2025 Budget: Reps may increase allocation to NIMC, NYSC, NDA, others

Ahead of the passage of the 2025 budget, the House of Representatives has dropped the hint that the allocations of key agencies like the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) would be increased.

The Deputy Spokesman of the House, Hon. Philip Agbese, made this known in an interactive session with reporters on Monday at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The Benue State-born lawmaker, who reiterated the commitment of the Speaker Tajudeen Abbas-led House to reposition the country for sustainable growth and development, assured that several other government agencies would benefit from increased budgetary allocations.

He, however, declined to disclose the exact amount each of the aforementioned agencies would receive due to the planned increase in allocation to them.

He said, “Yes, NIMC has become a very important agency of government in the past few years. A lot of Nigerians may not know how critical the agency is, but we can’t talk about a national data bank without empowering that commission.

“They came up with a robust projection for 2025, but they can only deliver if they are empowered to train their staff members and acquire the latest technological devices critical to the work they do. Without the NIMC, the war against terrorism will be difficult for the government and the security agencies.”

Agbese, who is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), maintained that the NYSC scheme deserved an increased budgetary allocation in view of its contribution to the manpower needs of the nation in both the public and private sectors.

On the NDA, he noted: “At a time when terrorists continue to come up with new strategies despite the gallantry of our troops, we cannot but devise means to outwit them. One of the ways to do this is to improve the funding of the institutions charged with the mandate of building the capacity of our security personnel to tackle emerging security challenges.

“In all this, we also realize that the budget envelope system is not enough to meet the capital expenditure needs of most of these agencies. If you recall when the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, appeared before the House Committee on Defence to defend the ministry’s budget, one of the things he complained about was the paltry allocation of N50 billion in the 2025 budget proposal. It is the same story for other agencies of government.”

He added that it has been agreed that foreign missions as well as the Ministry of Aviation also deserve an upward review of their budget estimates.

“We have made a case for the missions because of the critical services they are rendering to Nigerians in other countries,” he said.

“The Aviation Ministry, under the watch of Festus Keyamo, has brought in a lot of reforms aimed at boosting the government’s revenue as well as improving our national image. We are prepared to improve on the funding of the Ministry in this year’s budget proposal.”

Agbese thereby called on Nigerians to sustain their support for the Federal Government and the National Assembly, which are not resting on their oars in improving their well-being.

Recall that in the 2025 Appropriation Bill, presented to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, by President Bola Tinubu, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was allocated N66.88bn for capital expenditure and N286.88bn for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure.

READ ALSO:Reps hint at increasing allocation for NIMC, NYSC, NDA, foreign missions

Indeed, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Oluwole Oke, in a report in January 2025, stated that the needs assessment conducted by the ministry indicates they require N1.5 trillion.

Acknowledging that the Federal Government may not be able to meet this in a single financial year, and in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework approved by the parliament, he remarked that the ministry and its missions should receive at least N500 billion in view of the volatile nature of the foreign exchange rate.