President Tinubu has requested Senate approval for an approximately ₦9 trillion adjustment to the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
This move aims to regularize outstanding legacy capital commitments from previous years (2023–2025) and fund critical national projects without overburdening the new fiscal framework.
The proposal seeks to consolidate unfunded obligations particularly about ₦5.7 trillion in capital commitments from the 2025 budget that were unlikely to be executed before its expiration along with an additional ₦2 trillion for priority projects not originally included in the 2026 bill. Overall, the adjustment breaks down roughly into ₦7.7 trillion for legacy regularization and ₦1.3 trillion for new strategic provisions, bringing the total addition close to ₦9 trillion.
President Tinubu explained that the step will help bring together indebtedness from prior years into the 2026 bill, stating: “In other words, this will assist in bringing all the indebtedness from 2023, 2024, and 2025 together as legacy commitments and incorporate them into the 2026 Appropriation Bill. We don’t need to carry more than four budgets at the same time.”
The funds would support:
– Transport sector- Equity funding for presidential legacy rail projects in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and Ogun states (₦478.6 billion), plus feasibility studies for rail in Enugu and Maiduguri, the Calabar–Maiduguri corridor, and the Maiduguri–Sokoto superhighway (₦8.6 billion).
– Health sector – Interventions linked to bilateral agreements, worth about $344.8 million (roughly ₦482 billion).
– Judiciary ₦98.5 billion for the Court of Appeal, ₦36.7 billion for the Supreme Court, and an additional ₦268.5 billion to reinstate the judiciary’s budget ceiling (to support appointments ahead of the 2027 elections).
– Broader institutional preparedness for governance continuity and national development.
The government proposes external borrowing for these additions. Senate President Godswill Akpabio noted this is “more prudent in the present circumstances” to moderate pressure on domestic interest rates, preserve private sector access to credit, and align with capital-intensive, import-dependent projects.
Akpabio read the President’s request on the Senate floor and referred it to the Committee on Appropriations. Committee Chairman Senator Solomon Adeola said preliminary work has started and promised a detailed explanation when presenting the full 2026 Appropriations Bill report.
This adjustment comes after the original 2026 budget proposal estimated total spending around ₦58 trillion.
