President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday presented a ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, with major allocations to defence, infrastructure, education and health.
The budget, tagged “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” was laid before lawmakers at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
Present at the joint sitting were the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; principal officers of both chambers; and other top government and party officials, including the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Presenting the proposal, Tinubu said he appeared before the lawmakers in fulfilment of his constitutional duty to present the 2026 Appropriation Bill, describing the occasion as a “defining moment” in Nigeria’s reform journey.
He acknowledged that the economic reforms implemented over the past two and a half years had imposed pains on citizens, but assured Nigerians that their sacrifices were yielding results.
According to him, Nigeria’s economy is showing signs of stabilisation, citing a 3.98 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of 2025 and moderation in inflation for eight consecutive months to 14.45 per cent in November 2025.
The president also highlighted improved oil production, stronger non-oil revenues and rising investor confidence as indicators of recovery.
Tinubu disclosed that the country’s external reserves had risen to a seven-year high of about 47 billion dollars as of mid-November 2025, providing more than 10 months of import cover.
“These outcomes are not accidental. They reflect difficult but deliberate policy choices,” the president said, stressing that the focus going forward was to ensure that stability translates into prosperity and shared prosperity for Nigerians.
A breakdown of the proposal shows that total revenue is projected at ₦34.33 trillion, while total expenditure stands at ₦58.18 trillion, inclusive of ₦15.52 trillion earmarked for debt servicing.
Recurrent (non-debt) expenditure is put at ₦15.25 trillion, while capital expenditure is projected at ₦26.08 trillion.
The resulting budget deficit of ₦23.85 trillion represents about 4.28 per cent of GDP.
Key assumptions underlying the budget include a crude oil benchmark of 64.85 dollars per barrel, oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of ₦1,400 to the U.S. dollar.
Tinubu said the figures were a reflection of national priorities and reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency and value-for-money spending.
In terms of sectoral allocation, security tops the chart with ₦5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure with ₦3.56 trillion, education with ₦3.52 trillion, and health with ₦2.48 trillion.
Unveiling what he described as a reset of Nigeria’s national security architecture, the president announced a unified counter-terrorism doctrine.
“Henceforth, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actor operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists,” Tinubu declared.
He listed bandits, militias, armed gangs, kidnappers, violent cult groups, forest-based armed collectives and foreign-linked mercenaries, warning that their financiers, arms suppliers, ransom facilitators, political sponsors and even community or religious leaders who aid violence would also be designated as terrorists.
On budget implementation, Tinubu admitted that the 2025 budget faced transition challenges, revealing that as of the third quarter of 2025, ₦18.6 trillion in revenue, representing 61 per cent of the target, and ₦24.66 trillion in expenditure, about 60 per cent of the target, had been recorded.
He said only ₦3.10 trillion, representing 17.7 per cent of the 2025 capital budget, had been released by the third quarter.
The president pledged stricter fiscal discipline in 2026, directing the finance and budget authorities to implement the budget strictly in line with approved details and timelines.
He also warned heads of Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) to meet their revenue targets, noting that end-to-end digitisation would be deployed to plug leakages.
“Nigeria can no longer afford inefficiencies or underperformance in strategic agencies. Every institution must play its part,” Tinubu said.
On human capital development, the president disclosed that over 418,000 students had benefitted from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund in partnership with 229 tertiary institutions nationwide.
He added that health spending accounted for about six per cent of the total budget, excluding liabilities, with over 500 million dollars in prospective U.S. grant funding expected for targeted health interventions.
Addressing food security, Tinubu said agriculture would be prioritised through mechanisation, irrigation, climate-resilient farming, storage facilities and agro-value chains to reduce post-harvest losses and boost smallholder incomes.
“The greatest budget is not the one we announce; it is the one we deliver,” the president said, assuring Nigerians of improved revenue mobilisation, smarter spending and stronger accountability.
Laying the bill before lawmakers, Tinubu said the 2026 budget belonged to all Nigerians and expressed confidence that cooperation between the executive and legislature would ensure effective delivery of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“It is with great pleasure that I lay before this distinguished joint session of the National Assembly the 2026 Appropriation Bill of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he concluded.
