Lagos, Oct. 13, 2025 – The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), a Lagos-based private think tank, has advised the federal government to expand the size of its annual budgets.
The centre gave the advice in a “Policy Brief” it issued in Lagos on Sunday and signed by its Chief Executive, Muda Yusuf.
It described Nigeria’s annual budgets as relatively small in spite of its large economy and population.
The CPPE said the small budget size had limited government’s fiscal capacity for transformative investments in infrastructure, human capital, and social welfare.
It made a comparison of Nigeria’s 2025 budget, in dollar terms, to the budgets of some other African countries to reflect Nigeria’s fiscal limitations.
It said while Nigeria’s 2025 budget was $36.7 billion, South Africa’s budget was $141 billion, Algeria, $126 billion; Egypt, $91 billion; while Morocco’s was $73 billion.
The CPPE said the small size of the budget underscored the urgency for revenue diversification, public-private partnerships and enhanced non-tax revenue mobilization.
It said the limited fiscal space had also made the need to proritise budget spending imperative, advising that more budgetary allocations should be given to infrastructure, productivity, food security, security and human capital development in the annual budgets.
The think tank advised governments at all levels to minimize waste, link budget spending to measurable outcomes, and comply strictly with fiscal responsibility benchmarks.
The CPPE said that while the last fiscal and tax reforms had expanded government’s revenue base and improved fiscal sustainability, government must focus on deepening revenue diversification, enhancing spending efficiency, and aligning fiscal outcomes with real economic performance.
“With prudent management, stakeholder collaboration, and social sensitivity, these reforms can lay a solid foundation for a more resilient, productive, and inclusive Nigerian economy,” the centre said.
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