Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party Mr Peter Obi has criticised the Federal Government over what he described as fiscal recklessness in the management of Nigeria’s national budgets.
In a statement shared on his official X account on Monday, Obi questioned which budget Nigeria is currently operating as the Senate prepares to approve the 2026 national budget on March 17.
He observed that since 2023, the country has been implementing budget components from different fiscal years at the same time, a situation he described as abnormal and damaging to sound public finance management.
According to Obi, President Bola Tinubu inherited a N21.83 trillion budget in 2023 and later introduced a N2.17 trillion supplementary budget, which he said favoured public office holders despite prevailing economic hardship.
He added that the trend continued with the approval of N35.06 trillion for 2024 and N54.99 trillion for 2025, bringing total appropriations under the current administration to more than N114 trillion within less than three years.
Obi expressed concern that despite the scale of spending, budget implementation has remained below 50 per cent, resulting in what he described as a crisis of credibility in public finance.
He also faulted the decision to repeal and reenact the 2024 and 2025 budgets with extended timelines, noting that Nigerians were not provided with details of the revised budgets or the associated capital projects.
The former Anambra State governor accused the Federal Government of lacking transparency, alleging that treasury reports were no longer being published on the OpenTreasury.gov.ng platform and that no budget implementation report was released in 2025.
Obi warned that no nation could succeed under such fiscal practices and urged the government to restore discipline and transparency in budget management.
“This lack of transparency is not accidental; it reflects a deliberate pattern of undermining public scrutiny and debate.
“The Federal Government has stopped publishing treasury reports on the OpenTreasury.gov.ng portal, dismantling a vital transparency framework inherited from the previous administration.
“In 2025, no budget implementation report was released, regardless of how poor the performance was! No nation can operate with such recklessness and succeed,” he said.
