President Bola Tinubu presented the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N58.18 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the appropriation bill was christened ‘Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity’.
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Mr Tinubu said the budget was a culmination of two and a half years of “painful but necessary” reforms aimed at steering Nigeria towards macroeconomic stability, job-rich growth, and inclusive prosperity.
Key highlights of the 2026 appropriation bill, according to the president, include total revenue of N34.33 trillion and total expenditure of N58.18 trillion, including N15.52 trillion for debt servicing.
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While the recurrent non-debt expenditure was pegged at N15.25 trillion, capital expenditure was N26.08 trillion, and the deficit was N23.85 trillion, representing a 4.28 per cent of GDP rate.
The president stated that the budget was based on four pillars: consolidating macroeconomic stability, improving the business and investment climate, promoting job-rich growth and poverty reduction, and strengthening human capital, while protecting vulnerable groups.
According to him, sectoral allocations are as follows: Defence and Security, N5.41 trillion; Infrastructure, N3.56 trillion; Education, N3.52 trillion; and Health, N2.48 trillion.
Mr Tinubu emphasised that security remained the bedrock of development, stating that the N5.41 trillion allocation was crucial to modernising the armed forces, enhancing intelligence-driven policing, and securing the nation’s borders.
He stated that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund had supported over 418,000 students across 229 tertiary institutions, while health spending accounts for six per cent of the total budget net of liabilities.
The president noted that encouraging signs of stabilisation, stressing that GDP grew to 3.98 per cent in the third quarter of 2025 from 3.86 per cent in the third quarter of 2024.
He also stated that inflation decreased to 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while external reserves reached a seven-year high of approximately $ 47 billion.
To sustain the gains, he said the budget would target a crude oil benchmark of $ 64.85 per barrel, production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US dollar for 2026.
Mr Tinubu, who stressed the need for discipline in budget execution, directed ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to adhere strictly to appropriated timelines and deploy end-to-end digitisation of revenue mobilisation to curb leakages.
He also called for better revenue mobilisation through new National Tax Acts and reforms in the oil and gas sector, alongside stringent performance targets for government-owned enterprises.
He said that the budget introduced a new national counter‑terrorism doctrine, which reclassified bandits, militias, armed gangs, and other non-state armed groups as terrorists.
READ ALSO: FOR THE RECORD: 2026 Budget Speech by President Bola Tinubu
“The doctrine mandates unified command, intelligence‑sharing, and community-based peace building to combat violence that threatens national survival,” he said.
The president called for unity between the executive and the legislature to deliver the full promise of his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, reiterating that the 2026 budget was not merely a list of numbers but a statement of national priorities.
(NAN)
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