The Tanimu Turaki-led Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) alleged on Friday that President Bola Tinubu’s 2026 budget would add to the sufferings of Nigeria rather than giving them 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.
It cited the 2025 World Bank Poverty & Equity Brief, 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, meaning that despite GDP growth, poverty remains endemic”, the National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, stated on Friday soon after Tinubu presented the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N58.18trillion to a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Abuja.
Ememobong noted: “The budget, which is themed ‘Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity’, claims that the economy is stabilising and promises shared prosperity.
“In response, we see it rather as a budget of consolidated renewed sufferings, because what Nigerians have witnessed since the birth of this administration is nothing but unmitigated hardship on the people, while the governing class relishes in affluence.
“Nigerians have suffered greatly from many economic woes under this administration.
“President Tinubu cited a 3.98% GDP growth rate as evidence of economic stabilisation under his administration.
“However, it is well established that economic growth alone does not and cannot guarantee improved living standards for citizens.
“According to the 2025 World Bank Poverty & Equity Brief, more than 30.9% of Nigerians live below the international extreme poverty line. This shows that there is growth without prosperity for our citizens, meaning that despite GDP growth, poverty remains endemic.
“This clearly indicates that whatever economic gains exist are not reaching the majority of Nigerians.”
The PDP rejected the President’s figures on economic progress, saying rather that Nigeria has been on rever gear.
“The President stated that the economy under his watch grew by 3.98% without stating the sectors that stimulated the growth or identifying those who benefitted from it. This figure reflects the economic decline the nation has suffered under the leadership of the APC-led Federal government when compared to the growth rate of 6.87% recorded in 2013(same period under the last PDP administration), which was driven largely by non-oil sectors such as agriculture and trade.
“Today, the President celebrates a 3.98% growth rate, whereas a reality check reveals excruciating hunger, a high cost of living, and other indices of economic hardship, which Nigerians are currently facing.
“While we acknowledge the security allocation in the 2026 budget, we must remind the government and Nigerians that allocation alone is insufficient.”
The party added, “We therefore, demand effective and transparent execution to ensure that security funding translates into tangible improvements -modern equipment, adequate ammunition, improved intelligence capabilities, and better welfare for security personnel who are currently engaged in different theatres of armed conflict, where criminal non-state actors are alleged to possess superior arms compared to our security forces.
“Overall, we are deeply concerned about the unapologetic admission by the President that the execution of the 2024 capital budget had been extended to December 2025, while the 2025 budget is still in force.
“This confirms the long-standing rumours of the concurrent operation of multiple budgets.
“This cannot be described as best practice, as every budget has a defined period of operation and no two budgets should operate concurrently. The operation of different budgets at the same time undermines fiscal discipline, transparency, and accountability. These multiple budgetary regimes show yet another unprecedented negative feat by this APC Bola Tinubu-led administration.
“We hereby call for increased transparency and accountability in the administration of the finances of our country, as these have been conspicuously absent so far under this administration.
“Financial accountability and transparency are critical to public trust-building and effective public administration.”
The budget with the theme, “Budget of consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity”, is N3.19trillion higher than the N54.99trillion approved for 2025.
The key aggregates of the budget are expected revenue of N34.33trillion; debt servicing of N15.52trillion; recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure of N15.25trillion; capital expenditure of N26.08trillion; a deficit of N23.85trillion representing 4.28% of GDP.
In addition, the budget will be benchmarked at $64.85 per barrel of crude oil, daily oil production of 1.8million barrels and a dollar/naira exchange.