Tinubu’s reforms not designed for instant abundance – Budget Office DG

By Kunle Sanni –

The Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, popularly referred to as Tinubunomics, were never designed to deliver “instant abundance” but to reset Nigeria’s macro-fiscal framework under difficult conditions.

He made the disclosure on Sunday, saying the reforms represent a “macro-fiscal reset undertaken within hard constraints”, including heavy inherited debt servicing obligations, foreign exchange challenges, rising security expenditures, legacy arrears, and competing constitutional responsibilities.

According to him, the logic behind the reforms is structural rather than cosmetic, with a focus on restoring proper price signals, strengthening revenue administration, rebuilding fiscal credibility, and repricing the public balance sheet while safeguarding the most vulnerable citizens.

Responding to criticisms of the policies, Yakubu faulted what he described as erroneous interpretations, noting that some critics approach national finance as though it were a household budget, a mindset he said often leads to misplaced accusations of scandal.

He stressed that genuine accountability is grounded in proper audit logic and institutional processes, not in social media narratives or simplified arithmetic circulated online.

Yakubu advised that government performance should be assessed by examining federal retained revenue, clearly separating it from financing, and tracking expenditure across debt service, personnel costs, capital projects, and transfers.

He added that such an assessment should also consider tangible outcomes, including improvements in roads, power supply, rail expansion, and the rehabilitation of schools and health facilities.

“Anything else is not scrutiny; it is theatre,” Yakubu said, adding that “no amount of theatrical arithmetic can substitute for fiscal discipline.”