By Ebube Bruno
ABUJA (CONVERSEER) – President Bola Tinubu must have geniuses running his government. Only that can explain how federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies have been functioning without capital releases. Yet the ministers showed ingenuity, perseverance and loyalty by not whining about it — until, of course, they were required by law to disclose this during their 2026 budget defence exercises before the National Assembly.
Tinubu must also be working with saints.
People whose saintliness he has carefully protected by refusing to tempt them with heavy bags of money they could pilfer from. That is intentional frugality. These ministers are amazing. Their head-hunter is even more discerning.
Who else could run a government like this without plunging the country into a crisis of inflation, recession and bailouts?
How has Tinubu managed to do it?
Let us begin with the Minister of Interior, Tunji Ojo. By most accounts, he has performed well. He has successfully reformed the public perception of the ministry. Nigerians now know that the Minister of Interior’s job is not merely to announce public holidays.
His scorecard includes technological reforms in Nigeria’s passport system and other initiatives. He is a darling of the media and public opinion, so much so that the distraction over a so-called certificate scandal has refused to stick.
Yet during his budget defence, he revealed that Oga did not release a kobo of the capital budget approved for his ministry for 2024 and 2025.
I hope he does not get into trouble for saying that. Nigerians love him. If you doubt it, listen to Senator Adams Oshiomhole
I am worried for faithful ministers like Ojo because of the rumour about what happened to Finance Minister Wale Edun, who was allegedly relieved of the burden of overseeing the release of funds to MDAs after committing the unpardonable sin of contradicting his boss’s public claims.
Apparently, he was being professional.
And as I said earlier, you cannot lie to the National Assembly.
You may lie to fellow politicians and support groups. You may twist information given to nosy journalists. You may even package narratives for foreign investors and the international community. But you should not lie in the hallowed chambers.
So when Tinubu, in September, told members of his party, “Today I can stand here before you to brag: Nigeria is not borrowing. We have met our revenue target for the year and we met it in August,” he was simply playing to the script.
His minister, however, stepped into a hot mess in December 2025 when he told the same hallowed chambers that the government realised about ₦10.7 trillion out of the ₦40.8 trillion revenue projected to finance the ₦54.9 trillion “Budget of Restoration.”
He also revealed that ₦14.1 trillion had been borrowed during the year to bridge the funding gap created by the revenue shortfall.
You saw what happened next.
The power to disburse funds was taken away from him, and his Minister of State for Finance, Doris Anite-Uzoka, was made responsible for capital releases.
You also saw where that landed her after the 2026 budget defence brouhaha.
Avoid the till; it stains the hands.
Now to the Minister of Health, Muhammad Ali Pate.
Those who know him say he is a decent, foreign-trained professional who has not been tainted by Nigeria’s infamous “mago-mago, fall-for-me-I-fall-for-you” street transactions of budget releases.
Perhaps that is why he could not hustle the ₦218 billion approved for capital projects for the Ministry of Health.
Minister Pate reportedly received only ₦36 million.
Do not be deceived into thinking this explains why snakebite became a national tragedy, or why health practitioners take turns going on strike.
What about the lofty programmes for cancer care, HIV treatment, maternal health and alternative energy for hospitals?
Please, do not be deceived.
An article by Dubawa helpfully clarified that the ₦218 billion applied only to the capital allocation for the Ministry’s headquarters, not the entire health sector, which had ₦2.38 trillion in the 2025 approved budget.
The article, however, did not think it necessary to tell us how much of that larger sum was actually released.
The less you know, the better for you.
Who still remembers Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, the former Minister of Women Affairs who was constantly disturbing “unapproved” events, quarrelling with people and generally spitting fire?
She knew too much and said too much.
She claimed during an interview with Channels Television that she did not receive funds for her projects.
Well, the testimony of the current Minister of Women Affairs is not any different. But she will not be replaced because she is not as noisy as Kennedy-Ohanenye.
The only person permitted to be that loud is Minister Nyesom Wike — the Special One, with the special mandate to dismantle the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and hold down the Federal Capital Territory.
With the exception granted to him from the Treasury Single Account, he has freer control of the resources of the FCT.
His media chats may cost more than the entire capital release for the Ministry of Health headquarters. Let us not even talk about his wines and clothing.
You certainly would not want Tinubu to release large sums to these humble servants and watch them go rogue like Wike.
They should be content with their salaries.
After all, huge ambition and envelopes can be intoxicating.
So you understand why the Minister of Transportation, Saidu Ahmed Alkali, revealed that he received only one percent of his ₦256.7 billion capital budget.
The Ministry of Solid Minerals reportedly received little or nothing.
Remember we were all encouraged to farm agbado (corn) and turn gun-wielding youths into tractor drivers? Yet the agency responsible for training farmers on best practices says it has not received any capital releases since 2024.
I do not have information about capital releases for the Ministry of Works. However, I do know that the Ikom–Obudu highway in Cross River State is in a terrible state because funds allocated for it in the 2024 and 2025 budgets were not released.
But do not worry.
Joy is coming.
Reports say the Federal Government has initiated the release of the 2025 capital budget, starting with 30 percent of allocations to MDAs in early 2026, while 70 percent will be rolled over into the 2026 budget.
Do you understand that?
You do not need to. Just believe that joy is coming.
Everything not addressed in the 2024 and 2025 budgets will apparently be resolved in 2026.
The President’s Special Adviser on Public Communications and Orientation, Sunday Dare, confirmed this on February 20.
According to him, “Full implementation of the capital components in both the 2024 and 2025 budgets targeted for completion on or before March 31, 2026.”
Avoid the naysayers who say it is fiscal indiscipline to run multiple overlapping budgets.
What do they know?
What Tinubu cannot do does not exist.
If forces beyond his control delayed the money for two years, he can surely produce it before the end of this month.
So Nigerians should relax.
Tinubu is fixing it.
He has chosen his ministers wisely and given them just enough to remain saints: their salaries, minimal police escorts, fatherly encouragement and the occasional photo opportunity.
He is a man of wealth and wisdom.
He understands that men exposed to less money are less corrupt.
Did the Bible not say that the love of money is the root of all evil?
After all, saints must be protected from temptation, especially in government.
Have you not seen how Wike and Umahi, the two ministers who have access to money, carry on like gods?
They foment trouble and court controversy.
They drink, shout, fight with soldiers and governors, and challenge women to shows of strength.
Surely you do not want more characters like that in the cabinet.
