Plan International Nigeria has condemned the low budgetary allocations to sectors that concern women, girls, youth and persons living with disabilities.

The rights group, in an analysis of the 2025 budget allocation, observed that despite the expensive budget of N54.99 trillion, a closer, people-centred analysis has revealed significant gaps between scale and substance, national priorities and actual allocations, particularly to the rights and welfare of women, girls, youth, and persons with disabilities.

The Country Director of Plan International Nigeria, Charles Usie, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja to unveil the findings of our analysis of the 2025 Federal Budget and launch the #BudgetTheChange campaign, bemoaned budget allocation to girls’ education in Nigeria.

Usie, who was represented by the Policy, Research and Influencing Manager, Tunde Aremu, lamented that despite having about 19.9 million children out of school, yet only ₦1.21 billion is allocated to girls’ education.

He said most of it is tied to physical infrastructure, stating that less than 20 per cent of the budget supports enrollment, retention, or targeted programs for vulnerable girls.

In the area of health, he lamented that the budget did not make direct provision for contraceptives or comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health services, despite well-documented needs, as only ₦1.06 billion was earmarked for menstrual hygiene support across all ministries. He said that to effectively meet the needs of 10 million girls experiencing period poverty, an estimated ₦120 billion is needed annually.

On youth development, Usie said that although a significant ₦745.5 billion was budgeted, item-based empowerment schemes like sewing or grinding machines dominated the budget, pointing out that strategic interventions like the Nigerian Youth Academy (NIYA) were not reflected, and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development remained underfunded and structurally sidelined.

For women’s empowerment, he said although ₦100.33 billion was allocated, but just like the youth interventions, the funding is spread thinly across short-term, input-focused projects—with little evidence of needs assessment or sustainability frameworks, saying groups such as adolescent mothers, survivors of violence, women with disabilities, and rural women were structurally unaccounted for.

He further bemoaned the allocation of ₦58 million for a national stakeholder meeting on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) affecting women and girls with disabilities, even though three in five women experience some form of GBV. Similarly, he said the ₦240 million allocated for rescued Chibok girls is insufficient to support trauma-informed, multi-year recovery programs.

Usie also condemned the ₦927.5 million allocated for about 11 million persons with disabilities, saying the figure equates to less than ₦85 per person per year, for a group already facing systemic exclusion in education, healthcare, livelihoods, and civic participation.

While stressing the need for the Nigerian government to have a rethink of how it plans for its citizens, he said the budgetary shows a broader structural issue, a fiscal planning process that prioritises visibility over value, projects over people, and inputs over outcomes.

The country director stated that in response to these challenges, Plan International Nigeria has launched the #BudgetTheChange campaign, aiming to enhance public understanding of the budget process and build the capacity of youth, women, and civil society actors to participate meaningfully in budget formulation.

The campaign will also drive evidence-based advocacy, legislative engagement, citizen-led monitoring, and systems-level reforms that anchor equity and inclusion in public finance.

He said, “We are not launching a campaign of criticism. We are launching a platform for collaboration and reform.”

“The time has come to move from budgeting for compliance to budgeting for impact. The 2025 budget must reflect the demographic reality of Nigeria—a country where over 60 per cent of the population is under 25; where half the population are women and girls; and where millions of citizens live with disabilities or in conflict-affected regions,” he stated.