CSO blames finance ministers, accountant-general for poor performance across sectors

…says non-release of capital funds stalled economy, crippled health sector

A pro-democracy and civil society organisation, the National Vanguard for Accountable and Transparent Democracy (NVATD), has accused Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Doris Uzoka-Anite, the Minister of State for Finance, and Shamsedeen Ogunjimi, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGoF), of sabotaging the implementation of the 2024 and 2025 budgets.

The group, which staged a protest at the National Assembly in Abuja, alleged that the refusal of the finance authorities to release funds for capital projects captured in the 2024 Appropriation Act triggered widespread non-performance in the 2025 fiscal year, with ripple effects across key sectors, including health and education.

Harry Linus, speaking during the protest, Secretary General of NVATD, said the officials should be held responsible for what he described as the “collapse” of several sectors of the economy.

He said, “The two Ministers and the Accountant-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.”

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Linus was reacting to comments made on Monday by Ali Pate, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, who told lawmakers during his 2026 budget defence that only N36 million had been released out of the N218 billion appropriated for the ministry in the 2025 budget.

“If only they had listened to Nigerians, the National Assembly and even President Tinubu, and paid the local contractors who are being owed over N4 trillion for projects executed under the 2024 budget, the 2025 budget performance would have been massive, thereby giving credence to the content of the 2026 budgets,” Linus said.

He argued that the non-payment of contractors who executed projects under the 2024 budget created a funding bottleneck that affected fresh project execution in 2025.

“The projects contained in the 2024 budget were duly executed by contractors, most of whom took loans from banks. The Federal Government has commissioned those projects. But the contractors have not been paid,” he said.

“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,” he added.

According to him, the failure to fund capital components of the budgets contributed to industrial unrest and service delivery breakdown in critical sectors.

“That’s why doctors could go on strike; that’s why someone bitten by a snake would be rushed to the hospital, and there are no drugs; that’s why ASUU is threatening strike action; that’s why almost every sector is grounded,” Linus said.

He further claimed that the 2026 Appropriation Bill currently before the National Assembly would have inspired greater public confidence if the preceding budgets had been properly implemented.

The group also urged the National Assembly to scrutinise the performance of government agencies before approving their budgetary allocations.

Read also: Budget Office to publish 2024 budget performance by September end

“We call on the National Assembly to ensure that no envelope is approved for any agency that did not perform well in the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, except for critical sectors like health, education and security,” Linus said.

He also charged lawmakers to expedite action on the amendment of the Electoral Act.

Meanwhile, during his appearance before the House Committee on Healthcare Services on Monday, Pate attributed the poor capital budget performance in the health sector to cash flow constraints and systemic bottlenecks in the federal budget execution process.

The minister disclosed that while the personnel component of the 2025 budget was fully released and utilised, the capital allocation suffered severe shortfalls due to the bottom-up cash planning system operated by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Pate noted that Nigeria’s health sector operates within established policy frameworks, including Vision 20:2020, the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021–2025, and the National Strategic Health Development Plan II, but stressed that inadequate releases were hampering implementation.

As of press time, the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General had not officially responded to the allegations.