By SUNTV Global Channel | February 2, 2026
Former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has sharply criticised the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over what he described as fiscal recklessness, accusing the Federal Government of running Nigeria on multiple overlapping budgets without transparency or accountability.
In a statement titled “Fiscal Recklessness”, shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday, Obi questioned the financial framework currently guiding governance in Nigeria, following reports that the Senate may approve the 2026 national budget on March 17.
“With the announcement that the Nigerian Senate is likely to approve the 2026 National Budget on March 17, every Nigerian is asking a fundamental question: which budget is Nigeria using this year?” Obi asked.
“Is it the 2023, 2024, 2025, or 2026 budget—or an unclear combination of all four?”
Obi argued that Nigeria has adopted an abnormal budgeting practice in recent years, where multiple national budgets are implemented simultaneously, a situation he said erodes fiscal discipline and weakens public accountability.
According to him, as recently as last year, projects from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 budgets were reportedly being implemented at the same time, creating confusion over timelines, funding and performance benchmarks.
He recalled that President Tinubu inherited a N21.83 trillion 2023 budget, which was legally approved before he assumed office, but later introduced a N2.17 trillion supplementary budget shortly after taking office.
Obi noted that the supplementary budget attracted widespread criticism, particularly for allegedly prioritising the welfare of public office holders at a time when Nigerians were facing severe economic hardship and policy reforms “without a credible social protection framework.”
Rather than correcting the imbalance, Obi alleged that the administration continued expanding the 2023 budget without a clearly defined termination period.
He said the trend continued with the passage of a N35.06 trillion budget in 2024 and a N54.99 trillion budget in 2025, bringing total appropriations under the Tinubu administration to over N114 trillion in less than three years.
“Despite this unprecedented level of public spending, the government has failed to achieve even 50 per cent budget implementation, which points to a profound crisis of budget credibility,” Obi stated.
He further expressed concern that until mid-2025, Nigeria effectively operated with three active budgets simultaneously, without clear legal or fiscal guidance defining their lifespan.
“No serious country manages its public finances this way,” Obi said.
The former governor also criticised the government’s decision to repeal and re-enact the 2024 and 2025 budgets with extended implementation periods, describing the process as opaque and poorly communicated.
According to him, Nigerians have not been provided with details of the revised budgets, including information on capital projects, cost variations or implementation priorities.
“This is not reform. It is fiscal obscurity elevated to the level of state policy,” Obi warned.
On the proposed 2026 budget, Obi said the absence of critical details suggests a lack of commitment to addressing the structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s public finance system.
He also accused the Federal Government of undermining transparency by discontinuing the publication of treasury reports on the OpenTreasury.gov.ng portal and failing to release any budget implementation report in 2025.
“No nation can operate with this level of recklessness and expect sustainable progress,” Obi cautioned.
He called for an urgent return to the January–December budget cycle, stressing that a predictable fiscal calendar is essential for effective planning, transparency, accountability and long-term economic growth.
