The Federal Government has allocated a sum of N27bn for the entitlements of former presidents, vice-presidents, heads of state, chiefs of staff, retired heads of service, and professors in the 2025 fiscal year, investigations by Saturday PUNCH have revealed.
Beneficiaries of this allocation include former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari, alongside ex-vice-presidents Atiku Abubakar, Namadi Sambo, and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Others expected to benefit are ex-military Heads of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.) and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), as well as former military President, Ibrahim Babangida and retired Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe.
President Bola Tinubu presented the 2025 budget, titled ‘Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,’ to a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The ambitious N49.70tn spending plan emphasises defence, infrastructure, and human capital development, with a projected N13.39tn deficit to be financed through borrowing.
While addressing the lawmakers, Tinubu reaffirmed his administration’s resolve to strengthen national security and overhaul critical infrastructure.
According to the appropriation bill documents obtained by Saturday PUNCH, the Federal Government earmarked N1.4tn for pensions, gratuities, and retirees’ benefits.
Of this sum, N2.3bn is designated for former presidents, heads of state, and vice-presidents, while retired heads of service and permanent secretaries would receive N10.5bn.
Retired professors in universities are set to receive N13.5bn, and retired heads of government agencies and parastatals would get N1bn, bringing the total to N27bn.
The budget further reveals that N46bn is allocated for civilian pensions under the Office of the Head of Civil Service, while N383.9bn is earmarked for military pensions and gratuities.
An additional N66.8bn is budgeted for expected retirees, with N434m allocated for administrative charges, N596m for pension running costs, and N870m for medical retirees.
Provisions were also made for gratuity arrears covering January 2019 to December 2021, with N2.7bn allocated for this purpose.
Pension arrears are pegged at N1.86bn, while N2.2bn is set aside for death benefits accrued during the same period.
The budget earmarks N814m for verification exercises and N43bn for security debarment allowances, including arrears from 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Pension arrears related to minimum wage adjustments total N330m.
A total of N24.8bn is allocated for pensions and arrears under the Department of State Security.
Furthermore, N42bn is allocated for the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, N10.4bn for police pensions and gratuities, and N10.3bn for university pensions, including arrears and N43.4bn for parastatals and railway pensions.
The National Pension Commission is expected to receive N804.7bn, while in the area of death benefits, N35bn was set for deceased military personnel, N4.2bn for civil servants, and N3.5bn for police officers.
N500bn for students loan, school feedings
Meanwhile, the Federal Government also earmarked a total of N500bn for the student loan scheme and various national social investment programmes, including school feeding initiatives, for the coming year.
A sum of N50bn was budgeted for the student loan scheme.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that since it was established in April 3 this year, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund has disbursed loans worth N104bn to 613,734 students across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions since its inception.
Data from the fund indicates that 320,837 beneficiaries received N33.9bn for institutional fees, while 292,897 beneficiaries were granted N70.2bn for upkeep expenses.
Similarly, in the 2025 appropriation bill, the government also voted N250bn for the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy programmes, which include the upscaling of National Social Investment Programme.
These funds are to be disbursed under the Service-Wide Votes and Capital Supplementation, a category under the capital projects outlined for the upcoming year.
The government also allocated N100bn each for the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme and the Consumer Credit Fund initiatives.