"Light of the World?" – Budget Revelations Ignite Criticism Over ₦266 Million Per Streetlight in Nigeria

 

Analyst Blasts N393 Billion Budget for Streetlights, Questions Priorities Amid Massive Insertions

A storm of criticism has trailed Nigeria’s 2025 budgetary allocation for streetlights after sharp observations from financial expert, Kalu Aja, who took to social media to highlight what he described as an outrageous misuse of public funds. His comments follow recent disclosures by civic tech organization BudgIT, which revealed that the National Assembly had inserted over 11,000 additional projects into the national budget—many of which are now under scrutiny for their cost and utility.

The 2025 fiscal plan, valued at N54.99 trillion, has attracted heavy criticism not just for its scale but more specifically for the unusual and eyebrow-raising allocations scattered across its pages. Among the most glaring is a N393.29 billion allocation tagged for the provision of streetlights. According to Aja, this figure translates to a staggering N266 million per unit for 1,477 streetlights.

Without mincing words, Aja expressed his disbelief on X (formerly Twitter), stating: “With the amount of ‘streetlights’ in this 2025 budget, Nigeria is supposed to be the light of the world. 1,477 streetlights for N393.29 billion, that’s N266 million per light. Are we installing the sun?”

His sarcasm reflects growing public frustration over what is widely viewed as budgetary bloat enabled by arbitrary insertions from legislative quarters. Citizens and experts alike have long lamented the growing trend of questionable capital projects, particularly those that fail to correspond with national development needs or realities on ground.

BudgIT, a civic group known for its efforts to enhance transparency in public finance, had earlier revealed that 11,122 projects—valued at N6.93 trillion—were surreptitiously added to the 2025 budget by the National Assembly. While some of these insertions may align with constituency needs, a significant portion is now being questioned for lack of clarity, inflated pricing, or duplication of efforts.

Streetlight allocations have frequently appeared in Nigerian budgets, but the scale and pricing in the 2025 document have left even seasoned analysts stunned. For context, industry estimates place the average cost of a fully installed solar-powered streetlight, including infrastructure and labor, at around N5 million to N10 million. Even at premium pricing for large-scale installations, experts argue that the current figures are exponentially out of touch.

Legislative overreach in the budgeting process has been a longstanding issue. The constitutional role of the National Assembly allows for input into budgetary planning, but critics argue that this process has morphed into an unregulated avenue for self-serving insertions, often at the expense of critical development sectors such as healthcare, education, and public transportation.

Several past reports have shown how projects like boreholes, streetlights, and ICT centers—inserted under the guise of constituency projects—frequently fall short of expectations. Many are either poorly executed or outrightly abandoned. Even worse, they often lead to duplicated functions already under the jurisdiction of federal ministries and parastatals.

The debate stirred by Aja’s post and BudgIT’s findings underscores the wider concern that Nigeria’s budgetary process is veering further from strategic planning and drifting into fiscal irresponsibility. Critics argue that a clearer demarcation of responsibilities, combined with greater oversight and transparency, is urgently needed to safeguard the nation’s limited resources.

Economists have weighed in, warning that such bloated projects put undue pressure on public finance and widen the budget deficit. With Nigeria already grappling with inflation, debt servicing challenges, and dwindling oil revenues, the insertion of extravagantly priced and possibly redundant projects does little to inspire investor confidence or public trust.

The question of who benefits from such insertions is one that remains at the center of public discourse. Calls for audits and legislative reform are growing louder, with stakeholders demanding that project feasibility and pricing be subjected to stricter evaluations before budget approval.

Social media has played a significant role in mobilizing public sentiment on the matter. Aja’s post, laced with biting irony, struck a nerve with many Nigerians who see the 2025 budget as yet another example of misplaced priorities in high places. The hashtag #LightOfTheWorld has begun trending in response, with users sharing memes and commentary ridiculing the idea that a single streetlight should cost more than a luxury apartment in Lagos.

Observers note that beyond public outcry, structural change is needed. Advocacy groups are urging the Executive arm to reject or review bloated insertions, while pushing for the institutionalization of independent budget monitoring systems. Some have even called for a rethinking of the entire budgeting approach, advocating for a bottom-up model that reflects actual developmental needs rather than politically motivated projects.

Ultimately, the controversy surrounding the N393.29 billion streetlight budget is not merely about lights or numbers. It represents a broader symptom of governance inefficiencies, one that raises pressing questions about Nigeria’s fiscal discipline, national priorities, and the true beneficiaries of its trillion-naira expenditures.