The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has given approval to a ₦58.47 trillion federal budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year, alongside amendments to the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), setting the stage for its transmission to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The approval was reached at the Council’s meeting on Friday, presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima. Addressing journalists afterwards, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the 2026 budget proposal was the only item considered by the Council.
As part of the approved adjustments, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, disclosed that the exchange rate benchmark in the MTEF was revised downward from ₦1,512 to ₦1,400 to the dollar, leading to corresponding changes in the size and structure of the budget.
According to Bagudu, the revised budget framework was earlier presented by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and the Budget Office, and subsequently reviewed and endorsed by Council members.
Further details provided by the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, showed that the ₦58.47 trillion aggregate expenditure represents a six per cent increase over the 2025 budget estimate. The projection includes ₦4.98 trillion in spending by Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) and ₦1.37 trillion earmarked for grant- and donor-funded programmes.
Yakubu said statutory transfers are estimated at ₦4.1 trillion, while debt service is projected at ₦15.52 trillion, including ₦3.188 trillion set aside for the sinking fund to redeem maturing bonds issued to local contractors and creditors. Personnel costs, including pensions, are put at ₦10.75 trillion, reflecting a seven per cent increase over the 2025 provision and covering ₦1.02 trillion in GOE-related costs.
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Overhead expenditure for 2026 is estimated at ₦2.22 trillion, while capital expenditure stands at ₦25.68 trillion about 1.8 per cent lower than the previous year, signalling a more restrained capital strategy focused on completing ongoing projects.
On capital priorities, Yakubu said ₦11.3 trillion has been allocated to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), ₦2.052 trillion to multilateral and bilateral loan-funded projects, and ₦1.8 trillion as the capital component of the Development Levy.
He explained that the 2026 budget is structured to support macroeconomic stabilisation while advancing development objectives under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Key assumptions, he noted, are deliberately conservative, particularly with regard to oil prices, exchange rates and expected GOE dividends.
Although total revenues are projected to decline on a year-on-year basis, non-oil revenues are expected to account for about two-thirds of total receipts, underscoring a continued shift away from oil dependence. Corporate income tax, value-added tax, customs duties and independent revenues are projected to remain the main revenue pillars.
The Budget Office also noted that growth in expenditure is largely driven by debt service obligations, wages and pensions rather than expanded discretionary spending. The projected deficit, it added, reflects long-standing fiscal rigidities rather than a loosening of policy, with financing expected to come mainly from domestic borrowing, supplemented by concessional multilateral loans.
President Tinubu is expected to formally transmit the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly on Friday, 19 December, for legislative consideration.
