By RismadarVoice Media
December 19, 2025
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday, December 19 presented the N58.18 trillion 2026 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly, unveiling what he described as the “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity.”
The proposal aims at consolidating recent macroeconomic gains, restore investor confidence, create jobs, improve living standards for Nigerians.
In his address, the President also announced a sweeping security doctrine, declaring that all armed groups operating outside state authority—including bandits, militias, kidnappers, violent cult groups, forest-based armed collectives, and foreign-linked mercenaries, would henceforth be treated as terrorists.
Tinubu warned that financiers, ransom facilitators, arms suppliers, political protectors, and even community or religious leaders who aid violence would also face the same designation.
President Tinubu highlighted Nigeria’s stabilizing economy, noting 3.98 per cent GDP growth in Q3 2025, moderation of inflation to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, improved oil production, stronger non-oil revenues, and rising investor confidence.
He also reported that external reserves reached a seven-year high of about $47 billion as of mid-November 2025, providing over 10 months of import cover.
Under the 2026 fiscal framework, total revenue is projected at ₦34.33 trillion, while total expenditure stands at ₦58.18 trillion, including ₦15.52 trillion for debt servicing.
Recurrent (non-debt) expenditure is pegged at ₦15.25 trillion, with capital expenditure at ₦26.08 trillion, resulting in a budget deficit of ₦23.85 trillion, equivalent to 4.28 per cent of GDP.
The budget is based on a crude oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of ₦1,400 to $1.
Security tops the sectoral allocations with ₦5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure (₦3.56 trillion), education (₦3.52 trillion), and health (₦2.48 trillion).
Tinubu also pledged deeper investments in human capital, noting that over 418,000 students have benefited from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
Health allocations represent six per cent of the total budget, excluding liabilities, with over $500 million in prospective U.S. grants for targeted interventions.
Agriculture will be prioritized through mechanization, irrigation, climate-resilient farming, storage, and agro-value chain support to boost food security and smallholder incomes.
The President acknowledged challenges in the implementation of the 2025 budget, revealing that as of Q3 2025, only 61 per cent of projected revenue and 60 per cent of planned expenditure had been realized, with just 17.7 per cent of the capital budget released.
He called for stricter fiscal discipline in 2026, directing full adherence to appropriated details and timelines, end-to-end digitization of revenue collection, and strict performance from Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs).
“The greatest budget is not the one we announce. It is the one we deliver,” Tinubu said, emphasizing that cooperation between the executive and legislature would drive the “Renewed Hope Agenda.”
Concluding his address, President Tinubu stated, “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.”
