels now estimated at 129 million.

Analysts Data Services and Resources (ADSR) in its latest report stated that the values of Nigeria’s budget per person at the federal and state levels stood at $0.43 and $0.21, respectively.

This amount is both lower than $0.56 and $0.36 in the previous year’s budget, highlighting the gravity of FX pressures in budget ratio per individual.

“The daily budget per person at all levels (national, federal, and state) is far below the poverty line of $2.15,” the analysts said.

“This indicates that the budget, distributed across the insufficient to meet the citizens, such as food, healthcare and education,” the Ibadan-based research firm said in its report.

While the per capita budget has shrunk in dollar terms, its naira equivalents have equally plunged to N348,481 annually.

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The federal budget per capita amounts to N235,706. This means that, on average, each citizen can spend N645.8 daily, if the budget were shared among all Nigerians.

At the state level, the budget per citizen is N115,500 for the year while the daily budget for individual is N317.

“Cumulatively, if the national budget were to be shared by citizens, each person will get N348,481 per year from the 2025 budget; that is, each person gets N955 daily from the budget,” the report indicated.

The budget per citizen is a useful indicator of how much government investment is available for each individual, how much the government plans to spend on each citizen.

Read also: Nigeria’s budget hike: Growth strategy or a bigger debt burden?

Further analysis of the 2025 budget by ADSR showed that the total national budget approved for the year stood at N81.3 trillion.

This comprises FG’s N54.99 trillion and the state governments’ N26.30 trillion, representing an increase of 51.9 percent compared to 2024 budget.

The federal budget rose by 56.9 percent while combined states budgets increased by 42.4 percent when compared to the previous year.

“The substantial budget increases across all levels suggest a response to address economic conditions such as the increase in the minimum wage, investment in infrastructure, and other key sectors of the economy, as well as increase in price level,” the analysts explained.

President Bola Tinubu through the National Assembly jacked up Nigeria’s budget from N49.7 trillion to N54.2 trillion, in boost for more capital expenditure, especially with the cut down on US aids.

But analysts are worried that the over N700 billion addition might still effect desirable changes, especially with ballooning debt servicing.