President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly. He pledged that 2026 will usher in a decisive move toward tighter budget discipline and a governance framework firmly focused on measurable results.
N5.41 trillion has been allocated to the defence and security sectors, making it the largest item in the budget.
It is the third consecutive year wherein security has been at the top of the government budget consideration.
“Security is the bedrock on which development itself is based, and without it, other sectors of the economy would not be able to function effectively,’’ the President said.
Earlier in the day, the Federal Executive Council approved the 2026 budget framework at an emergency meeting chaired for the first time by Vice President Kashim Shettima. The council pegged total proposed expenditure at N58.47 trillion, noting intense pressure from debt servicing, wage obligations and security demands.
Breaking down the proposal, Tinubu maintained that the security allocation would go to the ‘modernisation of the armed forces and the concept of intelligence-led policing to complement and facilitate joint operations for the various agencies of the security architecture of this country’. Under the plan, defence and security will receive N5.41 trillion, ahead of infrastructure, education and health, continuing a trend seen in the 2024 and 2025 budgets as the country grapples with terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes, because security spending must produce security results,” said the President.
Tinubu also announced a major overhaul of Nigeria’s national security architecture, including the introduction of a new counter-terrorism doctrine based on unified command, coordinated intelligence and community stability.
In the new framework, all armed groups that are operating outside state authority, such as bandits, militias, kidnappers, armed gangs, and violent cult groups, will also be designated terrorists, as well as those who finance, inform, or cooperate with terrorists.
In the non-security sector, the budget for the year 2026 allocates N3.56 trillion for infrastructure, N3.52 trillion for education, and N2.48 trillion for health.
While acknowledging the strain on public finances, Tinubu insisted that the heavy security allocation was unavoidable. He said investment cannot flourish without security, productivity cannot rise without educated and healthy citizens, and jobs and enterprise cannot expand without infrastructure.
The President urged lawmakers to back the proposal, describing the budget as a tool to consolidate recent economic gains and restore public confidence in the government’s capacity to protect lives and property.