The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the 2025 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly on Friday by President Bola Tinubu as “A consolidation of the fiscal recklessness and renewed wishful thinking,” which it stated has become the hallmark of the Tinubu administration.
ADC, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, added that if approved, the only thing the budget is capable of sharing is more debts and greater misery to Nigerians in the years ahead.
The party stated that a review of the budget by a team of its economists revealed that the 2026 budget proposal only copied the templates of the 2024 and 2025 budgets, which it noted were unimplemented, and “will most likely end up in the same way, with the bulk of its implementation pushed to another year.”
ADC said the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government is presenting a new fiscal framework at a time when the 2025 budget has only just been repealed, describing it as a display of administrative incompetence.
“Truth is, Nigeria is caught in a fiscal mess.
“But rather than confront the problems, the Tinubu administration has continued to kick the can down the streets, believing that they can continue to hide the yawning cracks under mountains of unsustainable debts that mortgage the future generation, while they continue to indulge in financial profligacy,” the party said.
It stated that Tinubu’s administration failed to understand a fundamental economic truth, that no amount of monetary tinkering or central bank intervention can rescue an economy if the government refuses to embrace fiscal discipline and budget credibility.
“What we have seen under this Tinubu APC administration is a chaotic attempt to implement more than four budgets simultaneously because it lacks the basic competence to close out previous cycles and adhere to its own timelines.
“Governments may extend the budget implementation period or manage multiple supplementary budgets, but operating three or more national budgets simultaneously is President Tinubu’s original contribution to fiscal chaos. It has never happened before in this country,” ADC said.
It added that while revenues were pushed to N20 trillion in 2024, as a result of currency devaluation, the government had the audacity to double its projections to N40 trillion for 2025 and even raised it to N58.57 trillion in 2026.
“This is not vision; it is fantasy,” ADC stated.
The party noted the 2026 budget has embarked on another unsustainable expansion built on a foundation of quicksand, stating that at a period when oil projections are sliding and global prices dipping as a result of tensions in Europe, the Federal Government has set oil benchmark at $64 per barrel.
Instead of adopting a conservative posture to shield the nation from global volatility, ADC said, the APC government has set a revenue target of N34 trillion, adding that it showed that the administration is disconnected from reality.
“This administration behaves as if after them, there would be no Nigeria anymore.
“A budget that plans to generate N34 trillion in revenue while borrowing N24 trillion is an admission of fiscal insolvency.
“In no sane or functional fiscal system would a deficit-to-revenue ratio of 70% be considered acceptable or even be contemplated at all,” the ADC stated.
The party said the document presented before the National Assembly on December 19 is a debt trap masquerading as a budget.
It stated that the government claims it will spend N25.68tn on capital expenditure, “yet with a projected deficit of N23.85tn, it is clear that almost every single bridge, road, or project is being funded by high-interest debts.”
