By Dele Sobowale
Before commenting, it is vital to provide the reasons for another budgetary disaster – which has become emblematic of the way the Federal Government, under President Tinubu, is progressively ruining the nation’s future. After this failed budget, even the most die-hard apostle of the $1 trillion economy by 2030 must now see the scam for what it is. No nation, which ignores its capital investment and prioritises consumption, can expect to grow its economy at anything close to 10 per cent per annum. The report was predicted when the 2026 Budget was presented to the National Assembly, NASS, without details. I called it “a salad bowl of illusions” – a series of figures slapped carelessly together without intention to be executed. The report by Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor and Gift ChapiOdekina disclosed the following:
·To be merged with 2027 budget, as 2024/25 outstanding remains huge
·FG to request 3rd extension of the implementation of 2024/25 budget
·MDAs lament non-release of funds
·Nigeria locked out global donor co-financing for health
·Several ministries record less than 1% fund release
Propaganda trumps performance
“O! What a tangled web we weave/when we practice to deceive” – Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832.
Human capital is the most important element in any organization; and the government is the largest one in any country. Tinubu made the most vital decision of his administration – fuel subsidy removal — before selecting his cabinet. Like Buhari, before him, he chose an economic lightweight as the Minister of Finance. Fiscal policy fiasco was guaranteed right from the start. He doubled his blunders by appointing an incompetent Minister of Budget and Planning. Consequently, the two most important Ministries, for budget execution, were headed by people unable to master their intricacies.
Extending a budget beyond the end of the financial year is neither new nor frequently adopted in other nations. Buhari, during his second term turned rolling budgets into a routine. By the time Tinubu took over, the Federal Civil service had become accustomed to late release of funds; and to budgets extended into May of the following year.
Under Tinubu, budget implementation quickly became less important than propaganda. The 2024 budget was the first test of the administration.
That some aspects of the 2024/2025 budgets have not been executed constitutes the irrefutable indictment of a government which obviously cannot perform one of its most important functions.
Expecting a change would amount to a triumph of faith over evidence.
“A man cannot gradually enlarge his mind as he does his house” – Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859
Tinubu cannot change suddenly. His choice of another flyweight as Minister of Finance has only entrenched the incompetence engulfing the Ministry of Finance. That several provisions of the 2026 Budget would be merged with the 2027 Budget, which has not been written, should surprise nobody. The federal government apparently is too complex for the President to master. His previous experience in Lagos State, coupled with his long layoff, 16 years, from governance have left him ill-prepared to head thirty ministries and over 3000 departments and agencies. The results we are experiencing were predictable. Four ministries exemplify the rot in government – petroleum, power, health and works.
Hope evaporates on fuel and power supply.
“Power generation will improve; transmission will improve, distribution will improve, and that 6,000MW will be achieved before the end of this year” – Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu, March 2026, while apologizing to Nigerians.
Adelabu symbolizes everything wrong with the management of the power crisis by the Tinubu administration. He lacks credibility… he has either forgotten that this is the age of the internet – which never forgets – or does not give a damn when he contradicts himself. Contrary to his assurances that Nigerians should expect “improved generation, transmission and distribution by the end of this year”, he had already declared on April 17, 2025, that “we have achieved 6,003MW per day.” Improvement?
The perpetual fuel crisis remains unsolved almost four years after “fuel subsidy is gone” was declared. Talking first and thinking later has remained official policy. “There is war in Iran; the price of crude has skyrocketed to over $100 per barrel. That is partly true.
Two facts rendered the excuses bogus. One, generator sets had been turned off in every middle class or poor community when fuel was available for less than N1000 per litre on account of the power crisis. The surge to N1300-1500 just multiplied the hardship – which those blessed with N70 billion solar don’t feel. Two, Nigeria, a major oil producing nation, with the world’s largest single-train refinery, experienced a higher fuel price increase than any other country. Leadership deficit is obvious.”
Budgetary mess on health is a killer
“Only N36M released from the N218bn 2025 health capital budget – Minister”- Report, February 10, 2026.
“Your health comes first, without it you have nothing. The family comes second; your business comes third. You better recognize and organize those first two; so that you can take care of the third” – Charles Knight, CEO, Emerson Electric, 1950.
Vanguard Book of Quotations, Vbq P 88
There are some news reports which trump virtually all the others regarding their long term consequences for any country. The statement credited to the Federal Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, was one of them. The ultimate repercussions of any Nigerian government neglecting the health sector to this extent can only be surpassed by disregarding banditry in our country today. As living witnesses to the outcomes of Buhari and Northern leaders ignoring Boko Haram and herders’ atrocities for over twelve years, our silence in the face of this disclosure by Pate amounts to passing death sentences on millions of fellow Nigerians now and in the future – for generations to come. To call the statement scandalous would amount to the worst under-statement of the year. No government should claim this one; as Pate had done on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
The Ministry of Works is not working. It is now absolutely impossible to travel 150 kilometres on federal roads without getting trapped in a death trap. The South West-South South network symbolizes what has happened to Nigerian roads.
Left untouched is the poor funding of the capital budget for defence. Nigeria has outsourced part of its internal security to Donald Trump.
Unprecedented federal revenue and lowest disbursement
“The more you look; the less you see” – Magician Peller
Yet, there can be no excuse for failure. The FG proudly announced that the three tiers of government shared N3.007 trillion in July and N2.338 trillion in August 2026. The revenue for the two months alone exceeds what any previous government collected in a year; yet hope has given way to despair. What has happened to all the money?
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