A BUDGET WITHOUT COMPLIANCE AND SCRUTINY: WHY NIGERIANS HAVE LOST FAITH IN TINUBU’S 2026 PROPOSAL
…..A CYCLE OF BUDGETARY OPACITY AND FAILED EXPECTATIONS
As President Bola Tinubu prepares to present the 2026 Appropriation Bill—estimated at ₦54.4 trillion—to the National Assembly on December 19, 2025, many Nigerians view the event with profound skepticism.
This distrust stems from a pattern of poor budget implementation, lack of transparency, and unfulfilled promises under the current administration.
Despite the hasty reforms like subsidy removal which should have ordinarily free up money for investment by reducing pressure on our National revenue but what we are witnessing is increased borrowing and poor spending culture by the government, the government has failed to deliver tangible improvements in infrastructure, security, or economic relief, leaving citizens to bear the brunt of hardship.
A major source of frustration is the absence of accountability and lack of transparency for prior budgets. No comprehensive budget implementation report for 2025 has been published by the Budget Office of the Federation, marking the first time in 15 years that quarterly performance reports have been withheld.
This opacity violates fiscal responsibility laws and fuels suspicions of mismanagement. As Nigerians we rightly ask: How can a new budget be proposed when the performance of the current one remains unknown?
The administration’s concurrent operation of overlapping budget cycles—extending 2024 capital spending into 2025 while introducing new plans—exacerbates this chaos, leading to poor execution and carryover of unexecuted capital projects whose survival is dependent on more borrowing to bridge the deficit.
Historical performance underscores the cynicism. In previous budgets, recurrent expenditures (salaries and overheads) often achieved near-100% implementation, while capital expenditures—critical for roads, schools, hospitals, and power—languished at low levels due to delays, corruption, and revenue shortfalls in-spite of the bold claim by the president that
“We have met our revenue target” back in September, to the recent admission of a massive ₦30 trillion revenue shortfall in 2025, this is making it look like the government is not well coordinated due to the repeated circle of reversal public declaration.
Despite removing fuel subsidies in 2023 and claiming savings, reports emerged of significant spending on “energy security” and pipeline protection, raising questions about where revenues have gone.
Crude oil production has hovered around 1.4-1.5 million barrels per day in 2025, below the 2 million bpd target despite heavy investments in security contracts while oil theft in Nigeria is at an alarming level despite the claim that 17.5 trillion was spent on pipeline protection.
Under this administration Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has faced particular scrutiny. Audited statements revealed substantial expenditures on items like 30 billion for entertainment and out of this world security-related costs, amid allegations of wasteful spending.
While the government touts revenue gains from reforms, ballooning national debt—now over ₦150 trillion—and record debt servicing costs crowd out productive investments. Taxes have risen, subsidies vanished, yet hunger, unemployment, and infrastructure deficits persist.
This administration has eroded gains in budgetary discipline achieved in prior years. A rubber-stamp legislature fails to demand answers, deepening public distrust.
Nations thrive on truth, competence, integrity, and merit—not on opaque finances, flip-flops, or unrealistic projections amid misplaced focuses on unproductive and wasteful decisions largely driven by perpetual borrowing, unaccounted funds, and unrealistic promises.
The 2026 budget presentation risks becoming another ritual of unfulfilled promises unless accompanied by full disclosure of 2025 performance, independent audits of major expenditures, and concrete steps toward transparency.
Nigerians deserve leadership that accounts for every naira, Puts emphasis on development over waste, and rebuilds trust through results, not rhetoric. Without these, expectations will remain zero—and rightly so.
Confidence in government is at all time low.
