Co-founder of civic technology organisation BudgIT, Seun Onigbinde, has criticised the Federal Government’s budgeting process, questioning whether the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu truly believes in the fiscal plans it submits to the National Assembly.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Onigbinde argued that persistent revenue shortfalls have exposed significant weaknesses in the implementation of the Federal Government’s budgets. He said one of the major flaws in the current system is the failure to treat budgets as strictly time-bound financial plans backed by realistic revenue projections.

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According to Onigbinde, the Federal Government is burdened by enormous financial obligations that far exceed its revenue-generating capacity. He estimated that about ₦17 trillion would be required for debt servicing, while approximately ₦7 trillion would be spent on salaries. He added that the government must also fund pensions, statutory transfers, service-wide votes, consolidated expenditure and other recurrent obligations, bringing the minimum requirement for overhead and recurrent expenditure to more than ₦30 trillion.

The BudgIT co-founder argued that the gap between projected expenditure and actual revenue raises serious concerns about the credibility of the country’s budgeting process.

“The government currently does not generate enough revenue to comfortably meet those commitments,” he said, stressing that the disparity calls into question the realism of the fiscal plans presented annually.

Onigbinde called for greater transparency in both the preparation and implementation of the federal budget, urging the government to clearly explain how projected revenues would be generated and how spending commitments would be financed.

His remarks come months after President Tinubu signed the 2026 Appropriation Bill into law. The budget, which received presidential assent in April 2026, provides for an aggregate expenditure of ₦68.32 trillion.

The comments add to ongoing debates among economists, policy analysts and fiscal experts over the sustainability of Nigeria’s public finances, particularly amid rising debt obligations and the need to improve revenue generation.