By Amofokhai Williams
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, declaring that the coming fiscal year will mark a decisive break from weak budget execution, overlapping spending plans and abandoned projects.
Unveiling the proposal titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” the President said the 2026 budget is designed to lock in recent economic reforms and convert stabilising macroeconomic indicators into improved living standards for Nigerians
Tinubu announced the end of Nigeria’s long-standing practice of running multiple budgets simultaneously, describing it as a major obstacle to fiscal discipline and effective planning.
He said the era of overlapping budgets, inherited liabilities and perpetual rollovers must give way to a more transparent and accountable system.
“This is a reset, a very hard one,” the President said, stressing that by March 31, 2026, all outstanding capital liabilities from previous years would be fully funded and closed.
From April 2026, he added, the country would operate a single budget supported by a single revenue cycle, with no overlaps or excuses.
Reflecting on 2025 budget performance, Tinubu said implementation was affected by transition pressures and competing demands. As of the third quarter of 2025, government revenue stood at ₦18.6 trillion, representing 61 per cent of the target, while expenditure reached ₦24.66 trillion, or 60 per cent of projections.
He disclosed that following the extension of the 2024 capital budget to December 2025, ₦2.23 trillion had been released for 2024 capital projects by June 2025. However, only ₦3.10 trillion, about 17.7 per cent of the 2025 capital budget, was released as of Q3, reflecting the focus on completing inherited projects.
Tinubu assured lawmakers that 2026 would be a year of stronger discipline, revealing that directives have been issued to key economic and finance officials to ensure strict adherence to appropriated timelines and details.
He said improved revenue performance is expected from new National Tax Acts and ongoing oil and gas sector reforms aimed at transparency, efficiency and long-term fiscal value.
Warning Government-Owned Enterprises and revenue-generating agencies against underperformance, the President said Nigeria could no longer tolerate leakages and inefficiencies.
He ordered all agencies to meet their revenue targets, supported by end-to-end digitisation of revenue collection, real-time performance dashboards and automated reconciliation systems.
Highlighting economic progress, Tinubu said Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.98 per cent in Q3 2025, up from 3.86 per cent a year earlier, while inflation eased for eight consecutive months to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 24.23 per cent in March.
He also cited improved oil output, expanded non-oil revenues, renewed investor confidence and external reserves rising to a seven-year high of about $47 billion.
Under the 2026 fiscal framework, the President projected ₦58.18 trillion in total expenditure against expected revenue of ₦34.33 trillion. Capital expenditure is estimated at ₦26.08 trillion, recurrent non-debt spending at ₦15.25 trillion, while debt servicing is projected at ₦15.52 trillion. The budget deficit of ₦23.85 trillion represents 4.28 per cent of GDP.
The budget is anchored on conservative assumptions, including an oil price benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, daily production of 1.84 million barrels, and an exchange rate of ₦1,400 to the dollar, which Tinubu said underscored the administration’s commitment to realism and fiscal sustainability.
Security, infrastructure, education, health and agriculture were identified as priority sectors, with proposed allocations of ₦5.41 trillion for defence and security, ₦3.56 trillion for infrastructure, ₦3.52 trillion for education and ₦2.48 trillion for health.
On security, the President declared zero tolerance for terrorism and violent crimes, announcing a new national counter-terrorism doctrine built on unified command, intelligence-driven operations and community stability. He said the revamped security architecture would fundamentally change how Nigeria confronts banditry, kidnapping and insurgency.
In healthcare, Tinubu welcomed over $500 million in grant funding secured through recent engagements with the United States for targeted health interventions, assuring Nigerians of transparent and effective deployment. He said a strong healthcare system remains central to human capital development and national resilience.
The President reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to food security, agricultural mechanisation and climate-resilient farming, noting that improved storage, processing and value chains would reduce post-harvest losses and boost rural incomes.
Commending Nigerians for their resilience, Tinubu pledged that the benefits of ongoing reforms would reach households and communities nationwide, insisting that the true measure of the 2026 budget would be its delivery, not its announcement.
