Obi slams ‘fiscal recklessness’ of Tinubu govt
President Bola Tinubu has directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to rely on existing electricity sector laws to clearly define how power subsidy costs are shared among the federal, state and local governments in the 2026 budget.

However, as the Senate moves towards approving the 2026 budget, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, criticised the Federal Government over what he described as a pattern of “fiscal recklessness” in the management of national budgets.

Director-General (DG) of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, announced the presidential directive yesterday during a keynote at the opening of a training programme for MDAs on the 2026 post-budget preparation process in Abuja.

Yakubu said the President wanted electricity subsidy costs to be explicit, practical and transparent, warning that no level of government should carry hidden or unpaid obligations.

“Subsidy costs must be explicit, tracked and funded, so they do not return as arrears, liquidity crises or hidden liabilities in the power market,” he said.

According to him, whenever any tier of government chooses to keep electricity tariffs below cost, the financial responsibility for that decision must be clearly agreed upon and enforced.

The DG further said a fair share of subsidy costs would improve performance in the power sector and strengthen support for protecting vulnerable consumers.

Yakubu told the MDAs to fully disclose all subsidy-related costs in their budget proposals and stop pushing unpaid obligations into the power market, where they later emerge as debts that hurt electricity companies and consumers.

In a statement posted on his X handle, Obi questioned which budget Nigeria would effectively use this year, pointing out that the government had been implementing items from 2023, 2024 and 2025 budgets simultaneously, creating confusion and undermining fiscal discipline.

He noted that President Bola Tinubu inherited a legally signed N21.83 trillion budget for 2023, only to introduce a N2.17 trillion supplementary budget, which prioritised benefits for public office holders amid harsh economic reforms without a credible social protection framework.

“The pattern persisted with the passage of a N35.06 trillion budget for 2024 and a N54.99 trillion budget for 2025,” Obi wrote. “In less than three years, Tinubu has exercised appropriation powers over more than N114 trillion in public spending, yet the government has failed to achieve even 50 per cent budget implementation, exposing a profound crisis of budget credibility.”

The former Anambra State governor also criticised the government for repealing and re-enacting the 2024 and 2025 budgets with extended timelines, without publishing details of capital projects or their costs, calling it “fiscal obscurity elevated to the level of state policy.”

Obi further condemned the dismantling of OpenTreasury.gov.ng, the transparency portal inherited from his administration, noting that no budget implementation report was released in 2025, despite poor performance.

“The proposed 2026 budget, still lacking critical details, indicates that the administration has no intention of addressing the structural weaknesses at the core of Nigeria’s public finance system,” he added, urging a return to the January–December budget cycle, which he said would improve planning, accountability and sustainable development.