56,000 Abandoned Projects Expose Nigeria’s Budgeting Flaws — Akabueze

A former Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, has said that over 56,000 abandoned projects across Nigeria reflected deep structural flaws in the country’s budgeting system.

Akabueze made this known while speaking at a two-day National Policy Dialogue in Abuja organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on National Planning and Economic Development.

He said the scale of abandoned projects underscored a persistent failure to connect budgetary allocations with actual development outcomes.

“The existence of over 56,000 abandoned projects is a clear symptom of failure in linking budgets to development outcomes,” he said.

Akabueze noted that although Nigeria has developed several medium- and long-term development plans over the years, their impact has been weakened by poor implementation and lack of coordination among relevant institutions.

He stressed that budgets are meant to serve as a “compass” for directing national resources but questioned how effectively they have fulfilled that role in practice.

The former Budget Office boss also pointed to the absence of a comprehensive legal framework guiding the country’s budgeting process, describing existing constitutional provisions as vague and insufficient.

He called for the enactment of an organic budget law to strengthen fiscal discipline and ensure proper alignment between public spending and development priorities.

Also speaking at the event, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Tope Fasua, advocated a shift towards a more development-driven budgeting system.

“Budgeting is not about capitulating to limitations; it is about documenting a greater future and challenging ourselves to outperform the past,” he said.

The Vice President emphasised that annual budgets must be integrated with medium- and long-term development plans to effectively drive economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve living standards across the country.