President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally requested the National Assembly to adjust the 2026 Appropriation Bill, proposing an increase of ₦9 trillion to raise the total budget from ₦58.4 trillion to ₦67.4 trillion. The request was communicated in a letter read on the Senate floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary on Tuesday.
The President explained that the proposed adjustment aims to enhance fiscal transparency and ensure the effective implementation of priority national programmes. He outlined three main objectives:
- Regularize and account for outstanding legal commitments carried over from previous budgets, preventing them from disrupting the execution of the 2026 budget.
- Consolidate and formally capture existing government indebtedness within the fiscal framework.
- Provide for a limited number of strategic and priority projects while maintaining macro-fiscal stability and easing pressure on the domestic financial market.
Last December, Tinubu presented the original 2026 federal budget of ₦58.18 trillion, allocating ₦5.41 trillion (about 9.3% of total expenditure) to defence and security, citing the importance of security for investment and economic growth. The budget, themed “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” was anchored on realism, prudence, and growth orientation. Key figures included expected revenue of ₦34.33 trillion, recurrent (non-debt) expenditure of ₦15.25 trillion, and capital expenditure of ₦26.08 trillion, leaving a deficit of ₦23.85 trillion, equivalent to 4.28% of GDP.
The President emphasized that the figures reflect national priorities, reinforcing commitments to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value-for-money spending. The 2026 budget is guided by the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2026–2028, based on a crude oil benchmark of US$64.85 per barrel, projected production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 per US dollar.
