ABUJA, Nigeria — In a dramatic move to quash a planned protest during his budget presentation, President Bola Tinubu approved a significant increase in constituency project allowances for lawmakers, raising them to ₦1 billion per member.
The concession was made ahead of Tinubu’s presentation of the 2025 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday. The ₦47.90 trillion budget focuses on fiscal stimulus packages, public expenditure, and non-inflationary spending to boost the country’s economy.
Tensions ran high in the House of Representatives earlier, as lawmakers prepared to disrupt the president’s speech with chants of “no to tax bills” and “withdraw tax bills.”
“Plans have been concluded to heckle during President Tinubu’s budget presentation speech,” a source familiar with the proceedings said. “But the lawmakers were quickly invited to a meeting with the House leadership at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.”
The emergency closed-door meeting, called by House Speaker Abba Tajudeen, urged lawmakers to abandon their protest and maintain decorum.
“They appealed to members to respect the sanctity of the hallowed chambers and the existing cordial relationship with the Executive,” the source added. “They therefore announced that the president had graciously increased the constituency allowance to ₦1 billion per member.”
Although the allowances are earmarked for constituency projects, critics argue they are often funneled into companies linked to lawmakers, with little oversight on the projects themselves.
Legislative insiders also revealed that senators are expected to receive even larger allowances, reportedly between ₦2 billion and ₦4 billion each.
In the 2024 budget, constituency project allowances ranged from ₦200 million to ₦500 million, depending on lawmakers’ proximity to key leaders like Speaker Tajudeen and Appropriations Committee Chairman Abubakar Bichi.
This latest allocation follows a ₦500 million and ₦200 million disbursement to senators and House members respectively in July, after the National Assembly approved an increase of ₦6.2 trillion to the 2024 budget. These funds were reportedly embedded in ministries like Agriculture and Water Resources.
Attempts to reach House spokesperson Akin Rotimi for comments were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
