Aug 4, 2026

Cover-Up? Tinubu Admin Removes Official Report Showing ₦12.6 Trillion Debt Servicing vs Meagre Capital Release

By Afolabi Olaiya Idowu in business

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Abuja, Nigeria – August 4, 2026 — The Federal Government has removed the 2025 Third Quarter Budget Performance Report from the official website of the Budget Office of the Federation, taking offline a document that had raised serious questions about Nigeria’s fiscal health under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Checks by independent media outlets confirm that only the first and second quarter 2025 reports remain publicly available on the Budget Office portal.

The third-quarter report, which had been accessible after its publication in May 2026, can no longer be found.

What the Report Contained

The now-removed document, signed by Budget Office Director-General Tanimu Yakubu, painted a picture of mounting fiscal pressure.

It warned that Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio remained elevated and that fiscal space was constrained, requiring urgent revenue mobilization and expenditure rationalization.

According to figures previously reported from the document, the Federal Government spent approximately ₦12.63 trillion on debt servicing between January and September 2025.

This was more than four times the ₦3.10 trillion released for capital and infrastructure projects over the same period.

Domestic debt servicing accounted for about ₦6.22 trillion, while foreign debt servicing stood at roughly ₦6.29 trillion.

The report also noted persistent volatility in oil revenue due to production challenges and lower international prices, while acknowledging gains in non-oil revenue driven by improved compliance, customs automation, and stricter remittance enforcement.

The disappearance of the report comes months after it was published and widely cited in analyses of government spending. As of early August 2026, the Budget Office has not issued any public explanation for its removal.

Critics argue that withholding or deleting official fiscal documents undermines transparency and public oversight at a time when Nigerians face high living costs and questions about how public resources are being managed.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act requires regular publication of budget implementation reports to promote accountability.

This development follows earlier criticisms of delays in the release of quarterly budget performance reports under the current administration.

In previous statements, the Budget Office had attributed some delays to ongoing reviews and verification processes and promised to return to a regular publication schedule.

With only reports covering January to June 2025 currently available on the official website nearly eight months into 2026, questions continue to mount about the completeness and accessibility of Nigeria’s fiscal data.

As public debate intensifies, pressure is growing on the Budget Office and the Federal Government to either restore the document or provide a clear explanation for its removal and to ensure timely publication of subsequent performance reports in line with transparency standards.