It is immediately apparent from the law that lawmakers can vary the 3% deficit. The law also allows the president to increase the ratio above this if, in his opinion, “there is a clear and present threat to national security or sovereignty”.
When tabling the budget to lawmakers, Buhari acknowledged it exceeded the 3% deficit threshold. This, he said, was necessary in order to tackle the “existential security challenges facing the country”.
(Read our factsheet for more on the key issues at play in the elections.)
‘There’s no illegality there’
We asked experts if it was accurate to refer to the budget as illegal.
Felicia Anyogu is a professor of law at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in southeastern Nigeria. “There is no issue of illegality since the law says the ceiling can be exceeded,” she told Africa Check.
“However, I cannot say there is no breach but the breach has been normalised by the concession that the 3% ceiling can be exceeded if the president believes there is an existential threat to the country.”
University of Nigeria Nsukka law professor Edwin Ezike criticised what he said was the country’s high cost of governance and wastage of public funds.
“However, as far as the law is concerned, there is no breach in the president proposing a deficit-to-GDP ratio above the 3% ceiling, since the fiscal responsibility act provides that it can be exceeded if the president believes there is a threat to national security. The truth is such threats exist. So, with that, the law has not been breached.”
