THE Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), the federal agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for promoting peacebuilding, conflict prevention and mediation in Nigeria, was allocated more than 13 constituency-related projects worth billions of naira in the Federal Government’s 2026 budget.
The budget includes at least 500 million budgeted for transportation and distribution of rice, vegetable oil, and seasoning cubes.
An analysis of the 2026 Appropriation Act by The ICIR shows that the projects, spread across pages 90 to 92 of the budget, include road construction, economic empowerment schemes, distribution of food items, agricultural interventions, motorcycles, sewing machines, solar-powered boreholes, relief materials, and construction of a Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre.
Established in 2000, the IPCR is Nigeria’s foremost government institution for peacebuilding, saddled with the statutory responsibilities of researching conflicts, promoting dialogue, developing early warning mechanisms, providing policy advice on peace and security, and supporting conflict prevention and resolution across the country.
In its budget for the year, N490 million was earmarked for township roads in Katsina. Another N2 billionwas allocated for economic empowerment programme in Borno Central Senatorial District, while yet another N2 billion was approved for economic support to businesses in Borno North Senatorial District.
These projects are listed under the IPCR despite being outside the institute’s traditional peacebuilding responsibilities.
The budget also provides N800 million for constructing a Computer-Based Test Centre in Numan, Adamawa State; N293.5 million for nationwide capacity building and empowerment programmes, as well N300 million for rice, N100 million for seasoning and oil, N200 million transport support for the distribution of rice, seasoning cubes, and vegetable oil.
Other allocations include N70 million for sporting kits for youths in Borno Central Senatorial District; N12.49 million for the installation of solar streetlights at Ulaja Secondary School, the NADDC office and a new site in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State; and N35 million for the renovation of the palace of the Fadar Sarki Kaita in Katsina State.
While N70 million was earmarked for the construction of a palace in the Takum/Donga/Ussa Federal Constituency of Taraba State; N35 million for sewing machines for widows in Cross River Central Senatorial District; N35 million for motorcycles for youths in Ikom, Cross River Central Senatorial District; the government approved 35 million for motorcycles for beneficiaries in Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency of Gombe State and multiple other vague allocations spread across different states in Nigeria.
These projects are typically associated with constituency interventions, social welfare, or infrastructure programmes rather than the statutory functions of an agency established to promote peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution in a nation deeply mired in conflict.
The allocations add to growing concerns among public finance experts and budget transparency advocates over the increasing mismatch between the statutory responsibilities of federal agencies and the projects they are required to execute.
The discovery comes amid heightened scrutiny of Nigeria’s 2026 budget following controversies surrounding several unusual allocations, including the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, an entity allocated over N1.3 billion despite the Presidency denying its existence.
It also follows earlier analysis by The ICIR, which found that the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) received allocations for grain distribution projects in Sokoto State, while the Nigerian Press Council was assigned hundreds of millions of naira for classroom construction and streetlight projects despite neither falling within their statutory mandates.
In its 2020 Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) shared concerns about agencies implementing projects outside their legal mandates, describing the practice as a major governance challenge and recommending that no federal agency should execute constituency projects outside its statutory functions.
According to the anti-corruption agency, assigning projects to institutions without the legal responsibility or technical expertise to implement them weakens accountability, complicates oversight and increases the risk of abandoned projects, poor execution and waste of public funds.
Budget transparency advocates have also repeatedly warned that agencies often lack the institutional capacity to deliver projects imposed through constituency allocations, resulting in poor budget performance and diminished value for money.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.