Nigeria’s opposition party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has sharply criticised the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing it of poor governance and what it described as unprecedented confusion in the implementation of national budgets.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party alleged that the federal government has struggled to effectively execute its budgets since 2024, describing the situation as historically unusual.
According to the party, recent reports suggest that Nigeria is simultaneously running three budgets without fully implementing any of them.
“The ADC has noted recent reports that signify utter confusion and a historic level of incompetence in the Tinubu administration’s implementation of national budgets since 2024.
This is the first time in Nigerian history that any government would be running three budgets at the same time while implementing none,” the statement said.
The party pointed to available data indicating that although the 2024 budget was rolled into the 2025 fiscal plan, only 17.7 per cent of the capital component had been released by the third quarter of 2025. Overall implementation, it claimed, remained below 30 per cent, with internal disbursements also lagging behind schedule.
The ADC also rejected the government’s explanation that the overlapping budgets were part of a strategic transition plan.
“Government has argued that this absurdity is a ‘deliberate strategy’ and ‘transition cost’ to ensure that multi-year capital projects are completed. This is a blatant falsehood that cannot hold up to any scrutiny,” the party said.
It further noted that while 30 per cent of the 2025 budget is expected to run from February 2026 to November 30, 2026, the remaining 70 per cent has been rolled over to the 2026 budget, which is still under consideration at the National Assembly months into the year.
The party recalled that President Tinubu had earlier promised that all capital components of the 2024 and 2025 budgets would be completed by March 31, 2026.
“This situation becomes even more alarming when we recall that President Tinubu promised last year that all capital components of the 2024 and 2025 budgets would be concluded by March 31, 2026, less than a month away, knowing quite well that this is not possible,” the statement added.
ADC also highlighted what it described as low capital budget implementation in key sectors. According to the party, implementation for the Ministry of Power stands at 3.6 per cent, while Communications Technology is at 8.9 per cent. Education and Health, it said, have reached 23.5 per cent and 32.5 per cent respectively.
“Certainly, no serious government would leave these sectors, which are crucial to national human capital development, largely unfunded while select government officials continue to live in obscene opulence in the midst of unprecedented poverty and human misery,” the party stated.
The party noted that the Ministry of Defence was the only ministry that exceeded its budget performance, reaching 113.45 per cent, largely due to emergency allocations through the Service-Wide Vote.
Despite this, it argued that insecurity has continued to worsen in parts of the country.
“Recent reports indicate that in this month of Ramadan alone, up to 500 Nigerians may have been killed by terrorists in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and Kebbi,” the statement said.
The opposition party also questioned the government’s claims of improved revenue generation and foreign reserves, noting that the administration had accumulated significant loans.
“This government has borrowed more aggressively than any other government in the country’s history. Yet, budgets remain unimplemented and contractors remain unpaid,” it said.
“This is the reason Nigerians are suffering like never before and asking the most important questions: what is this government doing with all the money that accrues from all the loans, all the revenues, and all the increased taxes? Why are we worse off today than we were three years ago?”
The party also accused the government of policy inconsistency, claiming analysts had identified several appointments and policy decisions that were either reversed shortly after being announced or withdrawn following public criticism.
“Since this government came on board, analysts have identified at least seven appointments and several policy decisions that the government has announced and reversed either almost immediately or after public uproar. This is what happens when a government is distracted,” the ADC said.
It further alleged that the administration was more focused on political issues than governance.
“The Tinubu government has proven that to them everything is about politics and power for its own sake. This is why Nigerians are being slaughtered at an industrial scale across the country while the government feasts,” the statement read.
“This is why, despite all the propaganda of having performed wonders, Nigeria still holds the ignoble position of having the highest number of people in the world living in extreme poverty, with at least six out of every ten Nigerians unable to feed themselves.”
The party also criticised the government for what it described as excessive political celebration following the recent election in the Federal Capital Territory.
“Yet what we see is a government that continues to gloat over its ‘victory’ in the FCT election and obsess over ADC online membership registration,” the statement concluded.