President Tinubu Presents ₦58.18 Trillion 2026 Budget

By Naija Enquirer Staff

President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, vowing that 2026 will mark a decisive shift toward stronger discipline in budget execution and results-driven governance.

The President said the Budget, titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” is designed to consolidate recent economic reforms and translate stabilising macroeconomic indicators into improved living standards for Nigerians.

President Tinubu announced the end of the long-standing practice of running multiple budgets in the country, describing it as a major impediment to fiscal discipline and sustainable development.

“Before I go any further, let me be upfront. This is a reset, a very hard one,” the President declared.

He said overlapping budgets, abandoned projects, inherited obligations, and repeated rollovers have continued to undermine effective governance and economic planning.

“We are terminating the habit of running three budgets in one inflow. By March 31, 2026, all capital liabilities from previous years will be fully funded and closed.

“From April, Nigeria will operate on a single budget backed by a single revenue cycle — no overlaps, no excuses, no rollovers,” he said.

Addressing revenue mobilisation and accountability, President Tinubu noted that the 2025 budget implementation reflected transition challenges and competing execution demands.

“As at Q3 2025, we recorded ₦18.6 trillion in revenue — representing 61 per cent of our target — and ₦24.66 trillion in expenditure, representing 60 per cent of our target,” he said.

He explained that following the extension of the 2024 capital budget to December 2025, a total of ₦2.23 trillion was released for capital projects as of June 2025, while only ₦3.10 trillion — about 17.7 per cent of the 2025 capital budget — had been released by Q3.

“Let me be clear: 2026 will be a year of stronger discipline in budget execution,” the President said, adding that he had issued firm directives to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, and other key officials to ensure strict adherence to the approved budget.

President Tinubu warned Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) and revenue-generating agencies that underperformance would no longer be tolerated.

“Nigeria can no longer afford leakages, inefficiencies, or underperformance in strategic agencies,” he said.

He announced plans for end-to-end digitisation of revenue mobilisation, including standardised e-collections, interoperable payment systems, automated reconciliation, data-driven risk profiling, and real-time performance dashboards.

Highlighting recent economic indicators, the President said Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.98 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, compared to 3.86 per cent in the same period of 2024, while inflation moderated for eight consecutive months to 14.45 per cent in November 2025.

He also cited improved oil production, rising non-oil revenues, renewed investor confidence, and external reserves reaching a seven-year high of about $47 billion.

Outlining the fiscal framework, the President said the 2026 Budget projects total expenditure of ₦58.18 trillion against expected revenue of ₦34.33 trillion.

Capital expenditure is estimated at ₦26.08 trillion, recurrent non-debt expenditure at ₦15.25 trillion, and debt servicing at ₦15.52 trillion, with a budget deficit of ₦23.85 trillion, representing 4.28 per cent of GDP.

The budget assumptions include a crude oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, daily oil production of 1.84 million barrels, and an exchange rate of ₦1,400 to the US dollar.

President Tinubu identified security, infrastructure, education, health, and agriculture as priority areas, 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.

He announced the establishment of a new national counter-terrorism doctrine to confront terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping, stressing that the government would show no mercy to violent criminals.

On healthcare, the President disclosed that Nigeria had secured over $500 million in grant funding from the United States for targeted health interventions.

Reaffirming commitment to food security, President Tinubu said the 2026 Budget focuses on mechanisation, irrigation, climate-resilient agriculture, storage, processing, and agro-value chains to reduce post-harvest losses and improve farmers’ incomes.

He commended Nigerians for their resilience, assuring that the benefits of ongoing reforms would increasingly reach households and communities across the country.

“The greatest budget is not the one we announce,” the President said. “It is the one we deliver.”