… Says ₦9.36bn Travel, Feeding Allocation for Tinubu, Shettima Could Fund 62 Schools, 208 Boreholes, 5 PHCs
By| Goodluck E.Adubazi, Abuja
ActionAid Nigeria has called on the Federal Government and state governments to shift public spending away from prestige projects and excessive administrative expenditure towards investments that directly improve the lives of Nigerians.
The organisation’s call followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent appeal to state governors to discontinue the construction of unnecessary flyovers in locations without significant traffic congestion and instead prioritise projects with greater benefits to citizens.
ActionAid Nigeria said the President’s remarks should trigger a broader national conversation on public finance and how scarce public resources are allocated at all levels of government.
While acknowledging that infrastructure remains critical to national development, the organisation argued that the central challenge is not the construction of flyovers itself, but a wider pattern of public expenditure that often places prestige and political visibility above citizens’ welfare.
It said that at a time millions of Nigerians are facing economic hardship and making significant sacrifices, every naira of public funds should deliver measurable value to citizens.
ActionAid Nigeria urged governments to review expenditures with limited public benefits, including unnecessary prestige projects, luxury acquisitions, excessive official travels, oversized government delegations and discretionary spending that lacks adequate transparency and accountability.
According to figures released by the Budget Office of the Federation, President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima have a combined allocation of ₦9.36 billion in the 2026 budget proposal for local travel, foreign travel, food and refreshments.
The organisation, however, noted that the figure may not represent the full cost of official trips, as expenses relating to accompanying officials and other operational support are often captured separately in the budgets of relevant government institutions.
ActionAid Nigeria said public budgets ultimately reveal the priorities of governments, adding that a 50 per cent reduction in the proposed ₦9.36 billion allocation could free approximately ₦4.68 billion for essential public services.
Based on recently published government project costs, the organisation estimated that the amount, if redirected to education, water supply and primary healthcare, could provide approximately 62 three-classroom school blocks, 208 solar-powered boreholes and five fully equipped primary healthcare centres across Nigeria.
Commenting on the issue, Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Dr Andrew Mamedu, said the debate should go beyond reducing expenditure to fundamentally changing the country’s spending priorities.
“This is not merely a question of reducing expenditure; it is about changing national priorities.
Every unnecessary luxury purchase represents classrooms that were never built. Every unjustifiable trip represents medicines that never reached a primary healthcare centre.”
Mamedu further argued that unaccounted security votes and prestige projects could represent missed opportunities to address insecurity, poverty and inequality.
He said: “Every unaccounted security vote represents communities that continue to live in fear without knowing how public resources intended for their protection were spent.
Every prestige project that fails to address citizens’ needs represents another missed opportunity to reduce poverty and inequality.
“Public budgets are moral documents. They reveal whose interests governments choose to protect.”
ActionAid Nigeria maintained that Nigeria’s development challenge is not simply the availability of resources, but the choices governments make in deploying those resources.
The organisation called on the Federal and state governments to prioritise investments in quality public education, primary healthcare, water and sanitation, food security, climate resilience and social protection.
It also urged authorities to reduce the cost of governance by curbing unnecessary official travel, luxury purchases and oversized government delegations.
The group further called for stronger transparency and accountability in discretionary public expenditure, including security-related spending, while safeguarding legitimate national security interests.
It urged governments to ensure that infrastructure projects are selected based on evidence, community priorities and measurable development outcomes rather than political visibility.
ActionAid Nigeria also advocated institutionalising meaningful citizen participation in budget planning, implementation and monitoring to ensure that public resources respond to the actual needs of communities.
The organisation urged leaders at all levels to use the current debate to redirect public spending from prestige to purpose, stressing that the true measure of governance should not be the number of monuments constructed, but the number of lives improved through quality education, accessible healthcare, safe water, decent livelihoods and opportunities for Nigerians to thrive.
