By MBACHU GODWIN, Abuja
African Democratic Congress, ADC, has described the 2026 Budget presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a Budget of quicksand, Debts and Wishful Thinking.
A statement by its National Publicly Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdulahi said although it was presented as a “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity”, what was presented was only a consolidation of the fiscal recklessness and renewed wishful thinking that have become the hallmark of the Tinubu administration, adding that if approved, it will bring more debts and greater misery in the years ahead.
“The statement reads in parrt “The 2026 budget proposal only copies the templates of the failed, unimplemented and perhaps, unimplementable 2024 and 2025 budgets and will most likely end up in the same way, with the bulk of its implementation pushed to another year.
“We are witnessing a government that attempts to build a house on quicksand, presenting a new fiscal framework at a time when the 2025 budget has only just been repealed and reenacted in a display of unprecedented fiscal chaos and administrative incompetence.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 mortgages the future generation, while they continue to indulge in financial profligacy.
“This administration fails to grasp a fundamental economic truth: 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 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.
“Overall, what is most evident is the administration’s penchant for turning fiscal planning into a hollow ritual and political ceremonies that mock the suffering of the Nigerian people. While revenues were pushed to N20tn in 2024—a figure driven more by the pains of currency devaluation than by genuine economic productivity—the government had the audacity to double its projections to N40tn for 2025 and even raising it to N58.57tn in 2026. This is not vision; it is fantasy.
“The 2026 budget, which remains dangerously scant on detail, embarks on yet another unsustainable expansion built on a foundation of quicksand. In an era where oil projections are weakening and global prices are dipping as tensions in Europe show signs of cooling, the Federal Government has inexplicably set a benchmark of $64 per barrel. Instead of adopting a conservative posture to shield the nation from global volatility, they chase a N34tn revenue target that is totally disconnected from reality, especially now that the artificial “bounce” provided by the devaluation of the Naira has fully evaporated. We wonder if this government ever considers alternative scenarios, other than the one that favours their mindset”.
