Abubakar Yusuf, the former Senator for Taraba Central, has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic strategies are failing to produce the desired outcomes.
As a prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who served in the Senate from 2015 to 2023, Yusuf’s remarks represent a significant internal critique of the current administration.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, February 12, 2026, he dismissed the effectiveness of “Tinubunomics,” asserting: “For me, it is not working. I am a member of the APC. I would be the last person to hide the facts.”
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Yusuf argued that while the government may be diligent, its current policy framework is fundamentally mismatched with Nigeria’s needs.
He specifically took issue with the abrupt termination of the fuel subsidy on the President’s inauguration day, questioning the lack of prior planning.
“I am one of those who say President Asiwaju ought to have waited. Not on the day he was sworn in to say subsidy is gone. On what basis?” he asked.
He urged the administration to prioritize consultation, advising: “Sit down with your cabinet, sit down with your ministers, sit down with your advisers.”
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The former lawmaker also criticized the nation’s “envelope” budgeting system, which he believes forces agencies to budget before they have a concrete plan.
“The envelope system we have been operating has been you budget before you plan. That has been a major issue,” he explained.
He warned that allocating funds without aligning them to specific development goals ensures failure: “If you give me an envelope which is contrary to my plan, whether it is plus or minus, there is no way I am going to implement my plan. It is bound to fail.”
Yusuf concluded by highlighting that poor fund releases and a reliance on deficit financing have crippled budget performance for years. “We could not meet 60 percent of our capital budget in all these years. No releases. If you make a budget and the release is very poor, there is no way the budget will be executed,” he stated.
He lamented that Nigeria’s financial planning consistently falls into a cycle of underperformance, adding: “Our budget ought to have been a surplus budget, but all our budgets have always been deficit financing budgets.”
