President Bola Tinubu, on Friday afternoon, presented before a joint session of the National Assembly the N58.18 trillion budget estimates for the 2026 financial year, christened the “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity.”
According to the president, projected revenue from the budget stands at N34.33 trillion. Debt servicing is estimated at N15.52 trillion, while recurrent (non-debt) expenditure accounts for N15.25 trillion.
Capital expenditure is pegged at N26.08 trillion, leaving a budget deficit of N23.85 trillion, representing 4.28 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The 2026 budget is anchored on key parameters, including an oil price benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day (mbpd), and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
While delivering his budget speech before the joint House of Representatives and Senate session, Tinubu reiterated his administration’s commitment to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value-for-money spending.
“We will continue to reduce waste, strengthen controls, and ensure that every naira borrowed or spent delivers measurable public value—especially in infrastructure, human capital, and security,” the president said.
Giving a breakdown of allocations in the proposed 2026 budget, Tinubu noted that defence and security will receive N5.41 trillion, infrastructure N3.56 trillion, education N3.52 trillion, and health N2.48 trillion.
“These priorities are interlinked. Without security, investment will not thrive. Without educated and healthy citizens, productivity will not rise. Without infrastructure, jobs and enterprise will not scale. This is why the budget is designed as one coherent programme of national renewal,” he added.
Tinubu also outlined plans to strengthen national security through modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence-driven policing, joint operations, border security, technology-enabled surveillance, and community-based peacebuilding.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results. To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” Tinubu said.
He further highlighted the administration’s efforts to pursue a new era of criminal justice aimed at stamping out terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, and other violent crimes.
Tinubu said the government is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine anchored on unified command, intelligence, community stability, and counter-insurgency.
