Tinubu seeks N9trn addition to 2026 Budget to absorb legacy debts, fund key projects
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday urged the Senate to consider and approve adjustments totalling about N9trillion to the 2026 Appropriation Bill, aimed at regularising outstanding capital obligations and funding
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday urged the Senate to consider and approve adjustments totalling about N9trillion to the 2026 Appropriation Bill, aimed at regularising outstanding capital obligations and funding critical national projects.
The request, read on the floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, outlines a comprehensive plan to consolidate legacy debts from previous fiscal cycles while aligning government spending with current economic priorities.
Akpabio said the proposed adjustments are intended, first, to “regularise identified outstanding legacy capital commitments carried forward from previous appropriation cycles to ensure that the 2026 fiscal programme is not unduly burdened by unresolved obligations from previous years.”
He explained that the move would effectively harmonise debts accumulated over several years into a single framework.
“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,” Tinubu said, adding that such a step would help eliminate the challenge of managing multiple overlapping budgets.
“We don’t need to carry more than four budgets at the same time,” he noted.
The President further stated that the adjustments would provide for “a limited number of strategic additions in transport, health and institutional preparedness,” considered necessary for continuity of governance and national development, while also aligning the financing plan with revised expenditure requirements in a manner that preserves macro-fiscal stability and minimises pressure on the domestic credit market.
Details of the proposal show that the President is seeking approval to regularise about N5.7 trillion in unfunded capital obligations from the 2025 budget, alongside an additional N2 trillion for priority capital projects that were not captured in the initial 2026 Appropriation Bill.
Akpabio explained that many of the outstanding obligations were unlikely to be implemented before the expiration of the 2025 capital budget implementation window, making their inclusion in the 2026 framework imperative.
The adjustments also make provision for several strategic interventions, including N478.6 billion as equity funding under the Ministry of Finance Incorporated for presidential legacy rail projects in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and Ogun states, as well as feasibility studies for rail systems in Enugu and Maiduguri.
Another N8.6 billion is proposed for feasibility studies on the Calabar–Maiduguri corridor and the Maiduguri–Sokoto superhighway.
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In the health sector, the plan includes $344.8 million, equivalent to about N482 billion, for priority interventions tied to existing bilateral agreements and implementation commitments.
The judiciary is also captured, with N98.5 billion proposed for the Court of Appeal and N36.7 billion for the Supreme Court to support adjudicatory processes, particularly in the build-up to the 2027 general elections.
An additional N268.5billion is earmarked for the reinstatement of the judiciary’s budget ceiling, taking into account the prospective appointment of more justices and judges.
Overall, the proposed adjustment stands at about N9 trillion, comprising N7.7 trillion for legacy capital regularisation and N1.3 trillion for new strategic provisions.
To fund the adjustments, the President proposed an accompanying financing plan anchored largely on external borrowing instruments, which Akpabio said was a more prudent option under current economic conditions.
“The approach is considered more prudent in the present circumstances, given the need to moderate pressure on domestic interest rates, preserve private sector access to credit, and align funding sources with capital-intensive, import-dependent expenditure items,” he said.
Akpabio added that the proposals are consistent with the administration’s commitment to restoring budget discipline by ensuring that current fiscal resources are applied to ongoing budget execution rather than being repeatedly absorbed by unresolved liabilities from previous years.
Following the presentation, Akpabio referred the request to the Committee on Appropriations for further legislative scrutiny.
Chairman of the committee, Solomon Adeola, assured lawmakers that a detailed explanation would be provided when the panel presents its report.
“I will expand further on this letter at the point of presentation of my 2026 Appropriations Bill report to the Senate,” Adeola said, noting that preliminary work had already commenced on the document after its transmission to the leadership of the National Assembly.
