2025 budget: Blame Finance Ministers, AGoF for collapsed economy, health, other sectors -CSO
A leading pro democracy and civil society organization in Nigeria, on Tuesday, came hard on the Nigerian Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, his Minister of State, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGoF), Mr. Shamsedeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, for what it described as deliberate efforts to sabotage the Federal Government.
Dr. Harry Linus, Secretary General of National Vanguard for Accountable and Transparent Democracy (NVATD), during a protest in National Assembly, Abuja on Tuesday, berated the two Ministers and the AGoF for stampeding good intentions of the President Bola Tinubu led Federal Government in revamping the economy and reviving the ailing health sector of Nigeria.
The group said the refusal of the pubic officers to fund capital projects as encapsulated in the 2024 Appropriation, caused a great setback virtually to all the sectors in the nation’s economy, as the 2025 budget acutely suffered nonperformance.
Dr. Linus, apparently reacting to the “public lamentation” of the Minister of Health & Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate on Monday over nonperformance of the 2025 budget in the health sector; stressed that, the 2026 Appropriation Bill currently before the National Assembly would have received much public confidence, if the budgets for two preceding years were anything to go by.
“The two Ministers and the Attorney-General should be held responsible for the total collapse of the economy. It is a total shame that this public lamentation is coming from their own colleague, the Minister of Health. Now, imagine, the great disservice of these two Ministers. Look at how it has rippled on almost all the sectors.
“If only they had listened to Nigerians, the National Assembly and even President Tinubu, and paid the local contractors who are being owed over 4 trillion naira of the projects in 2024 budget; the 2025 budget performance would have been massive, thereby giving credence to the content of the 2026 budgets”, he said.
The group called on the National Assembly, to expedite actions in passing and fine-tuning the Electoral Act, even as it charged the Lawmakers to ensure no envelope is approved for any agency of government which did not perform well in the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, except for critical sectors like health, education and security.
Dr. Linus added: “We watched the Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate yesterday, while trying to defend the 2026 budget before the National Assembly. The man almost collapsed in tears, lamenting how only 36 million naira was released out of over 200 billions appropriated for public health in the 2025 budget. One could only imagine the pains of a genuine public officer and a professional Doctor who took a hippocratic oath of protecting human lives, but being frustrated by misdemeanor of his colleagues.
“The issue here is very simple. The projects contained in the 2024 budget were duly executed by those contractors, most of whom took loans from banks to execute. The Federal Government has also, at various times commissioned those projects. But the contractors have not been paid. Since the Ministers of Finance have refused to service the 2024 budget, there is no way fresh contracts could be awarded under the 2025 appropriation. That’s why no sector was able to perform in the 2025 fiscal year. That’s the simple layman explanation. And who are those responsible for making the 2025 budget to perform? The two Ministers of Finance and their collaborator, the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“That’s why Doctors could go on strike, that’s why snake would bite someone and they would rush her to the hospital but no drugs. That’s why our Lecturers, the ASUU are threatening strike action, that’s why almost every sector is grounded. Thanks to Wale Edun, Doris and the Accountant-General”.
It would be recalled that, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Pate, during his appearance before the National Assembly on Monday to defend his budget, lamented that only N36m (representing part of overheads) was released to the Ministry out of the N218bn appropriated in the 2025 budget.
The Minister, while appearing before the House Committee on Healthcare Services, attributed the poor capital budget performance to cash flow constraints and systemic bottlenecks in the Federal Government’s budget execution process.
Pate explained that, while the ministry’s personnel budget for 2025 was fully released and utilised, the capital component suffered severe funding shortfalls, largely due to the bottom-up cash planning system operated by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
He said Nigeria’s health sector operated within established policy and planning frameworks, including Vision 20:2020, the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021–2025, and the National Strategic Health Development Plan II.