- President vows to cut waste, manage debt with discipline
- Seeks extension of 2025 budget implementation to March 2026
- Experts: Budget provides clear economic direction
Reflecting growing concerns about insecurity in the country, defence, and security emerged top priorities in the 2026 budget presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday. A massive N5.41 trillion was allocated to the sectors.
The President presented a N58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, declaring that the coming fiscal year would mark a decisive break from what he described as the dismal execution record of the 2025 budget and usher in a new era of discipline, accountability and results-driven public spending.
Aside defence and security, other top priorities are infrastructure, education and health. They received N3.56 trillion, N3.52 trillion N2.48 trillion respectively.
Addressing a joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Abuja, the President said he had already issued firm instructions to key economic managers of government to ensure that the 2026 budget is implemented strictly in line with approved details and timelines, warning that Nigeria could no longer afford fiscal indiscipline, leakages and underperformance across its institutions.
“I have issued directives to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the Accountant-General of the Federation, and the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation to ensure that the 2026 Budget is implemented strictly in line with the appropriated details and timelines,” Tinubu told lawmakers.
He said the 2026 budget, christened “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” would be financed largely through stronger revenue performance arising from the recently enacted National Tax Acts and far-reaching reforms in the oil and gas sector, which he said were designed to deliver transparency, efficiency, fairness and long-term fiscal value.
According to the President, the reforms underway were not merely revenue-raising tools but structural changes aimed at rebuilding Nigeria’s fiscal architecture and restoring confidence in public finance management.
To meet the funding requirements of the budget, Tinubu directed all heads of government owned enterprises to meet their assigned revenue targets, stressing that remittances to the federation account would no longer be treated as optional.
“To support this, we will deploy end-to-end digitisation of revenue mobilisation—standardised e-collections, interoperable payment rails, automated reconciliation, data-driven risk profiling, and real-time performance dashboards—so leakages are sealed, compliance is verifiable, and remittances are prompt,” he said.
He added that revenue performance would now be central to institutional assessments, noting that the era of weak accountability had come to an end.
“These targets will form core components of performance evaluations and institutional scorecards. Nigeria can no longer afford leakages, inefficiencies, or underperformance in strategic agencies. Every institution must play its part,” the President declared.
Tinubu said the 2026 budget was anchored on four broad objectives: consolidating macroeconomic stability, improving the business and investment climate, promoting job-rich growth while reducing poverty, and strengthening human capital with deliberate protection for the most vulnerable citizens.
“In short, we will spend with purpose, manage debt with discipline, and pursue growth that is broad-based—not narrow—and sustainable—not temporary,” he said.
Presenting the fiscal framework, the President said the budget was built on realism, prudence and a growth-oriented outlook. He disclosed that expected total revenue for 2026 stood at N34.33 trillion, while projected expenditure was N58.18 trillion, including N15.52 trillion earmarked for debt servicing. Recurrent non-debt spending was projected at N15.25 trillion, while capital expenditure was put at N26.08 trillion.
The budget deficit of N23.85 trillion, representing 4.28 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, he said, remained within manageable limits.
“These numbers are not just accounting lines. They are a statement of national priorities. We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value-for-money spending,” Tinubu told the lawmakers.
He explained that the projections were guided by the 2026–2028 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, based on a conservative crude oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day and an exchange rate assumption of N1,400 to the dollar.
The President assured that government would continue to reduce waste, strengthen controls and ensure that every naira borrowed or spent delivers measurable public value, particularly in infrastructure, human capital development and national security.
On sectoral priorities, Tinubu said the allocations reflected the practical needs of Nigerians under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Defence and security received N5.41 trillion, infrastructure N3.56 trillion, education N3.52 trillion and health N2.48 trillion.
“These priorities are interlinked. Without security, investment will not thrive. Without educated and healthy citizens, productivity will not rise. Without infrastructure, jobs and enterprise will not scale. This is why the Budget is designed as one coherent programme of national renewal,” he said.
The President devoted a significant portion of his address to national security, delivering a forceful warning to terrorists, bandits and criminal networks operating across the country. He said security spending would now be tied to clear outcomes, insisting that public funds must translate into safer communities.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” Tinubu said.
He explained that the government would increase the fighting capacity of the armed forces and other security agencies through improved personnel strength and the acquisition of advanced platforms and hardware. He also announced a comprehensive reset of Nigeria’s national security architecture, including the introduction of a new national counterterrorism doctrine.
“Our administration is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine—a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence, community stability, and counter-insurgency,” he said.
Under the new doctrine, the President declared that any armed group operating outside state authority would be classified as terrorists.
“Henceforth, and under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists,” Tinubu said, listing bandits, militias, armed gangs, criminal networks, violent cult groups, forest-based armed collectives and foreign-linked mercenaries among those covered.
He extended the classification to financiers, informants, ransom negotiators, political protectors, arms suppliers and community leaders who facilitate violent acts, stating that anyone enabling terrorism would be treated as a terrorist.
Turning to human capital development, the President said no nation could grow beyond the quality of its people, adding that the 2026 budget strengthened investments in education, healthcare, skills acquisition and social protection.
He disclosed that over 418,000 students had already benefited from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund in partnership with 229 tertiary institutions nationwide. He added that healthcare spending accounted for six per cent of the total budget size, net of liabilities.
Tinubu also announced that recent engagements with the United States government had opened the door to over $500 million in grant funding for targeted health interventions across Nigeria.
“We welcome this partnership and assure Nigerians that these resources will be deployed transparently and effectively,” he said.
On infrastructure and economic productivity, the President said projects under the Renewed Hope Agenda were moving steadily from vision to execution, covering transport, energy, ports, agriculture and strategic investments capable of unlocking private capital.
He said food security remained a national security issue, noting that the 2026 budget prioritised input financing, mechanisation, irrigation, climate-resilient farming, storage, processing and agro-value chains to reduce post-harvest losses and improve rural incomes.
As he concluded, Tinubu told lawmakers and Nigerians that the true measure of a budget lay not in its announcement but in its delivery.
“The greatest budget is not the one we announce. It is the one we deliver,” he said.
He pledged better revenue mobilisation, better spending discipline and stronger accountability as the three guiding commitments for 2026, adding that trust would only be built by matching words with results.
“The 2026 Budget is not a budget of promises; it is a Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” Tinubu said, formally laying the Appropriation Bill before the National Assembly.
FEC approves N58.47trn 2026 Budget, amends MTEF
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had earlier approved the ₦58.47 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill, alongside an amendment to the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.
The FEC approval cleared the way for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to present the budget proposal to a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
President Tinubu convened an emergency meeting of the Council at the State House, Abuja, to consider a single-item memorandum on the 2026 budget estimates ahead of their formal presentation to the National Assembly.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Tanimu Yakubu, said the approved 2026 budget has an aggregate expenditure of N58.47 trillion, representing a six percent increase over the 2025 budget estimate.
According to Yakubu, the total expenditure framework includes projected spending by government-owned enterprises (GOEs) amounting to N4.98 trillion, as well as N1.37 trillion earmarked for grants and donor-funded projects.
Statutory transfers are estimated at N4.1 trillion, while debt service obligations are projected at N15.52 trillion, including N3.39 trillion set aside for the sinking fund to retire maturing local debts owed to contractors and other creditors.
Personnel costs, including pensions, are projected at ₦10.75 trillion, representing a seven per cent increase over the 2025 provision.
This figure includes ₦1.02 trillion allocated to government-owned enterprises. Overhead costs are estimated at ₦2.22 trillion.
The budget proposes a capital expenditure of ₦25.68 trillion, which is 1.8 per cent lower than the 2025 capital provision.
Yakubu explained that the marginal reduction reflects a more conservative approach to capital planning, with emphasis on completing ongoing projects and ensuring value for money.
He said capital allocation priorities include ₦11.3 trillion for ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), ₦2.05 trillion for multilateral and bilateral loan-funded projects, and ₦1.8 trillion representing the capital component of the development levy.
Yakubu noted that the 2026 budget was designed to strike a balance between macroeconomic stabilisation and development imperatives within the medium-term fiscal framework.
He said the underlying assumptions were conservative and realistic, particularly with respect to oil price, exchange rate, and dividends from government-owned enterprises.
On the revenue outlook, the Budget Office boss said projected revenues are expected to decline year-on-year, but stressed that non-oil revenues now account for about two-thirds of total government receipts, confirming a structural shift away from oil dependence.
He identified corporate income tax, value-added tax, customs duties, and independent revenues as the main fiscal anchors.
He added that growth in expenditure is being driven largely by debt servicing, wages, and pensions rather than discretionary expansion, while the projected fiscal deficit reflects structural pressures rather than policy loosening.
According to Yakubu, financing of the deficit will rely primarily on domestic borrowing, complemented by concessional loans from multilateral development institutions.
Also speaking after the meeting, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, disclosed that the council simultaneously approved an amendment to the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, leading to consequential adjustments in the size of the 2026 budget.
Bagudu said the amendment involved a downward revision of the exchange rate benchmark used in the framework, from N1,512 to N1,400 to the dollar, a change he said had implications for the overall fiscal projections.
“This afternoon, the Federal Executive Council considered the 2026 Budget proposal that is going to the National Assembly, as well as an amendment to the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which we propose — a revision downwards of the exchange rate from N1,512 to N1,400 and the consequential changes in budget size,” the minister said.
According to him, FEC approved both the amended MTEF parameters and the revised 2026 budget estimates, effectively clearing the way for the formal presentation of the appropriation bill to lawmakers.
President seeks extension of 2025 budget implementation to March 2026
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday wrote to the National Assembly seeking the approval of the lawmakers to extend the life span of the 2025 budget to March 2026.
The letter dated December 18 and read at plenary on Friday by the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, is also seeking permission to consolidate the capital components of the 2024 and 2025.
The letter came ahead of the planned consideration of the earlier letter on the two budgets by the House, with the President saying in the letter that the new one supersedes the earlier correspondence dated December 16.
He explained that the request is part of a broader fiscal reform measure aimed at eliminating the overlap of multiple concurrently running budgets, thereby strengthening planning, execution, and accountability across government expenditure circles.
The letter reads, “I hereby transmit to the House of Representatives the enclosed Appropriation (Repeal and Re-Enactment Bills), 2024 and 2025, for the consideration of the National Assembly, in accordance with the established constitutional and legislative appropriation process.
“The Bills seek to repeal the 2024 Appropriation Act of N35,055,536,770,218 and re-enact by authorising the issuance from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation of the total sum of N43,561,041,744,507 comprising N1,742,786,788,150 for Statutory Transfers, N8,270,960,606,831 for Debt Service, N11,268,513,380,853 for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure, and N22,278,780,968,673 for Capital Expenditure/Development Fund contributions for the year ending 31st’ December 2025 as provided in the Bill).
“It also seeks to repeal The 2025 Appropriation Act of N54,990,165,355,396 and re-enact by authorising the issuance from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation of the total sum of N48,316,242,591,785 comprising N3,645,761,358,925 for Statutory Transfers, N14,317,142,689,548 for Debt Service, N13,588,009,682,673 for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure, and N16,765,328,860,640 for Capital Expenditure/Development Fund contribution, for the year ending 31§t March, 2026 (as provided in the Bill).
“The House of Representatives is invited to note that the Bills are submitted to cater for all items not previously recognised, while also reflecting a revised capital implementation target of 30%.
“In addition to this, adjustment aligns with current fiscal realities and execution capacities, while ensuring that budget performance remains credible and transparent. It further seeks to extend the 2025 Budget to March 31st, 2026, to allow for full release of the target 30% for ALL MDAs.
“This is part of a broader fiscal reform measure aimed at eliminating the overlap of multiple concurrently running budgets, thereby strengthening planning, execution, and accountability across government expenditure cycles.
“It further provides a transparent and constitutionally grounded appropriation mechanism and prudent public financial management framework.
“The Bills also strengthen implementation discipline and accountability by, among other provisions: requiring that appropriated funds are released and applied strictly for the purposes specified in the Schedules; providing that virement may only be effected with prior approval of the National Assembly; setting out conditions for corrigenda where genuine errors may hinder implementation; requiring separate recording of excess revenue and limiting its expenditure to an Act or approval of the National Assembly; and mandating due process compliance and periodic reporting on releases and agency revenues/assistance.
“The House of Representatives is invited to note that this letter supersedes my earlier submission vide PRES/134/50/S/ARRENB dated 16″ December, 2025.”
He appealed to the lawmakers to consider the passage of the Bills in their usual expeditious manner.
National Assembly pledges full partnership with Tinubu
The National Assembly yesterday pledged full legislative backing for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, vowing to work in close constitutional partnership to deliver a realistic, disciplined and people-centred 2026 Budget.
Speaking at a joint sitting of the National Assembly during the presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill by the President, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said cooperation between the Executive and Legislature remained the cornerstone of national development.
Akpabio described the presentation, titled “Planting the Future Together: Partnership, Reform, and the 2026 Budget,” as more than a constitutional ritual, saying it marked a defining national conversation on priorities, responsibilities and collective resolve.
“Today, we assemble not merely to fulfill a constitutional requirement, but to engage in a defining national conversation about our priorities as a people and our responsibilities as leaders,” he said.
The Senate President stressed that sustainable progress was anchored on institutional harmony, citing global examples such as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the United States and Britain’s post-war reconstruction under Clement Attlee. He warned that executive-legislative rivalry often resulted in stagnation and instability.
According to him, the 2026 Appropriation Bill goes beyond figures, serving as a statement of intent and a roadmap for renewal.
“Budgets tell a story. This is not just a compilation of numbers, but a reflection of priorities, a record of difficult choices and a pathway to national renewal,” Akpabio said.
He acknowledged the socio-economic challenges facing Nigerians, including rising living costs, unemployment and insecurity, assuring that the National Assembly would work with the Executive to address them decisively.
Akpabio also highlighted the legislative achievements of the Tenth Senate, noting the passage of landmark bills on security, economic reform, governance, judicial administration, electoral integrity, infrastructure and social protection.
“Nation-building is not the work of one man or one institution. It is a collective endeavour,” he said, adding that the National Assembly would ensure that “every naira appropriated serves the people who earned it.”
Using the metaphor of planting a baobab tree, the Senate President said the reforms being undertaken were investments for future generations.
“It is not about the applause of today, but the shade of tomorrow. Let us water it together,” he said.
In his closing remarks and vote of thanks, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, described the President’s personal presentation of the budget as “democracy at its strongest” and a reaffirmation of partnership-driven governance.
Reflecting on the outgoing 2025 fiscal year, Abbas said it marked a return to stability and renewed confidence after a difficult adjustment phase, though he acknowledged that global economic pressures exposed weaknesses in some budget assumptions, particularly crude oil price and exchange rate projections.
He said the challenges reinforced the need for realism, discipline and revenue diversification rather than weakening the reform agenda.
“The gains of 2025 must be seen as the foundation for a more deliberate, realistic and results-oriented 2026 Budget,” the Speaker said.
Citing National Bureau of Statistics data, Abbas noted that Nigeria recorded positive growth throughout 2025, with real GDP approaching four per cent, placing the country among stronger-performing economies in sub-Saharan Africa.
He added that inflationary pressures had eased following the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index, while external indicators showed stronger foreign reserves, resilient remittances, rising export receipts and improved coherence in the foreign exchange market.
According to him, international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have acknowledged these trends as signs of restored macroeconomic credibility.
Looking ahead, Abbas said the task for 2026 was to consolidate reforms and translate growth into jobs, higher incomes and expanded opportunities.
He commended President Tinubu’s directive on operating one budget and one fiscal framework, saying it signalled reform maturity and restored order to public finance by eliminating parallel budgets and fragmented spending windows.
On security, the Speaker described it as the foundation of development, noting that the 2026 Budget prioritised security through expanded recruitment, improved welfare, enhanced intelligence coordination and strengthened territorial security.
He assured that the National Assembly would ensure that funds allocated to security produced measurable improvements nationwide.
Abbas also highlighted the implementation of new tax laws in 2026, describing them as critical to broadening the tax base, enhancing equity, reducing leakages and strengthening non-oil revenues.
He pledged that lawmakers would consider the 2026 Appropriation Bill with urgency, diligence and patriotism, while scrutinising spending to ensure accountability and value for money.
“To Nigerians watching, the message is clear: stability has been restored, confidence rebuilt, fiscal order strengthened and the foundations for shared prosperity firmly laid,” he said.
The Speaker thanked President Tinubu for his leadership, praised Senate President Akpabio for his statesmanship, and commended lawmakers and Nigerians for their dedication to national service, praying for God’s blessings on the country.
