Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, has criticised the Federal Government over what he described as fiscal recklessness and budgetary opacity, as the Senate prepares to approve the 2026 national budget, reportedly on March 17.
In a statement issued on Monday, Obi questioned which budget Nigeria is currently operating, noting that the country appears to be running multiple budgets simultaneously.
“With the announcement that the Nigerian Senate is likely to approve the 2026 National Budget on March 17, every Nigerian is asking an important question: which budget will Nigeria use this year?” he said.
According to Obi, Nigeria has, since last year, been implementing expenditure items drawn from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets, a practice he described as unconventional and fiscally irresponsible.
He recalled that President Bola Tinubu inherited a legally enacted ₦21.83 trillion 2023 budget, but introduced a ₦2.17 trillion supplementary budget shortly after assuming office.
Obi noted that the supplementary budget attracted criticism for prioritising benefits for public office holders at a time when Nigerians were grappling with the effects of economic reforms and rising living costs.
“Instead of restoring fiscal discipline, the administration repeatedly expanded the 2023 budget without a clearly defined end date,” Obi stated.
The former governor said the trend continued with the approval of a ₦35.06 trillion budget for 2024 and a ₦54.99 trillion budget for 2025, bringing total appropriations under the current administration to over ₦114 trillion in less than three years.
Despite this scale of spending, Obi argued that budget implementation has remained below 50 per cent, raising concerns about credibility and effectiveness.
“Alarmingly, until mid-2025, Nigeria was effectively operating with about three overlapping budgets, without clear legal or fiscal guidance on when each one expired or began, adding that “no serious country manages its public finances in such a manner.” he said,
Obi also criticised the Federal Government’s decision to repeal the 2024 and 2025 budgets and re-enact them with extended implementation timelines, describing the process as opaque.
“Nigerians have not seen these re-enacted budgets, and there is no public information regarding the specific capital projects involved or their associated costs. This is not reform; it is fiscal obscurity elevated to state policy,” he said.
Commenting on the proposed 2026 budget, Obi said the document, despite lacking critical details, suggests that the administration has no intention of addressing the structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s public finance system.
He further accused the government of deliberately undermining transparency, citing the suspension of treasury and budget implementation reports on the OpenTreasury.gov.ng portal.
“In 2025, no budget implementation report was released, regardless of performance,” Obi noted.
He warned that no nation could succeed under such fiscal practices and called for an urgent return to a January December budget cycle.
According to him, restoring a clear budget timeline would enhance planning, improve monitoring, promote transparency and accountability, and support sustainable economic growth.
“A new Nigeria is possible,” Obi concluded.