The Tanimu Turaki-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday alleged that President Bola Tinubu’s 2026 budget would add to Nigeria’s sufferings rather than give it any renewed hope or consolidation of economic reforms.
The party noted that there would be no renewed hope in an environment where hunger, insecurity and other forms of deprivation were the lot of Nigerians.
He cited the World Bank’s 2025 Poverty and Equity Report, which placed more than 30.9% of Nigerians below the international extreme poverty line.
“This shows that there is growth without prosperity for our citizens, which means that despite GDP growth, poverty remains endemic,” the National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said on Friday, shortly after Tinubu presented the N58.18 trillion Appropriation Bill 2026 at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives in Abuja.
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Ememobong noted: “The budget, whose theme is ‘Budget for Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity’, affirms that the economy is stabilizing and promises shared prosperity.
“In response, we see it rather as a budget of renewed and consolidated sufferings, because what Nigerians have witnessed since the birth of this administration is nothing but absolute hardship for the people, while the ruling class enjoys wealth.
“Nigerians have suffered a lot due to many economic problems under this administration.
“President Tinubu cited a GDP growth rate of 3.98% as evidence of economic stabilization under his administration.
“However, it is well established that economic growth alone does not and cannot guarantee better standards of living for citizens.
“According to the World Bank Poverty and Equity Report 2025, more than 30.9% of Nigerians live below the international extreme poverty line. This shows that there is growth without prosperity for our citizens, which means that despite GDP growth, poverty remains endemic.
“This clearly indicates that whatever economic benefits exist, they are not reaching the majority of Nigerians.”
The PDP rejected the President’s figures on economic progress, saying rather that Nigeria has been going backwards.
“The President stated that the economy under his watch grew by 3.98% without indicating the sectors that stimulated the growth or identifying those who benefited from it. This figure reflects the economic decline that the nation has suffered under the leadership of the APC-led Federal Government compared to the 6.87% growth rate recorded in 2013 (the same period under the last PDP administration), which was largely driven by non-oil sectors such as agriculture and commerce.
“Today, the President celebrates a growth rate of 3.98%, while a look at the reality reveals unbearable hunger, high cost of living and other indices of economic hardship that Nigerians currently face.
“While we recognize the allocation for security in the 2026 budget, we must remind the government and Nigerians that the allocation alone is insufficient.”
The party added: “We therefore demand effective and transparent implementation to ensure that security funding translates into tangible improvements – modern equipment, adequate ammunition, enhanced intelligence capabilities and improved welfare for security personnel currently engaged in different theaters of armed conflict, where non-state criminal actors are alleged to possess superior weapons compared to our security forces.
“Overall, we are deeply concerned by the President’s unapologetic admission that implementation of the 2024 capital budget had been extended to December 2025, while the 2025 budget is still in effect.
“This confirms old rumors about the simultaneous operation of several budgets.
“This cannot be described as a best practice as each budget has a defined period of operation and two budgets should not operate at the same time. Operating different budgets at the same time undermines fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability. These multiple budget regimes show another unprecedented negative feat of this APC Bola Tinubu led administration.
“We hereby call for greater transparency and accountability in the management of our country’s finances, as they have thus far been conspicuously absent during this administration.
“Financial accountability and transparency are essential to building public trust and effective public administration.”
The budget themed “Consolidation Budget, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity” is N3.19 trillion higher than the N54.99 trillion approved for 2025.
Key additions to the budget are a forecast revenue of £34.33bn; debt service of £15.52 billion; recurring (non-debt) expenditure of £15.25bn; capital expenditure of £26.08 billion; a deficit of £23.85 trillion, representing 4.28% of GDP.
Furthermore, the budget will be set at $64.85 per barrel of crude oil, a daily oil production of 1.8 million barrels and a dollar/naira exchange rate.