…Over N2bn disbursed for projects not executed
Only about 52% of Nigeria’s 2024 capital projects show evidence of on-ground delivery, according to a report by civic-tech group BudgIT’s Tracka, raising questions about the effectiveness of public spending despite official assurances of strong budget execution.
The findings are based on field monitoring of projects funded under the N10.8 trillion capital expenditure component of the federal budget.
Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said in September 2025 that the 2024 budget had achieved about an 80% implementation rate, a figure that reflects overall spending across both recurrent and capital components.
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Tracka’s assessment, however, focuses strictly on capital projects—roads, schools, health facilities and other infrastructure—where physical delivery is expected to follow budgetary allocations.
Tracka’s findings point to widespread execution gaps despite significant disbursements. Projects classified as unexecuted, abandoned or fraudulently delivered account for billions of naira in released funds, the report said, raising concerns about the metrics used by authorities to assess budget performance and the link between expenditure and tangible outcomes.
BudgIT launched Tracka in 2014 to address what it described as a structural weakness in transparency reforms. “Publishing budget data alone does not guarantee accountability or service delivery,” Osiyemi Joshua, head of Tracka at BudgIT, said. The platform embeds citizens directly into the monitoring process, allowing communities to verify whether projects listed in government budgets are actually delivered.
In October 2024, Tracka began tracking the capital component of Nigeria’s N34 trillion national budget, expanding coverage from 25 states in the previous cycle to 30 states in 2024. Tracking concluded in October 2025, following two extensions of the budget’s implementation timeline, first to June 30 and later to Dec. 31, 2025. In total, 2,760 projects were monitored, with a focus on selected sectors to assess service delivery outcomes.
According to the report, projects that were not executed at all accounted for N2.19 billion out of N7.60 billion disbursed for that category, representing nearly 29% of all unexecuted projects tracked.
Abandoned projects were linked to about N7.8 billion of the N8 billion disbursed, while fraudulently delivered projects accounted for N8.61 billion out of N15.07 billion released, reflecting cases of fund diversion, repeat payments for previously completed works or substandard delivery.
Sector-specific tracking highlighted acute weaknesses in critical infrastructure. Following repeated collapses of Nigeria’s national power grid—recorded 12 times between 2023 and early 2025—Tracka conducted targeted monitoring of 16 dam projects across 13 states, representing disbursements of N432 million. Only four of those projects were completed, while six had not commenced despite funding and four were abandoned.
In the oil-producing Niger Delta, Tracka tracked 48 projects backed by N7.8 trillion in disbursements across Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta and Rivers states. While 29 projects were completed and operational, 13 had not commenced despite evidence that funds had been released, and two could not be traced to any physical location.
State-level performance varied widely. Katsina, Rivers, Bauchi, Gombe and Kano recorded the highest completion rates, each exceeding 65%. At the other end of the spectrum, Adamawa, Benue, Yobe, Ondo and Delta posted completion rates below 35%, with Delta at just 15.63%. Several states also recorded high shares of projects either ongoing well past schedule or not executed at all.
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“This disconnect underscores the continued relevance of Tracka’s mission and reinforces our resolve to remain deeply engaged in bridging this divide—by embedding citizens directly into the monitoring process rather than leaving oversight solely in the hands of government officials,” Joshua said.
The report adds to growing scrutiny of Nigeria’s public finances at a time when the government is under pressure to demonstrate that rising budgetary outlays are translating into improved infrastructure and services, rather than remaining figures on paper.
