•Explains delay in release of quarterly budget implementation reports
• Let Nigerians monitor foreign loans spending, Archbishop tasks FG
• IMPI backs Tinubu’s borrowings

Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has defended the delayed publication of recent Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports, stressing that Nigeria’s fiscal year is determined by legislative authority rather than the Gregorian calendar cycle.

However, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos Metropolitan See, Dr Alfred Martins, called on the Federal Government to demonstrate a genuine commitment to accountability by creating accessible avenues for citizens to verify the infrastructural projects funded by foreign loans.

But one of Nigeria’s foremost policy groups, the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI), justified the President’s borrowings on the grounds that it is the most realistic way to bridge the country’s massive infrastructure gap.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Yakubu explained that while the calendar year remains a fixed 12-month cycle, the fiscal year is a legal and legislative construct whose duration and implementation period were determined by appropriation laws enacted by the National Assembly.

According to him, whenever an Appropriation Act or related legislation extends expenditure validity beyond the conventional 12-month cycle, the fiscal year automatically assumes that extended legal character.

He noted that Nigeria’s fiscal administration had, over the years, operated outside the strict January to December framework through statutory extensions, supplementary appropriations, continuing resolutions and Appropriation Repeal and Re-enactment Acts.

Yakubu said the latest delay in publishing the reports was largely caused by the repeal and re-enactment of the 2025 Appropriation Act in December 2025, as well as the subsequent extension of the budget’s implementation period to June 2026.

“These fiscal adjustments effectively extended the operational lifespan of the 2025 Budget beyond the conventional 12-month calendar framework ordinarily associated with a fiscal year,” he stated.

MARTINS gave the charge during the 60th World Communications Day, yesterday, organised by the Directorate of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, in collaboration with the Order of Knights of St Mulumba at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos.

The Archbishop’s remarks come amid growing public criticism over Nigeria’s escalating national debt.

Under President Bola Tinubu‘s administration, the Federal Government has relied heavily on global lenders, securing over $8 billion from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), pushing Nigeria’s total public debt to N159 trillion and aiming for M170 trillion.

During an interactive session with journalists, Martins noted that while borrowing could serve as a legitimate tool for development, it must be tied to identifiable and verifiable infrastructure.

“The problem generally arises when borrowing is done and the funds never meet the purpose for which they were collected,” Martins said, lamenting the government’s historic failure to maintain transparency. “If citizens are cynical about borrowing, it is the duty of the government to reassure everyone that the monies are put to measurable, visible use.”

The Archbishop blamed systemic corruption for the country’s piling debt, arguing that removing corrupt tendencies from the procurement process would allow loans to effectively drive development. He also charged the media to rigorously investigate government loans, track disbursements, and hold officials accountable for project execution.

The theme of this year’s World Communications Day is Preserving Human Voices and Faces’.

Echoing the Archbishop’s sentiments, the Director of Social Communications, Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, stated that the theme highlighted an urgent need to safeguard humanity against the over-automation of communication by algorithms and virtual simulations.

Godonu warned against allowing technology to diminish the sacredness of human dignity, noting that Nigeria has already suffered the consequences of digital misinformation.

IN a policy statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, IMPI argued that Nigeria’s infrastructure challenges were too vast for the yearly budget to cover without the Federal Government resorting to borrowing.

This, according to the think tank, is because the country is estimated to require a minimum annual spend of $14.2 billion over the next 10 years to bridge its infrastructure deficit, based on various estimates from international bodies.

“Nigeria’s productivity and standard of living have been ascribed to the inadequacy of infrastructure over the years. While there is a seeming consensus on this assertion, there have been diverse estimates of the true value of the country’s infrastructure deficit,” it added.