• Murray-Bruce wants more ‘mad men’ in Tinubu’s cabinet to drive results, fix refineries
• Group defends Tinubu’s reforms, says ‘mad man’ comment ignores progress

Barely a week after the United States released a damning report stating that Nigeria failed the minimum fiscal transparency requirements for the second consecutive year, BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation, has urged the Federal Government to address weaknesses in its budget execution, public auditing and procurement disclosure ahead of the 2027 budget cycle.

This is as former Minister of Education and Solid Minerals, Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili, called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately terminate the controversial £746 million ports deal between Nigeria and the UK Export Finance (UKEF).

The former Minister, who is the Chairperson of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), founder of FixPolitics, former Vice-President for Africa at the World Bank and co-founder of Transparency International, yesterday alleged that the transaction for the rehabilitation of Tin Can and Apapa ports in Lagos was opaque and lacked the competitive process required for a major public infrastructure project.

Ezekwesili, who made the call in a post on X, @obyezeks, said the Federal Government’s failure to consider what she described as a proven and more transparent policy alternative was enough to raise serious questions about the rationale behind the deal. She alleged that the transaction bore the hallmarks of the “many opaque, cronyist transactions” that had allegedly saddled Nigerians with public debt while politically connected interests benefited from contracts.

According to her, the government must urgently suspend all drawdowns under the agreement and return to the National Assembly with a competitive concession framework for the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports. She further demanded that any new framework should be designed by an independent transaction adviser rather than what she described as a “politically connected contractor.”

Ezekwesili said: “If the terms cannot withstand public scrutiny, they should not be implemented.” She also urged civil society organisations to invoke the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the full documentation of the transaction from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

She called for similar action in the United Kingdom through the UK Freedom of Information Act against the UK Export Finance (UKEF), which is reportedly involved in the financing arrangement.

While acknowledging the urgent need to rehabilitate and modernise Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, Ezekwesili argued that the country’s infrastructure needs should not be used to justify what she described as an illegitimate or non-transparent procurement process.

According to her, financing port infrastructure through undisclosed borrowing and non-tendered contracts would only perpetuate the governance practices that had contributed to Nigeria’s economic difficulties.

Ezekwesili also linked the ports controversy to the broader challenge of accountability in public finance, arguing that insecurity and opaque borrowing were manifestations of what she called a culture of reckless abuse of public resources and disregard for accountability.

She claimed that Tuesday marked 152 days since she first raised concerns over the transaction, accusing the governments involved of relying on public fatigue to make the controversy disappear. “The two governments appear to be relying on public fatigue to bury this scandal. We must refuse to let them succeed,” she said.

She questioned why Nigerians were expected to assume the debt while British companies would receive contracts from the proceeds of the borrowing. Ezekwesili further argued that the financing arrangement should not be treated as a grant or aid, but as a sovereign debt obligation that would ultimately be repaid by Nigerian taxpayers.

The former minister also expressed concern that key financial terms, including the interest rate and repayment schedule, had not been officially published. She said her concerns were heightened by Nigeria’s growing debt burden, which had increased from N87 trillion in May 2023 to over N152 trillion, while debt servicing now consumes over 60 per cent of government revenue, leaving crumbs for health, education, and security.

Ezekwesili further claimed that the Tinubu administration’s yearly borrowing rate had risen to almost N50 trillion, which she said was about 10 times the borrowing rate of previous administrations.

She linked the borrowing to a $21.45 billion external borrowing plan approved by the National Assembly, which she alleged was passed without a substantive public hearing.

On currency risk, she said the loan was denominated in pounds sterling and benchmarked to a floating dollar rate, while Nigeria would be required to repay the obligation from an economy whose local currency had lost more than 70 per cent of its value since 2023.

The former minister questioned whether adequate protection had been put in place against the foreign exchange risk, noting that no hedging framework had been publicly disclosed.

“This is particularly dangerous for Nigeria because the debt is foreign-currency exposed while government revenues are overwhelmingly naira-denominated,” her position implied.

IN the same vein, BudgIT yesterday said the findings of the U.S. Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report should be treated as a call for action after the U.S. report stated that Nigeria made no significant progress in improving its financial management and opening its public finances in 2025. The report came against the backdrop of complaints of poor implementation of the nation’s budget by Nigerians, especially as the present government is running three budgets – 2024, 2025 and 2026 – simultaneously.

The assessment found that Nigeria’s budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures, while actual revenues and spending did not reasonably correspond with the enacted budget. It also faulted the country for failing to publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period.

BudgIT said the gaps undermine budget credibility because citizens cannot easily determine what the government planned to receive and spend and what was collected and spent. It called for reports on revenue and expenditure.

The report also raised concerns over the independence of Nigeria’s supreme audit institution, saying the Auditor-General’s office did not meet international standards of independence and had not published substantive audit reports. BudgIT called for reforms to strengthen the office’s independence and legal framework.

Procurement transparency was another concern. BudgIT said information on public contracts was not sufficiently accessible, limiting citizens’ ability to track projects from bidding and award to completion. It urged routine publication of contract awards, values, implementation status and variations.

BudgIT acknowledged that Nigeria had made its enacted budget and end-of-year report accessible and disclosed information on government debt. However, it said publication alone was inadequate where information was delayed or incomplete.

MEANWHILE, the founder of Silverbird Group and former Bayelsa East Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce, has called on President Tinubu to bring more bold, unconventional and results-driven Nigerians into his administration, saying the country needs officials willing to challenge entrenched interests and break the paralysis that has slowed reforms.

Murray-Bruce made the call in a post on X, @benmurraybruce, while declaring that genuine support for the Tinubu administration should not amount to sycophancy.

He said supporters of the President must be willing to tell him uncomfortable truths, particularly on issues that those around him might be “too comfortable, or too afraid, to say.”

“Mr President, Nigeria needs more ‘mad men’ in your government,” Murray-Bruce wrote. Explaining the expression, he said he was referring to men and women bold enough to confront broken systems, step on powerful toes, challenge entrenched interests and reject mediocrity simply because it had become the norm.

According to him, Nigeria needs public officials who wake up every morning “obsessed with results” and are willing to become unpopular in Abuja if that is the price of delivering meaningful change to the country.

Murray-Bruce cited Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as examples of the type of officials he believes Tinubu needs more of in government. He acknowledged that there could be disagreements over specific policies of the Central Bank, but said the institution had undergone a significant reset under Cardoso, with greater emphasis on discipline, credibility and orthodox monetary management.

“That is one ‘mad man’,” he said. On Ribadu, Murray-Bruce said Nigeria still faced serious security challenges, but noted what he described as a greater sense of coordination, seriousness and strategic direction within the national security architecture.

“Ribadu has demonstrated a willingness to confront difficult problems and take responsibility. That is another ‘mad man’,” he said. He, however, argued that two such officials were insufficient for a country of more than 200 million people.

“Mr President, two mad men are not enough for a country of more than 200 million people. Nigeria needs more,” he said. Murray-Bruce particularly urged the President to find such people for the petroleum sector, arguing that Nigeria could no longer afford to behave “like a poor country sitting on the assets of a rich one.”

He noted that despite Nigeria’s crude oil reserves, decades of petroleum expertise and huge investments in refineries, the country had for years exported crude oil while importing refined petroleum products.

“That is economic madness of the wrong kind,” he said, urging the administration to embrace what he called “madness of the right kind”, a productive, results-driven approach that refuses to accept failure as inevitable.

He further called on Tinubu to make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries a national priority. He said Nigerians had heard enough about turnaround maintenance, contractors, technical reviews, committees, deadlines and billions of naira expended on the facilities.

“What Nigerians want to see is simple: products coming out of the refineries,” he said. He urged the Federal Government to consider bringing in world-class technical partners, mobilising private capital, restructuring the facilities or concessioning them if those options would produce better results.

HOWEVER, in a swift response, the Chairman of Nigerians for Good Governance, Dele Olaseni, has reacted strongly to former Senator Ben Bruce’s comments that President Bola Tinubu needs a “mad man” to fix Nigeria’s petroleum ministry, saying the remark overlooks significant developments and reforms taking place in the oil and gas sector.

Olaseni said recent increases in crude oil production, renewed investor interest, the return of Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) and the expansion of refinery projects demonstrate that the Tinubu administration is taking steps to reposition the petroleum industry.

According to him, Nigeria’s crude oil production has increased from about 900,000 barrels per day to approximately 1.87 million barrels per day since the administration assumed office. “Do you know what it has taken this government to move Nigeria from about 900,000 barrels per day to 1.87 million barrels per day since it came into office?” Olaseni asked.

He also pointed to the return of major investments and FIDs, which he said had been largely absent from Nigeria’s petroleum sector for more than a decade. “Do you know that investment and FIDs, which were elusive in this country for more than 12 years, are finally coming back into the sector?” he said.

Olaseni stressed that an FID should not be interpreted as an immediate increase in crude oil production, explaining that major petroleum projects require years of development before production begins.