A source from the presidency has disclosed why the federal government raised the 2026 budget from the ₦54.46 trillion initially outlined in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to a revised total of ₦58.18 trillion.
The source told Vanguard that the budget was increased to accommodate the massive recruitment into the military, police and other security agencies, announced recently by President Bola Tinubu.
It was learnt that the submissions of budget proposals by 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 military and security agencies.
According to the source, this necessitated an increase in the budget figure to accommodate the financial implications of the new intakes.
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 ₦58.18 trillion in the 2026 budget proposal is 6% higher than the 2025 budget estimate of ₦49.7 trillion.
This includes projected spending of government-owned enterprises, amounting to ₦4.98 trillion, and ₦1.37 trillion for grants and donor-funded projects.
The projected aggregate spending includes statutory transfers of ₦4.1 trillion; debt service, ₦15.52 trillion, including ₦3.388 trillion for the sinking fund to retire maturing issues of local contractors and creditors.
Personnel costs, including pensions, amount to ₦10.75 trillion, which includes ₦1.02 trillion for government-owned enterprises, and are seven per cent higher than the 2025 provision. Additionally, overhead costs amount to ₦2.22 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 ₦34.33 trillion and a total expenditure of ₦58.18 trillion, the budget deficit will stand at ₦23.85 trillion, representing 4.28% of GDP.
Recurrent (non-debt) spending is put at ₦15.25 trillion, while capital expenditure totals ₦26.08 trillion.
Security tops sectoral allocations with ₦5.41 trillion, followed by Infrastructure (₦3.56 trillion), education (₦3.52 trillion) and health (₦2.48 trillion).
