Senate Committee on Finance Faults Tinubu Administration over Multiple Budgets, Revenue Shortfalls
The Senate Committee on Finance has strongly criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu over what it described as the abnormal practice of running multiple budgets within a single fiscal year, driven largely by repeated extensions of capital expenditure components. The lawmakers raised their concerns on Monday during an interactive session on the 2026–2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
Members of the Senate Committee on Finance expressed frustration that capital projects designed for one fiscal year are routinely rolled over into subsequent years, often with legislative approval, creating fiscal distortions. They recalled that the trend became pronounced in 2024, when Nigeria effectively operated three budgets simultaneously—the ₦21.8 trillion 2023 budget, the ₦2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget, and the ₦28.7 trillion 2024 budget.
The committee noted that the situation worsened in 2025, as the capital component of the 2024 budget, initially due to lapse in December 2024, was extended twice—first to June 2025 and later to December 2025. According to the Senate Committee on Finance, this has left Nigeria currently operating two budgets simultaneously: the extended 2024 budget and the 2025 budget of about ₦54.2 trillion, which lawmakers increased by ₦7 billion from the president’s proposal.
Concerns were further heightened following an abridged budget circular directing ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to roll over 70 percent of their 2025 capital allocations into the 2026 fiscal year. During the session, Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) told the Senate Committee on Finance that the continued implementation of multiple budgets was unacceptable and must end. He insisted that fiscal operations must return to a normal January–December cycle.
Echoing similar views, Senator Oyewumi Olalere urged the executive to present more realistic budget figures and projects, warning that unattainable targets only lead to frequent extensions. Senators Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) and Ireti Kingibe (FCT) also queried why revenue shortfalls could not be offset by foreign and domestic loans already approved by the National Assembly, a question the Senate Committee on Finance said remained unresolved.
Responding to the criticisms, the committee chairman, Senator Sani Musa, assured colleagues that the January–December budget cycle would be fully restored in 2026, with tighter oversight of federal spending. He also disclosed that the Senate Committee on Finance would set up a three-member ad hoc committee to engage the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Accountant-General of the Federation on settling outstanding payments to local contractors for projects executed in 2024 before the budget expired.
On revenue performance, Finance Minister Wale Edun told the Senate Committee on Finance that only ₦10 trillion had been realised out of the ₦40 trillion projected revenue for the 2025 fiscal year. He explained that the significant shortfall made it necessary to roll over a large portion of the 2025 capital budget into 2026, noting that while the full ₦26 trillion revenue projection for 2024 was achieved, the 2025 target had fallen short by ₦30 trillion.
However, Senator Musa challenged the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, to work towards achieving a ₦35 trillion revenue target for the 2026 fiscal year, stressing that stronger revenue mobilisation is critical to ending the cycle of budget extensions—a position strongly backed by the Senate Committee on Finance.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, alongside the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, defended the assumptions underpinning the proposed ₦54.4 trillion 2026 budget. They told the Senate Committee on Finance that the framework is based on an oil benchmark price of $64 per barrel, an exchange rate of ₦1,512 to the dollar, and daily oil production of 2.6 million barrels per day, with a more conservative 1.8 million barrels per day adopted for budgeting purposes.