Uwaleke: Next Reform Phase Must Fix Budget Implementation Weaknesses and Public Spending Inefficiencies

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

Professor of capital markets and former Imo State Commissioner for Finance, Uche Uwaleke, said that the current administration’s economic strategy is defined by renewed policy coherence. He warned that the next phase of reforms must tackle persistent weaknesses in budget implementation and inefficiencies in public spending.

In an article titled “Three Years After: A Critical Evaluation of Tinubu’s Economic Reforms,” Uwaleke assessed the President Ahmed Tinubu administration’s economic trajectory over the past 36 months. He noted that several macro‑economic indicators now show gradual stabilisation, indicating that the painful reforms are beginning to deliver measurable benefits.

However, he identified a major structural problem: the continued use of overlapping, multi‑year budgets. This practice delays capital‑project execution and erodes fiscal discipline.

He said, “In 2025, for example, less than 30 percent of budgeted capital projects were implemented despite significant borrowing. This creates a situation where the government accumulates debt without corresponding infrastructure delivery or economic productivity gains.”

“The next phase of reforms must therefore focus on strengthening budget credibility, improving project‑monitoring mechanisms, eliminating duplication in capital allocations, enforcing stricter timelines for procurement and implementation, and ensuring that borrowed funds are tied directly to measurable developmental outcomes,” Uwaleke added. “Nigeria cannot continue operating a fiscal system where recurrent expenditure consistently overwhelms capital investment while critical infrastructure deficits persist across the country.”

Uwaleke, a professor of capital markets at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, and President of the Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (CMAN), described the last 36 months as difficult, controversial in some respects, but undeniably transformational in many fundamental ways.

He said, “Rarely has any administration confronted so many entrenched structural distortions within such a short period while simultaneously attempting to reposition the economy for long‑term sustainability.”

“The significance of this moment therefore lies not merely in celebrating political longevity, but in critically assessing the depth of the reforms undertaken, the progress achieved, the sacrifices borne by Nigerians, and the urgent work that still lies ahead if the country must achieve inclusive growth, large‑scale job creation, poverty reduction, and accelerated infrastructural development,” he said.

The financial economist noted that when Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, Nigeria’s economy was burdened by multiple crises. Fiscal instability had reached alarming levels; foreign‑exchange distortions undermined investor confidence; inflationary pressures were rising; fuel‑subsidy payments had become unsustainable; and economic‑policy credibility had deteriorated sharply. He argued that the country was effectively operating an economy that subsidised consumption instead of production, rewarded arbitrage instead of productivity, and encouraged rent‑seeking instead of innovation.

Uwaleke explained that difficult and politically costly reforms were therefore inevitable. For him, perhaps the boldest and most consequential decision of the administration was the removal of the fuel subsidy.