Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has faulted the Federal Government’s handling of Nigeria’s finances, accusing it of what he termed “fiscal recklessness” in the administration of national budgets.
In a statement shared on his verified X handle on Monday, the 2nd of February, 2026, Obi raised questions about the exact budget framework currently guiding government spending, especially as the Senate prepares to approve the 2026 budget on the 17th of March.
He observed that from 2023 to date, Nigeria has been running budget components from different fiscal years at the same time, a situation he described as unusual and damaging to effective public finance management.
Obi explained that President Bola Tinubu assumed office with a N21.83 trillion budget in 2023, which was later expanded through a N2.17 trillion supplementary appropriation. According to him, the additional budget largely favoured political office holders, even as Nigerians faced severe economic difficulties.
He noted that the trend persisted with the passage of a N35.06 trillion budget in 2024 and a N54.99 trillion allocation for 2025, pushing total budget approvals under the current administration beyond N114 trillion in under three years.
Despite the scale of spending, Obi said budget execution has consistently fallen below 50 per cent, warning that this has eroded confidence in the government’s fiscal credibility.
The former Anambra State governor also took issue with the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 budgets with extended implementation periods, stating that Nigerians were not informed about the revised figures or the specific capital projects affected.
He further accused the Federal Government of operating without transparency, alleging that treasury reports have stopped appearing on the OpenTreasury.gov.ng platform and that no budget performance report was released in 2025.
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Obi cautioned that such fiscal behaviour could undermine national progress, urging the government to reintroduce discipline and openness in budget administration.
“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,” Obi said.