Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has strongly criticised the Federal Government’s budgeting process, describing Nigeria’s current fiscal management as reckless, opaque and dangerously unsustainable.
In a statement titled “Fiscal Recklessness”, Obi raised alarm over reports that the Senate may approve the 2026 national budget on March 17, questioning which budget Nigeria is actually operating in 2026.
“With the announcement that the Nigerian Senate is likely to approve the 2026 National Budget on March 17, every Nigerian is asking an important question: which budget will Nigeria use this year?” Obi asked.
He expressed concern that Nigeria appears to be operating multiple budgets simultaneously, noting that as of last year, budget items from 2023, 2024 and 2025 were still being implemented concurrently.
“This unique approach to budgeting continues to perpetuate a trend of fiscal recklessness,” he said.
Obi recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited a legally approved ₦21.83 trillion 2023 budget, but shortly after assuming office, presented a ₦2.17 trillion supplementary budget, which he said attracted widespread criticism.
According to him, the supplementary budget prioritised benefits for public office holders at a time Nigerians were grappling with painful economic reforms without an effective social protection framework.
“Instead of restoring fiscal discipline, the President repeatedly expanded the 2023 budget without a clearly defined end date,” Obi said.
He noted that the same pattern continued with the passage of a ₦35.06 trillion budget for 2024 and a ₦54.99 trillion budget for 2025, bringing total public spending under the current administration to over ₦114 trillion in less than three years.
“Yet, the government has failed to achieve even fifty per cent budget implementation, exposing a profound crisis of budget credibility,” he stated.
Obi further lamented that until mid-2025, Nigeria was effectively operating three overlapping budgets, without clear legal or fiscal guidance on when each budget expired or commenced.
“No serious country manages its budgets or fiscal operations in such a manner,” he declared.
He also criticised what he described as the Federal Government’s opaque repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 budgets, with extended implementation timelines.
“Nigerians have not seen these re-enacted budgets, and there is no public information regarding the specific capital projects included or their associated costs,” Obi said.
“This is not reform; it represents fiscal obscurity elevated to the level of state policy.”
Turning to the proposed 2026 budget, Obi said the document, despite lacking critical details, suggests that the administration has no intention of addressing the structural weaknesses undermining Nigeria’s public finance system.
He argued that the lack of transparency was deliberate, pointing to the government’s decision to stop publishing treasury reports on the OpenTreasury.gov.ng portal.
“The Federal Government has dismantled a vital transparency framework inherited from the previous administration,” he said, adding that no budget implementation report was released in 2025, regardless of performance.
“No nation can operate with such recklessness and succeed,” Obi warned.
He called for an urgent return to the January–December budget cycle, which he said was inherited but mismanaged by the current administration.
According to him, restoring the budget cycle would improve planning, enhance transparency and accountability, and promote sustainable growth and development.
“Every effort must be made to quickly return Nigeria to the January–December budget cycle,” Obi said.
