The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the 2026 ₦58.18 trillion federal government budget as a budget of quicksand, laden with more debt.
Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, in a statement on Monday, described the budget as “unimplementable,” saying it merely copied the templates of the failed, poorly implemented, and perhaps unimplementable 2024 and 2025 budgets.
“Perhaps most terrifying is the sheer scale of the deficit and what it reveals about this government’s disregard for the next generation. This administration behaves as though, after them, there will be no Nigeria. A budget that plans to generate ₦34trn in revenue while borrowing ₦24trn is an open admission of fiscal insolvency. In no sane or functional fiscal system would a deficit-to-revenue ratio of 70 per cent be considered acceptable, or even contemplated.”
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The party said it arrived at this verdict after a careful review of the 2026 Budget Proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday, December 19, 2025, by the ADC team of economists.
The party added that although the budget was presented as a “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” what was laid before Nigerians was merely a consolidation of fiscal recklessness and renewed wishful thinking that have become the hallmark of the Tinubu administration.
“If approved, the only thing this budget is capable of sharing is more debt and greater misery in the years ahead.”
The party said the Tinubu administration is trying to build a house on quicksand by presenting a new fiscal framework at a time when the 2025 budget has only just been repealed and reenacted, “in a display of unprecedented fiscal chaos and administrative incompetence.”
“The truth is that Nigeria is caught in a fiscal mess.”
It, however, noted that rather than confront these problems, the Tinubu administration has continued to kick the can down the street, believing it can hide yawning cracks under mountains of unsustainable debt that mortgage the future of the next generation, while indulging in financial profligacy.
It noted that “no amount of monetary tinkering or central bank intervention can rescue an economy if the government refuses to embrace fiscal discipline and budget credibility.
“What we have seen under this Tinubu APC administration is a chaotic attempt to implement more than four budgets simultaneously because it lacks the basic competence to close out previous cycles and adhere to its own timelines.
“Overall, what is most evident is the administration’s penchant for turning fiscal planning into a hollow ritual and political ceremony that mocks the suffering of the Nigerian people. While revenues were pushed to ₦20tn in 2024, a figure driven more by the pain of currency devaluation than genuine economic productivity, the government had the audacity to double its projections to ₦40tn for 2025 and then raise it further to ₦58.57tn in 2026.”
The party further stated that the 2026 budget, which remains dangerously scant on detail, embarks on yet another unsustainable expansion built on a foundation of quicksand.
The party also berated the Tinubu administration for setting a benchmark of $64 per barrel at a time when the oil market is unstable, with “dipping prices,” instead of adopting a conservative posture to shield the nation from global volatility.
“It is chasing a ₦34tn revenue target that is completely disconnected from reality, especially now that the artificial bounce provided by the devaluation of the naira has fully evaporated. One is left to wonder whether this government ever considers alternative scenarios beyond those that suit its own mindset.”
According to the party, “the document presented before the National Assembly on December 19 is a debt trap masquerading as a budget. The government claims it will spend ₦25.68tn on capital expenditure, yet with a projected deficit of ₦23.85tn, it is clear that nearly every bridge, road, or project is being funded by high-interest debt. Even with a transparent capital plan, this alone should raise concern. It becomes even more alarming when government borrows recklessly to fund opaque and often frivolous expenditures. It is one thing to squander current revenues on the excesses of the state, but it is an unpardonable sin to raise massive debt to fund reckless spending, effectively burying our children under a mountain of obligations before they even enter the workforce.
“The fundamentals of the 2026 budget document betray a complete abandonment of revenue credibility and deficit management.
“The consequences of this incompetence are already evident. Driven by the twin forces of devaluation and surging borrowing, Nigeria’s debt servicing costs have exploded from ₦12.63tn in 2024 to a projected ₦15.52tn in 2026. There is no fiscal doctrine on earth that justifies a path of persistently high deficits combined with such astronomical servicing costs.”
