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As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu prepares to lay before the National Assembly the proposed 2026 Appropriation Bill estimated at ₦54.4 trillion on December 19, 2025, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has declared that Nigerians have largely lost faith in the budgetary process under the current administration, citing persistent non-compliance with fiscal laws, lack of transparency, poor implementation records and a widening credibility gap between government promises and economic realities.

In a strongly worded press release dated December 19, 2025, and signed by its National Secretary and former presidential candidate, Chief Peter Ameh, the CUPP described the impending budget presentation as another chapter in what it termed a “cycle of budgetary opacity and failed expectations.”

According to the coalition, public skepticism is not driven by cynicism but by lived experience under an administration that has, in its view, failed to translate sweeping reforms into tangible improvements in infrastructure, security or economic relief for ordinary citizens.

The coalition noted that despite the hurried removal of fuel subsidy, which was expected to free up resources and ease pressure on national revenue, the outcome has instead been increased borrowing and a worsening spending culture. Nigerians, CUPP said, continue to bear severe economic hardship, with little evidence that the sacrifices imposed by reforms have been reinvested productively.

Central to the coalition’s criticism is the absence of accountability for previous budgets. CUPP expressed grave concern that the Budget Office of the Federation has failed to publish any comprehensive budget implementation report for 2025, marking the first time in 15 years that quarterly performance reports have not been released.

This development, the group argued, violates fiscal responsibility laws and deepens suspicions of mismanagement. It questioned how a new budget can be credibly proposed when Nigerians have been denied information on the performance of the current one.

The coalition further criticised the administration’s practice of running overlapping budget cycles, with 2024 capital expenditures extended into 2025 while new spending plans are introduced. According to CUPP, this has created confusion, weakened execution, and led to a growing backlog of uncompleted capital projects whose continuation now depends on fresh borrowing to bridge widening deficits.

Looking at historical trends, CUPP said the pattern of budget implementation has remained deeply troubling. While recurrent expenditures such as salaries and overheads routinely achieve near-total implementation, capital expenditures that directly impact roads, schools, hospitals, power and other critical infrastructure continue to suffer from delays, corruption and revenue shortfalls.

The coalition highlighted what it described as contradictory signals from the government, recalling earlier public declarations by the President that revenue targets had been met, only for official admissions later in the year of a massive ₦30 trillion revenue shortfall in 2025. This, CUPP argued, gives the impression of poor coordination and repeated reversals in public communication.

Despite claims of savings from subsidy removal in 2023, the coalition said reports of heavy spending on so-called “energy security” and pipeline protection have raised further questions about the actual destination of public funds. It noted that crude oil production in 2025 has hovered between 1.4 and 1.5 million barrels per day, well below the 2 million barrels per day target, despite extensive investments in security contracts. CUPP also drew attention to the continued scale of oil theft, which it described as alarming, even in the face of claims that ₦17.5 trillion has been spent on pipeline protection.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, under the current administration, came under particular scrutiny in the statement. CUPP referenced audited statements that reportedly revealed substantial expenditures, including about ₦30 billion on entertainment and what it described as extraordinary security-related costs, amid allegations of wasteful spending.

According to the coalition, while government officials continue to tout revenue gains from reforms, the reality is a ballooning national debt now exceeding ₦150 trillion, alongside record debt servicing obligations that crowd out productive investment. It observed that taxes have increased and subsidies removed, yet hunger, unemployment and infrastructure deficits continue to worsen.

CUPP also accused the administration of eroding gains previously made in budgetary discipline, arguing that a rubber-stamp legislature has failed to demand answers or enforce accountability, thereby deepening public distrust.

The coalition maintained that nations prosper on truth, competence, integrity and merit, not on opaque finances, policy flip-flops or unrealistic projections driven by what it described as unproductive, wasteful decisions sustained by perpetual borrowing, unaccounted funds and hollow promises.

Against this backdrop, the coalition warned that the 2026 budget presentation risks becoming another ceremonial exercise unless it is accompanied by full disclosure of the 2025 budget performance, independent audits of major expenditures and concrete steps to restore transparency.

Nigerians, CUPP said, deserve leadership that accounts for every naira, prioritises development over waste and rebuilds trust through measurable results rather than rhetoric. Without these, the coalition declared, public expectations would remain at zero, and rightly so.

The statement concluded by underscoring that confidence in government is now at an all-time low, a situation compounded by stark fiscal realities. CUPP cited disclosures by Finance Minister Wale Edun that while the federal government projected ₦40.8 trillion in revenue to fund the approximately ₦54.9 trillion 2025 “Budget of Restoration,” current trends indicate actual inflows of only about ₦10.7 trillion, leaving a shortfall of roughly ₦30 trillion.

This revenue collapse, attributed largely to weak oil and gas earnings and underperformance in other revenue streams, has heightened concerns about fiscal sustainability and forced the rollover of capital projects into 2026, reinforcing, in the coalition’s view, the urgent need for honesty and accountability in Nigeria’s budgeting process.

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