President Bola Tinubu yesterday assented to the 2026 Appropriation Bill, which provides for an aggregate expenditure of N68.32 trillion.
The president also extended the implementation period for the 2025 budget from March 31, 2026, to June 30, 2026.
The N68.32 trillion budget for this year earmarks N4.799 trillion for statutory transfers and N15.8 trillion for debt service.
It allocates N15.4 trillion to recurrent expenditure and N32.2 trillion to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure.
A statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, after the signing, said it will enable Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to consolidate ongoing works, enhance project completion rates, and maximise value for public expenditure.
It added that with capital expenditure accounting for about 50 per cent, the 2026 budget underscores the administration’s continued commitment to economic stability, national security, infrastructure development, and inclusive growth.
“The allocations reflect a strategic balance between statutory obligations, debt servicing, recurrent expenditure, and capital investments critical to driving productivity and improving the quality of life for Nigerians.
“The extension will ensure the full and effective utilisation of appropriated funds, particularly for critical infrastructure and development projects that are at advanced stages of implementation across the country”, the government said.
Despite promise, operation of multiple budget continues
Checks showed that despite repeated promises by the president, that all multiple budget implementations would end in March 2026, and from April, Nigeria would operate on a single budget, backed by a single revenue cycle, the problem persists.
Specifically, in December 2025, Tinubu stated this while presenting the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N58.18 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly.
The president had said, “This is research, a very hard one. Avoiding abandoned projects, unpaid contractual obligations and running multiple budgets, both inherited and of fulfilled mandates, is a problem starting the nation.
“So, we are terminating the habit of running through a budget on one inflow. By March 31, 2026, all capital liabilities from previous years will be fully funded and closed. Since April, Nigeria has operated on a single budget, backed by a single revenue cycle.
“No overlaps, no excuses and no rollover cultures,” he said.
He said that the budget presented a defining moment in the national journey of reform and transformation.
“Over the last two and a half years, my government has methodically confronted long-standing structural weaknesses.
Under the current administration, the Senate, led by Godswill Akpabio, has approved multiple overlapping budgets for President Tinubu’s government.
For instance, in 2024, Nigeria operated three budgets. They are the N21.8 trillion 2023 budget, the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget, and the N28.7 trillion 2024 appropriation.
2025 budget faced challenges – Budget office
Weekend Trust reports that The Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, had recently acknowledged that the 2025 budget faced challenges due to naira devaluation and rising inflation.
“We have indeed had a turbulent year, one in which most of the assumptions underpinning the 2024 and 2025 budgets turned out differently from projections,” he said.
“Oil revenue, assumed at $75 per barrel, fell short by between $10 and $15 due to global price fluctuations. Inflation also rose beyond projections, affecting borrowing costs and debt service performance, which significantly exceeded targets.