Where Is the Money?’ — Abaribe Explodes Over Tinubu’s 30% Budget Performance, Unpaid Contractors

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the representative of Abia South raised an alarm over what he described as a total collapse of the 2025 fiscal year. Abaribe alleged that the administration failed to implement even 30% of the 2025 budget, leaving the nation’s infrastructure and social services in a state of paralysis.

The Senator’s critique centered on a glaring contradiction: while the government continues to boast of record-breaking revenue from fuel subsidy removal, aggressive tax drives, and massive external borrowing, the impact is nowhere to be found on the ground.

“Tinubu did not complete 30% of the 2025 budget. All the contractors that worked in 2024 have not been paid,” Abaribe declared. “Where is all the money they said they have collected, borrowed, and taxes? All they are concerned about is ‘city boys’.”

The term “city boys”—frequently used to describe the President’s inner circle of loyalists—was weaponized by Abaribe to suggest that the nation’s wealth is being siphoned into a narrow political patronage system while legitimate businesses and contractors face bankruptcy.

Abaribe’s claims are backed by grim data recently emerging from budget defense sessions. Reports indicate that many Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) received as little as 0.44% to 1.7% of their allocated capital funds for 2025.

To manage the fallout, the federal government recently announced an unprecedented implementation extension, pushing the deadline for just 30% of the 2025 capital budget to November 2026. The remaining 70% has been rolled over into the 2026 fiscal year—a move critics say is an admission of total financial failure.

The non-payment of 2024 contractors has already triggered a wave of abandoned projects across the country. Construction firms, many of whom took bank loans to execute federal contracts, are reportedly being hounded by creditors as the Treasury remains dry.

The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, recently admitted that out of a projected ₦40 trillion revenue target for 2025, the government only realized ₦10 trillion, leaving a staggering ₦30 trillion hole in the books.

As the Senate Finance Committee considers summoning economic managers to account for the shortfall, Abaribe’s “Where is the money?” question has become a rallying cry for an increasingly frustrated opposition.

With the 2026 budget cycle already under threat by the baggage of 2025, the Tinubu administration faces its most significant credibility test yet: proving that its “Renewed Hope” agenda is more than just a tagline for the “city boys.”