A former lawmaker and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abubakar Yusuf, has lamented that Nigeria’s borrowing is almost equal to its budget.
He shared his reservations during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
He faulted Nigeria’s 2026 appropriation bill of ₦68.32 trillion, recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.
Yusuf argued that the budget is not realistic or backed by a plan.
The former lawmaker opined that if he were the President, he would not have signed the budget, questioning how the government would fund the budget.
“First of all, I am a member of the APC, so it’s our government, since the time of President Muhammadu Buhari up till now. However, one cannot but say that we are not getting things right in terms of the budgeting, because before you budget, you must plan.
“It is not about ₦68 trillion. What is the ₦68 trillion for? Is it based on needs or is it based on wants? For me, it’s not a realistic budget, because I have always been talking since I was in the Senate, eighth Assembly, 9th Assembly, we continue what we call splurging the budget.
“I may be wrong, but about 40 per cent of this budget that we have is splurged,” he said.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that President Tinubu assented to the appropriation bill, which provides for an aggregate expenditure of ₦68.32 trillion on Friday, April 17, 2026.
The ₦68.32 trillion budget earmarked ₦4.799 trillion for statutory transfers and ₦15.8 trillion for debt service.
It allocates ₦15.4 trillion to recurrent expenditure and ₦32.2 trillion to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure.