As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presents the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly today, questions are still being raised over the level of the implementation of the 2025 budget.
Checks at the Budget Office of the Federation indicated that no record of the 2025 budget performance; raising questions about accountability and transparency as stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Tanimu Yakubu, had, in August, during a stakeholders’ engagement on the implementation of the 2025 capital budget and related issues, held in Abuja, said the federal government was funding the capital component of the 2024 budget using revenue accrued under the 2025 budget.
‘The federal government has used the revenue accruing from the 2025 budget to fund the capital component of the 2024 budget. Similarly, the 2025 revenue projections in the budget have been underperforming as we have not met our oil production quota,’ he had disclosed. Efforts by Daily Trust yesterday to get the spokesperson of the Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Afolabi Olajuwon, to speak on the level of the implementation of the 2025 budget were unsuccessful as he neither answered calls nor replied to a text message sent to his mobile telephone line.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act 2027 requires publication of quarterly budget implementation reports.
Section 30 of the Act reads: ‘The Minister of Finance, through the Budget Office of the Federation, shall monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Annual Budget, assess the attainment of fiscal targets and report thereon on a quarterly basis to the Fiscal Responsibility Council and the Joint Finance Committee of the national Assembly.
‘The Minister of Finance shall, cause the report prepared pursuant to subsection (1) of this section to be published in the mass and electronic and on Ministry of Finance website, not later than 30 days after the end of each quarter.’
Experts and economists, who spoke to Daily Trust, called for a rethinking of the current budgeting process, noting that the multiplicity of budgets in a fiscal year is highly confusing.
The president, according to a notice issued yesterday by the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly, is scheduled to present the new fiscal document to a joint session of the legislature at 2:00 pm today.
The 2026 budget is projected at N54.4 trillion, according to the approved 2026-2028 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The federal government had urged all ministries, departments and agencies to roll over 70 per cent of their 2025 capital budget to 2026.
A circular by the Minister of Economic Planning and Budget, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, had said all the rollover and uploads must be in line with the immediate needs of the country as well as government’s development priorities that aligns with the policy direction of the new administration
‘This hinges on national security, economy, education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, power and energy as well as social safety nets, women and youth empowerment.’
It said the MDAs were also required to not exceed their 2025 overhead ceilings (executive proposal) for the purpose of preparing their 2026 Overhead budget submissions.
‘While we note the impact of inflation on overhead costs, we are however constrained by revenue challenges in providing significantly more for overheads. We will however sustain the effort to achieve full release of the overhead budget,’ the circular read in part.
Experts speak
A professor of Financial Economist, Ndubisi Nwokoma in a chat with our correspondent, said it is a hugely disorganised system.
He attributed the situation to what he called a governance issue and called on the executive to bring its house to order.
The current budgeting system, he reiterated, ‘is hugely disorganised. It is not in any way structured. There’s no order. And all we hear is government spending and I wonder where the government is basing their expenditures on.
‘Because actually, it is a matter of 2024, 2025 and 2026, we have different budgets. We have supplementary budgets. We have so many. So it is like many of us actually have even lost interest in focusing on this because it is so confusing, so unstructured, so disorganised.
‘And then one wonders how the machinery of government is being operated. So, to me, there is so much dissonance, so much disorganisation, so much confusion when it comes to management of the country’s public finance. That is basically what I can say. It is actually confusing.’
Asked how the current situation can be avoided in the future, he said, ‘It is pure governance. It’s a governance issue. The executive would have to bring about that order. It’s governance.
‘They will tell you now it’s because of the shortfall in revenue. Anyhow you look at it, it is governance. It’s a governance issue. Whether you have a shortfall or not a shortfall, even if it’s a shortfall, you may have some part of the budget not funded.
‘If you have a shortfall in revenue, different from what was projected in the budget, I have a shortfall. You may have to talk about so many. You can say, okay, now we don’t have all the money we thought we would have for this particular subhead. You cannot prorate. You can say, okay, we had planned to give $100 billion for something, but we cannot do the $100 billion. Now, we can do $70 billion.
‘Then by next year, you cannot complete it and get that project in the ground but the idea of new revenue or shortfall in revenue to me is not an excuse, it is purely a governance issue and it’s purely the executive that has to put its house in order.’
‘Holistic budget reform needed’
An economist, Dr Muda Yusuf, stressed the need for a holistic budget reform in view of the current multiple budgeting system.
In a policy brief titled, ‘Reforming Nigeria’s Budget Process: Ending the Cycle of Rollovers and non-implementation’, Yusuf, the CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), said: ‘Nigeria’s persistent challenge of irregular budget implementation, particularly in capital expenditure, calls for a fundamental rethink of the budgeting process.’
He said, ‘Rather than discard projects that were approved but not implemented, it is more prudent to consolidate outstanding projects, clear the accumulated backlog, and re-present them within a more coherent and credible framework.
‘This approach provides an opportunity to reset the system and break the recurring cycle of rolled-over budgets-especially capital budgets-that undermines development outcomes and public confidence.’
A financial analyst, Kalu Aja, in a post on his X page, raised posers on the new budget presentation.
‘How do you present the 2026 budget when you have not accounted for the 2025 budget? Where has the income for 2025 gone? Is this a joke?’
Another analyst said, ‘This is merely fiscal theatre, not budgeting. You don’t plan forward while refusing to account backwards.’
Genesis of multiple budgets
Following the dismal performance of the 2024 budget, the National Assembly had approved the roll-over of the budget into 2025.
However, as of June 2025, the 2024 full-year budget performance report revealed that the federal government had disbursed only 32.28% of its 2024 capital budget.
The report said: ‘The sum of N13.77 trillion was appropriated for the capital expenditure. This translates to prorate quarterly expenditure outlay of N3.44 trillion in 2024. Actual capital expenditure of N6.17 trillion was spent in the 2024 fiscal year.
‘The release of funds to MDAs for capital expenditure as at the fourth quarter of 2024 was done in tranches based on availability of resources and government priorities. Data from the OAGF on 2024 capital performance for MDAs as at 31st March, 2025 showed that a total of N4.00 trillion was released to and cash-backed for MDAs’ 2024 capital projects and programmes.
‘The sum of N948.86 billion was released as First Tranche, N840.52 billion was released as Second Tranche, N1.08 trillion was released as Third Tranche, N284.08 billion was released as Fourth Tranche, and N123.91 billion was released as Additional Fourth Tranche. A total of N722.82 billion was released as AIEs Service Wide.’
2024, 2025 budgets harmonised?
On Wednesday, the president asked the National Assembly to consider and pass a new N43.56 trillion Appropriation (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill for the 2024-2025 fiscal years.
According to the president, the move is to end multiple budgets.
In a letter transmitted to both chambers of the legislature, the president explained that the proposed legislation would reset the federal budgeting framework by harmonising appropriations for the two fiscal years and consolidating emergency expenditures undertaken in the national interest.
The letter, dated December 16, 2025, said the bill sought authorisation for the issuance of a total sum of N43.56 trillion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation for the year ending December 31, 2025.
A breakdown of the proposed expenditure shows N1.74 trillion for statutory transfers, N8.27 trillion for debt service, N11.27 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N22.28 trillion for capital expenditure and development fund contributions.
The president explained that the bill also provides a transparent and constitutionally grounded framework for consolidating and appropriating critical and time-sensitive expenditures undertaken in response to emergency situations, national security concerns, and other urgent needs.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
