Prioritise 2025 capital budget as national emergency- Fiscal transparency group to Tinubu

A civic accountability organisation, the Coalition for Equitable Development and Fiscal Justice, CEDFJ, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to treat the 2025 capital budget as a national emergency, warning that bureaucratic bottlenecks under the Ministry of Finance are slowing down economic recovery and eroding citizens’ confidence ahead of the 2027 elections.

In a statement on Monday, signed by its President, Dr Gbenga Akinbowale, and Gloria Maduegbuna, its national secretary, the group said the country’s fiscal management under the supervision of Finance Minister Wale Edun “has become a serious drag on the President’s reform agenda,” accusing the ministry of failing to translate policy intent into tangible results.

“The Ministry of Finance has become the weakest link in the President’s economic architecture. While the President has shown courage in reforming oil subsidy, foreign exchange policy, and national planning, his finance team continues to choke these reforms with slow execution, delayed capital releases, and bureaucratic aloofness,” the statement reads.

The group alleged that Nigeria’s fiscal system “has become trapped in a cycle of excuses and inefficiency,” adding that unless urgent action is taken to overhaul the budget implementation process, the government risks losing public goodwill at a critical political moment.

“The President must now see the 2025 capital budget as a national emergency. Each year, the same bureaucratic cycle repeats itself, funds are released late, projects stall midway, and inflation wipes out the value of appropriations. This must not continue under an administration that came to power promising a break from the past,” the statement added.

CEDFJ warned that the current pace of fiscal performance “is not politically sustainable,” stressing that delays in capital funding will weaken the impact of Tinubu’s reforms as the 2027 election cycle draws near.

“Every stalled road project, every uncompleted hospital or power installation is a reminder that citizens are still waiting for the Renewed Hope they were promised.If these expectations remain unmet, no amount of political messaging will fill the gap left by poor delivery.”

Akinbowale said the coalition’s review of past budgets showed that less than 70 percent of capital allocations were utilised in most MDAs between 2021 and 2024, a pattern that, if repeated, could cripple critical infrastructure projects in 2025.

“It is no longer strategic to lubricate the same problem by repeating the same bureaucratic rituals that have failed for years. The Ministry of Finance must be reformed to act as an enabler of growth, not a gatekeeper of inertia. The President must take personal charge of this process.”

He urged Tinubu to establish a direct presidential monitoring mechanism for capital releases and to demand quarterly performance reports from the finance ministry and the Accountant-General’s office.

“The credibility of the Renewed Hope Agenda depends not on how well the budget is written, but on how faithfully it is implemented. If 2025 becomes another year of excuses, we risk eroding the very hope that brought this government to power,” the group warned.