By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu, describing it as the most incompetent government in Nigeria’s history and accusing it of presiding over fiscal confusion and poor governance.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, alleged that the federal government was currently running three national budgets simultaneously without effectively implementing any of them.
According to Abdullahi, the situation reflects what the party called “a historic level of incompetence” in the management of public finances.
“This is the first time in Nigerian history that any government would be running three budgets at the same time while implementing none,” he said.
The ADC claimed that the 2024 budget had been rolled over into 2025, noting that as of the third quarter of last year only 17.7 percent of the capital budget had been released, while overall implementation remained below 30 percent.
The party dismissed the government’s explanation that the arrangement was part of a strategy to ensure completion of multi-year capital projects.
“Government has argued that this absurdity is a ‘deliberate strategy’ and a ‘transition cost’ to ensure that multi-year capital projects are completed. This is a blatant falsehood that cannot hold up to any scrutiny,” Abdullahi stated.
He further alleged that about 30 percent of the 2025 budget would run between February and November 2026, while the remaining 70 percent would be rolled over to the 2026 budget, which he said was still under debate at the National Assembly months into the year.
The ADC spokesperson also cited low capital budget implementation in key sectors, including power, communications technology, education and health.
“As at today, capital budget implementation for the Ministry of Power stands at a mere 3.6 percent, Communications Technology at 8.9 percent, while Education and Health stand at 23.5 percent and 32.5 percent respectively,” he said.
According to him, the only ministry that had exceeded its budget allocation was the Ministry of Defence, which recorded about 113 percent implementation due to emergency funding through the Service-Wide Vote.
Despite this, Abdullahi said insecurity continued to worsen across the country.
“Recent reports indicate that in this month of Ramadan alone, up to 500 Nigerians may have been killed by terrorists in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Kebbi,” he claimed.
The ADC also accused the government of prioritising politics and re-election over governance, alleging that several policy decisions and appointments had been reversed shortly after being announced.
“The Tinubu government has proven that to them everything is about politics and power for its own sake,” Abdullahi said.
He added that despite claims by the government of increased revenue and stronger foreign reserves, Nigerians were facing worsening economic hardship.
The party therefore questioned what it described as the government’s handling of public resources.
“Nigerians are asking the most important questions: what is this government doing with all the money that accrues from all the loans, all the revenues and all the increased taxes? Why are we worse off today than we were three years ago?” he said.
The ADC urged the federal government to focus on governance and address the country’s economic and security challenges.
