National Assembly Complex, Abuja
Just last Friday, President Bola Tinubu presented the ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, vowing that 2026 will mark a decisive shift toward stronger discipline in budget execution and results-driven governance.
However, this is coming after the same presidency has asked the lawmakers to allow for the continuation of 2025 budget implementation.
President Tinubu said the Budget, titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” is designed to consolidate recent economic reforms and translate stabilising macroeconomic indicators into improved living standards for Nigerians.
The President announced the end of the long-standing practice of running multiple budgets in the country.
He said the era of overlapping budgets, abandoned projects, inherited obligations, and perpetual rollovers must come to an end if Nigeria is to achieve fiscal discipline and sustainable development.
“Before I go any further, let me be upfront. This is a reset, a very hard one,” President Tinubu declared.
He said the practice of avoiding abandoned projects, piling up contractual obligations, and running multiple budgets on a single inflow has continued to undermine effective governance and economic planning.
“We are terminating the habit of running three budgets in one inflow. By March 31, 2026, all capital liabilities from previous years will be fully funded and closed.
“From April, Nigeria will operate on a single budget backed by a single revenue cycle — no overlaps, no excuses, no rollovers,” he said.
On measures to ensure strict adherence to appropriate timelines, improved revenue mobilisation, and tighter accountability across government institutions, the President said the 2025 budget implementation faced the realities of transition and competing execution demands.
”As at Q3 2025, we recorded ₦18.6 trillion in revenue—representing 61% of our target and ₦24.66 trillion in expenditure—representing 60% of our target.
Following the extension of the 2024 capital budget execution to December 2025, a total of ₦2.23 trillion was released for the implementation of 2024 capital projects as of June 2025.
”While fiscal challenges persisted, the government met its key obligations. However, only ₦3.10 trillion—about 17.7% of the 2025 capital budget—was released as of Q3, reflecting the emphasis on completing priority 2024 capital projects during the transition period.
”Let me be clear: 2026 will be a year of stronger discipline in budget execution. I have issued directives to the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Honourable Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the Accountant General of the Federation, and the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation to ensure that the 2026 Budget is implemented strictly in line with the appropriated details and timelines.
”We expect improved revenue performance through the new National Tax Acts and the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector—reforms designed not merely to raise revenue, but to drive transparency, efficiency, fairness, and long term value in our fiscal architecture,” he said.
The President stressed that the focus on discipline and delivery is aimed at restoring public trust in the budget process, stressing that “the greatest budget is not the one we announce. It is the one we deliver.”
President Tinubu warned Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) and revenue-generating agencies that underperformance would no longer be tolerated, declaring that “Nigeria can no longer afford leakages, inefficiencies, or underperformance in strategic agencies.”
”I will also be unequivocal about Government Owned Enterprises. Heads of all GOEs are hereby directed to meet their assigned revenue targets.
”To support this, we will deploy end to end digitisation of revenue mobilisation—standardised e collections, interoperable payment rails, automated reconciliation, data driven risk profiling, and real time performance dashboards—so leakages are sealed, compliance is verifiable, and remittances are prompt.
”These targets will form core components of performance evaluations and institutional scorecards,” he said.
Highlighting recent economic indicators, President Tinubu said Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.98 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, compared to 3.86 per cent in the same period of 2024, while inflation moderated for eight consecutive months, declining to 14.45 per cent in November 2025 from 24.23 per cent in March.
He cited improved oil production, expanded non-oil revenues through better tax administration, renewed investor confidence, and external reserves rising to a seven-year high of about US$47 billion.
