By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
The Senate at a special plenary on Tuesday, approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to increase the 2026 budget from the initial proposal of N58.472 trillion to \u20a668,323,309,818,667 trillion.<\/p>\n
The Red Chamber also passed for third and final reading the 2026 Appropriation Bill, which seeks legislative authorization for total expenditure of \u20a668.323 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
President Tinubu had presented the initial \u20a658.472 trillion budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 19, 2025.<\/p>\n
The budget focused on consolidating macroeconomic stability, improving the business environment, promoting job-rich growth, and reducing poverty, with defence and security (\u20a65.41 trillion), infrastructure (\u20a63.56 trillion), education (\u20a63.52 trillion), and health (\u20a62.48 trillion) receiving priority votes.<\/p>\n
However, President Tinubu, on Wednesday, sent a request to the Senate seeking an increase to the tune of N9 trillion, a request that was immediately considered and approved by the lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Presenting the report of the National Assembly Joint Committee on the 2026 Appropriation Bill during plenary, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Adeola, told the Chamber that while the Committee was working on the N58.472 trillion earlier proposed in December, 2025, President Tinubu sent communication to the Committee, proposing adjustments to the budget. <\/p>\n
“During the consideration of the Bill by the Joint Committee on Appropriations, a communication was received from Mr. President proposing adjustments to the 2026 Budget. The proposed adjustments were intended to regularise outstanding legacy capital commitments carried over from previous appropriation cycles, thereby ensuring that the 2026 fiscal programme is not unduly burdened by unresolved obligations from earlier years. <\/p>\n
The proposals also sought to accommodate a limited number of strategic interventions in the areas of transport, health, and institutional preparedness considered critical to national development and governance continuity, while aligning the financing framework of the 2026 Budget with the revised expenditure profile in a manner that preserves macro-fiscal stability,” he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that the adjustment included \u20a65.71 trillion in outstanding unfunded capital obligations from the 2025 budget, saying that this was necessary because these obligations were unlikely to be implemented before the 2025 budget expired.<\/p>\n
According to him, the outstanding obligations arose from the 2025 Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act, noting that the sum of \u20a62 trillion was added for priority projects nationwide that were omitted in the rollover to the 2026 budget.<\/p>\n
Also, the strategic national interventions include a Federal Government equity contribution of \u20a6478.60 billion for the Presidential Legacy Light Rail Projects, which are in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and Ogun States.<\/p>\n
The interventions also include \u20a68.96 billion for feasibility studies for the Calabar-Maiduguri Corridor and the Maiduguri-Sokoto Superhighway. These projects are under the Tinubu National Beltway Initiative.<\/p>\n
An additional US$344.83 million, equivalent to approximately \u20a6482.76 billion, was proposed for priority health sector interventions. These interventions are tied to existing bilateral understandings and implementation commitments.<\/p>\n
The Committee also pointed out that a further provision of \u20a698.50 billion was proposed for the Court of Appeal. This is in support of the institutional architecture for the 2027 General Election cycle.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court is also proposed to receive \u20a636.7 billion. This is also in support of the 2027 General Election cycle.<\/p>\n
The Judiciary’s budget ceiling is proposed to be reinstated with \u20a6268.54 billion. This is to accommodate the prospective appointment of more Justices of the Court of Appeal and Judges.<\/p>\n
The total adjustments amount to \u20a69.091 trillion, which the funding sources include an increase in the oil benchmark by $10\/b, generating \u20a62.592 trillion.<\/p>\n
According to the Chairman of the Committee, the recent tariff adjustment measures in the telecommunications industry have stimulated renewed investor confidence. Capital inflows and investment commitments exceeding $2 billion have been recorded.<\/p>\n
He observed that the telecommunications sector is transitioning from a position of constrained tax yield and underinvestment to one characterised by renewed growth. The projected revenue contribution from MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria is \u20a6874 billion.<\/p>\n
“MTN Nigeria is expected to contribute \u20a6724 billion in Corporate Income Tax (CIT) in 2026. Airtel Nigeria is expected to contribute \u20a6150 billion in CIT in 2026. The external borrowings are proposed to increase by \u20a66.163 trillion. This will support the funding of the adjustments,” he said.<\/p>\n
The adjustments are aimed at consolidating macroeconomic stability and promoting job-rich growth. The 2026 budget prioritizes security, infrastructure, education, and health.<\/p>\n
After considering the report of the Joint Committee, the Senate approved the adjustments, expressing optimism that the adjustments would stimulate economic growth and improve living standards of citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The Senate at a special plenary on Tuesday, approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to increase the 2026 budget from the initial proposal of N58.472 trillion to \u20a668,323,309,818,667 trillion. The Red Chamber also passed for third and final reading the 2026 Appropriation Bill, which seeks legislative authorization for total expenditure of \u20a668.323 trillion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4490,6357,1888],"class_list":["post-12312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","tag-consolidating","tag-macroeconomic","tag-stability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12313,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312\/revisions\/12313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}