Civil society organisation BudgIT has uncovered 92 cases of fraudulent project execution across Nigeria, raising fresh concerns over transparency and accountability in public spending.
The findings are contained in BudgIT’s latest Tracka report, which monitored 2,760 government-funded projects implemented across 28 states during the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years.
The report revealed that while 1,438 projects were completed and 660 remained ongoing, 99 projects were abandoned and 471 were not executed at all despite budgetary provisions.
BudgIT said fraudulent projects were identified through practices such as diversion of funds, relocation of projects to unauthorised locations, duplication of projects already executed in previous budget cycles, partial delivery and poor-quality execution.
The organisation estimated that about ₦8.61 billion was lost to fraudulent practices out of the ₦15.07 billion disbursed for the affected projects.
According to the report, states including Imo, Lagos, Kwara, Abia and Ogun accounted for a significant proportion of the fraudulently executed projects.
This, the organisation noted, points to persistent weaknesses in project supervision and procurement oversight at both federal and state levels.
The Tracka report also flagged serious implementation challenges in critical sectors such as water resources, primary healthcare and federally funded projects in the Niger Delta.
Several projects in these sectors showed little or no evidence of work on site despite funding, while others were abandoned midway or delivered below acceptable standards.
Commenting on the findings, Head of Tracka, Joshua Osiyemi, said the tracked projects represented only about 11.2 per cent of total budgeted projects nationwide, suggesting that the scale of waste and inefficiency could be much higher.
He stressed the need for improved transparency, timely release of project information and stronger citizen participation in monitoring public projects.
BudgIT urged government agencies to publish comprehensive project data, strengthen supervision mechanisms, enforce sanctions against erring contractors and officials.
It also emphasised the importance of citizen-driven oversight in ensuring that public spending results in meaningful development.
The revelations have reignited public debate on fiscal accountability, with many Nigerians expressing concern over the continued prevalence of stalled, abandoned and poorly executed projects despite rising government expenditure.
