Why Presidency raised 2026 budget to N58trn

Why Presidency raised 2026 budget to N58trn

Security is Tinubu’s priority in N58.18trn 2026 budget
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…Works on details, as Nigerians await breakdown

The Presidency raised the 2026 Federal Government budget from the N54.46 trillion originally contained in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, to a new threshold of N58.18 trillion to accommodate the massive recruitment into the military, police and other security agencies, announced recently by President Bola Tinubu.

The Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr Tanimu Yakubu, announced the figure after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, held on Friday, a few hours before the president went to present the budget to the National Assembly.

A Presidency source disclosed that the submissions of budget proposals by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to the Budget Office of the Federation, which usually follow Budget Call Circulars, had been concluded before the recent announcement to increase the personnel of the military and security agencies.

It was learnt that it was, therefore, necessary to increase the budget figure to make room for the financial implications of the new intakes.

Last Friday’s FEC meeting that preceded Mr. Tanimu’s announcement, as learnt, did not last for more than two hours and did not accommodate detailed discussions on the budget by members of the Council.
Mr. Yakubu was, thereafter, directed to address the State House Press to give it credence.

The source said that the president had to hurriedly present the budget to the National Assembly to show commitment to its early passage because the budget process was already late and could not wait for the details to be worked out before the presentation.

“They have to work on the details and clean it up before the Bill returns to the NASS for the process to continue with MDAs’ budget defence and the rest,” the source said.

The aggregate expenditure of N58.18 trillion in the 2026 budget proposal is six per cent higher than the 2025 budget estimate of N49.7 trillion.

This includes projected spending of government-owned enterprises, amounting to N4.98 trillion, and N1.37 trillion for grants and donor-funded projects.

The projected aggregate spending includes statutory transfers of N4.1 trillion; debt service, N15.52 trillion, including N3.388 trillion for the sinking fund to retire maturing issues of local contractors and creditors.

Personnel costs, including pension, N10.75 trillion, which includes N1.02 trillion for government-owned enterprises, are seven per cent higher than the 2025 provision, and overhead costs N2.22 trillion.

Non-oil revenues have been rising in recent years, now accounting for roughly two-thirds of total receipts, confirming a structural shift away from oil dependence.

With a revenue projection of N34.33 trillion and total expenditure of N58.18 trillion, the budget deficit will stand at N23.85 trillion, representing 4.28 per cent of GDP.

Recurrent (non-debt) spending is put at N15.25 trillion, while capital expenditure totals N26.08 trillion.

Security tops sectoral allocations with N5.41 trillion, followed by Infrastructure (N3.56 trillion), education (N3.52 trillion) and health (N2.48 trillion).

Vanguard News Nigeria