International Budget Partnership to scrutinize Nigeria budget implementation

The International Budget Partnership (IBP) Nigeria has announced the PULSE Summit 2026, scheduled for September 3 in Abuja. The summit, themed ‘From Approved Budgets to the Last Mile: Examining Budget Implementation in Nigeria’, aims to investigate the gap between official budget allocations and the actual delivery of services to citizens.

IBP Nigeria Country Director Olayinka Babalola noted that while discussions often focus on budget size and revenue projections, the critical failure point is the ‘last mile’—the stage where funds should translate into tangible services like medicine, education, and water. The summit will focus on identifying where the implementation process breaks down, with a particular emphasis on the impact on marginalized groups, including women and girls.

Onyekachi Chukwu, IBP Nigeria’s Strategy and Policy Lead, identified several potential causes for implementation failures, including poor planning, delayed fund releases, procurement delays, and weak oversight.