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ADC describes ₦58tn 2026 budget as a debt trap that deepens Nigeria’s fiscal crisis
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Party faults rising deficits and borrowings, warning of heavy debt burden on future generations
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Concerns raised over debt servicing costs and multiple budgets running simultaneously
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s proposed ₦58.18 trillion 2026 budget, describing it as a debt trap disguised as economic reform.
The opposition party said the appropriation bill, presented to the National Assembly on December 19, entrenches fiscal recklessness and relies excessively on borrowing to fund government spending.
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In a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC argued that the budget’s structure exposes Nigeria to unsustainable debt levels.
“The document presented on December 19 is a debt trap masquerading as a budget,” the party said.
According to the ADC, although the government plans to spend ₦25.68 trillion on capital projects, the projected deficit of ₦23.85 trillion suggests that most infrastructure projects would be financed through high-interest loans.
The party warned that even with transparent capital expenditure plans, the scale of borrowing raises serious concerns about fiscal sustainability.
President Tinubu had last Friday presented the ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, expressing optimism about gradual economic recovery and promising tighter fiscal discipline.
The President said the budget was designed to consolidate macroeconomic gains, restore confidence and translate stability into broad-based economic benefits for Nigerians.
However, the ADC dismissed the claims, accusing the Tinubu administration of recycling unimplemented and failed budgets from 2024 and 2025.
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The party further accused the government of engaging in reckless borrowing to fund what it described as opaque and non-essential expenditures.
“It is one thing to mismanage current revenues; it is unforgivable to burden future generations with massive debts to finance reckless spending,” the statement said.
The ADC also criticised what it described as confusion in fiscal planning, noting that the 2026 budget was introduced shortly after the 2025 budget was repealed and reenacted.
According to the party, operating multiple national budgets simultaneously amounts to fiscal chaos and undermines effective economic planning.
“Running three or more budgets at the same time is unprecedented in Nigeria and reflects an administration that has turned fiscal planning into a hollow ritual,” the party stated.
The ADC also faulted the government’s revenue projections, describing them as unrealistic and driven largely by currency devaluation rather than real economic productivity.
It noted that while revenues rose to ₦20 trillion in 2024, projections jumped to ₦40 trillion in 2025 and further to ₦58.57 trillion in 2026.
“This is not vision; it is fantasy,” the party said.
The opposition further expressed concern over rising debt servicing costs, which it said increased from ₦12.63 trillion in
