Some economic stakeholders have expressed worry over the delay in the preparation of the 2025 budget.
The stakeholders spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday
They noted with concern that as year 2025 winds down, the Federal Government is yet to present the 2026 appropriation bill to the legislature for consideration.
The stakeholders said that this marked departure from the past when a budget cycle of January to December was observed.
According to them; “The Federal Executive Council has, however, approved a new Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2026–2028, which is meant to pave the way for the 2026 budget.
“The Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, once the MTEF is approved, the next steps; finalising the 2026 Appropriation Bill and transmitting it to the legislature, will proceed.
“Before now, the Nigerian federal budgeting process generally followed a cyclical pattern with four major stages, with the timely completion of the fiscal cycle being a specific focus from 2020 onward,” an analyst who preferred anonymity said.
The analyst said that the President usually presented the Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly in October, to meet the goal of returning to the January-December cycle.
“But as of now, December 2025, the 2026 Appropriation Bill appears not to be a priority.
He noted that Nigeria is facing unprecedented budget confusion as the Federal Government implements three different spending plans at the same time; the 2024 budget, a 2024 supplementary budget and the 2025 budget.
“The Federal Government says it is continuity, but experts describe it as fiscal disorder. Part of this is the recent decision by the National Assembly to extend the lifespan of the 2024 budget until this December, long after the 2025 budget was signed into law.”
The practice, according to the expert, undermines the constitution, weakens accountability and makes it impossible to track real budget performance.
The expert viewed Nigeria’s inconsistent budget cycle as a crisis that hinders economic development, erodes investor confidence, and creates fiscal uncertainty.
“The lack of a fixed calendar, delays in implementation, and the concurrent running of multiple budgets are cited as major problems that lead to poor capital project execution, inflated costs, and an inability to effectively track government spending.”
A renowned Economist, Prof. Ken Ife, said that the budgeting benchmark was raised to an unreasonable and self-defeatist level.
Ife, the Lead Consultant on Private Sector Development to the ECOWAS Commission, said that the benchmark of 75 dollars per barrel was unrealistic.
According to him, global three-year oil price prediction was between 65 dollars 70 dollars per barrel.
“This is creating an unlawfully high deficit and in turn crowding out capital expenditure in the 2024 budget and denying accretion to excess crude account and foreign reserves.
“The poor performance of 2024 capital expenditure warranted extension to March, June and Dec 2025,” he said.
According to Eze Onyekpere, Lead Director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), the financial year is between January and December in line with the constitution.
Onyekpere said that if the National Assembly wanted another framework, they must amend the law, not shift dates arbitrarily.
“A financial year is 12 months. Everybody understands this. Even the Appropriation Act says you must not expend money after Dec. 31. What is happening now is unconstitutional,” he said.
He said that with the situation, capital projects that Nigerians desperately need are being delayed or reprioritized while recurrent expenditure like salaries and debt servicing take priority.
“The government has even directed MDAs to categorize their 2025 projects into urgent, less urgent and deferrable.
“That shows the confusion. At the end, Nigerians may not feel the impact of either the 2024 or 2025 budgets,” he said.
An economist, Sanya Adejokun, said that the development was an aberration.
According to Adejokun, a budget is supposed to run for one year. If there is a need, you introduce a supplementary budget, but still within that year.
“Now, we have three budgets running side by side. Even civil servants in the budget office find it difficult to say which one is being implemented.
“The overlap is particularly troubling for transparency. If you check the Budget Office website today, you will not find clarity,” he said.
Co-founder of BudgIT Foundation, Seun Onigbinde, described the budgeting process as chaotic and uncoordinated, saying the system has completely broken down and lost direction.
Onigbinde said that the Federal Government had continued to extend multiple budgets beyond their calendar years, creating confusion in project execution and financial reporting.
He noted that both the 2023 and 2024 budgets were extended into 2025 without proper justification, warning that such extensions distort fiscal management and weaken public trust in the budgeting process.
He explained that although President Bola Tinubu signed the 2025 budget earlier in the year, capital implementation only began in October.
“The president signed the 2025 budget around March, but we only started capital implementation in October. It shows that there is a challenge in the fiscal structure of the federal government.
However, the Federal Government said that the approval of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) provided a firmer basis to conclude work on the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said that the government would manage capital rollovers and close the persistent gap between revenue and expenditure.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu, a strong believer in institutional order, will transmit the 2026 budget to the National Assembly once it has been finalised and forwarded to him after the FEC’s consideration.
“The National Assembly determines when they are ready to receive the budget,” he said.
He said that the approved MTEF, now headed for the legislature, offered clearer guidance for concluding the 2026 budget.
Bagudu said that a substantial portion of the 2025 capital expenditure was expected to be rolled over into 2026, due the multi-year nature of many projects.
He said that once the National Assembly gives its approval, ministries will utilise the carried-over funds accordingly.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said that the 2024 capital budget, extended for nearly a year by the National Assembly, had been largely fulfilled.
Edun said that the 2025 capital releases were progressing, with warrants issued and ministries expected to conclude utilisation by December 30.
He said the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning would lead on the 2026 proposals, while he remains available to provide necessary support.
