NIGERIA: Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi has once again sounded the alarm on Nigeria’s rampant corruption, this time citing a staggering ₦7 trillion in questionable projects inserted into the 2025 national budget. According to Obi, this amount dwarfs the combined allocations to critical ministries such as Education, Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Agriculture.
“Nigeria has become a relentless scene of corruption,” Obi stated. “We must urgently and aggressively combat corruption, misappropriation, and fiscal recklessness to manage our resources effectively and efficiently, and invest in critical areas of development: health, education, and lifting our people out of poverty.”
The ₦7 trillion in questionable projects is even more than the combined allocations to the Ministry of Education (₦3.52 trillion), Ministry of Health (₦2.48 trillion), Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (₦260 billion), and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (₦636.08 billion). This amount is also greater than the ₦6.1 trillion allocated to national security.
“It’s unconscionable that our leaders are more interested in lining their pockets than investing in the future of our children,” Obi lamented. “The ₦7 trillion uncovered as fraudulently inserted into the 2025 budget is a clear indication of the brazen impunity that has taken hold of our nation.”
Obi stressed that corruption is crippling critical sectors, citing nearly 20 million out-of-school children, a struggling primary healthcare system, widespread hunger, and inadequate funding for national security and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
“We face widespread hunger, yet our leaders neglect agricultural investment due to persistent mismanagement and a lack of accountability,” Obi noted. “The same disregard affects our capacity to fund national security effectively, or to support MSMEs, which are vital to national growth.”
Obi concluded that Nigeria must confront corruption head-on and prioritize transparent management of its resources to ensure a brighter future for its citizens. “A new Nigeria is possible,” he declared. “We must turn this nation around and secure a better future for our people.
“A new Nigeria is POssible.”
