The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has strongly criticized President Bola Tinubu’s 2025 budget proposal, labeling it as “hopeless” and “anti-people.”
In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP raised concerns that the proposed budget would lead to an increase in insecurity, poverty, and overall hopelessness across Nigeria. The party argued that the budget does not prioritize essential investments in key sectors such as agriculture, electricity, petroleum and gas, and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
The PDP dismissed President Tinubu’s claims of an 85% performance rate for the 2024 budget and the alleged improvements in economic growth under his administration, describing these assertions as “bogus” and “ludicrous.” The party also pointed out that the President had failed to disclose the Capital and Recurrent profiles of the 2025 budget, raising doubts about the transparency of government spending.
According to the PDP, the proposed budget is expected to result in increased taxes, a further decline in the value of the Naira, higher unemployment, and worsening inflation, which would push millions more Nigerians into poverty.
In response, the PDP has called on the National Assembly to reject the 2025 budget in its current form and use its legislative powers to revise the budget to include provisions that would foster economic growth and improve the welfare of Nigerians.
The statement reads:
“The @OfficialPDPNig describes the N47.9 trillion 2025 federal budget estimates as presented by President @officialABAT to the @nassnigeria today as anti-people, which if implemented as presented will plunge the nation deeper into the abyss of insecurity, poverty and hopelessness.
“The Party asserts that the budget as presented further confirms the insensitivity of the Tinubu-led @OfficialAPCNg administration towards the plight of Nigerians as it made no meaningful provisions and investments for critical productive sectors of agriculture and food production, electricity, petroleum and gas, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, which are the real drivers of the national economy.
“The PDP states that the budget address sounded more like a campaign rhetoric laced with unsubstantiated economic statistics, false promises and conjured performance claims without clear-cut operable steps and mechanisms to address insecurity, resuscitate the economy, revamp ailing industries, shore up food production, increase the value of the Naira, reduce overall cost of living, create jobs for our youths and guarantee better living standard for citizens.
“Further distressing is President Tinubu’s claim that the economy improved under his watch even in the face of acute poverty, excruciating hardship, comatose infrastructure, collapsed productive sectors, deteriorating value of the Naira, alarming 34.6% inflation and 40% unemployment rates in the last 18 months as validated by official figures.
“Equally ludicrous is Mr. President’s voodoo economy claim that the 2025 budget will reduce the current inflation rate from 34.6% to 15% and improve the value of the Naira from approximately N1,700 to the Dollar to N1,500 without any indices for tangible investment in the productive sector and in the face of a staggering N134.3 trillion ($91.3 billion) debt accumulated under the APC watch.
“The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the President in his speech failed to disclose the Capital and Recurrent profiles of the 2025 budget. This has heightened public apprehension on the issue of full disclosure and transparency in government spending under the current administration.
“Given the crippled national productive. 7 748sector, it is clear that with the N47.9 trillion expenditure including N15.8 trillion provision for Debt Services, the projected N34.8 trillion revenue with N13 trillion deficit will be financed by excruciating taxes and levies on already impoverished citizens and companies operating in the country.
“The 2025 budget as proposed will shrink our national business environment, further cripple the productive sector, discourage domestic and foreign investors, lead to further depreciation of the Naira, worsen unemployment and inflation rate and push million more Nigerians into abject poverty and invariably heighten insecurity.
“The PDP therefore calls on the National Assembly not to pass the 2025 budget as presented but activate its legislative powers as guaranteed under Sections 80, 81 and 82 of the 1999 Constitution to rejig the budget and make provisions that are critical and pivotal to the growth of the economy and the welfare of Nigerians.”
