Senate Schedules March 17 for ₦58.47tn 2026 Budget Passage, MDA’s Scrutiny Starts Feb. 2
Tightens fiscal discipline, adopts single-budget cycle from April
By Fatima Saka
The Senate has fixed March 17, 2026, as the target date for the final consideration and passage of Nigeria’s ₦58.47 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill, while resolving to end the long-standing practice of overlapping budgets by subsuming all outstanding components of the 2025 fiscal year into the 2026 budget.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Adeola, disclosed this on Friday after a special session of the committee, noting that the new timetable reflects lawmakers’ determination to deepen scrutiny of President Bola Tinubu’s spending proposal and enforce fiscal discipline.
Adeola said the Appropriations Committee met earlier in the day and approved amendments to the initial timetable to strengthen coordination and oversight in the budget process. He explained that the budget consideration formally began with President Tinubu’s presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 19, 2025, followed by debate on its general principles and second reading on December 23, when it was referred to the committee.
According to him, production and distribution of the budget details commenced on Friday, January 30, 2026, with soft copies circulated to all standing committees and their chairmen, while hard copies are being delivered to committee secretariats to enable detailed examination.
Adeola said audit hearings and engagements with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would hold from February 2 to 13, supported by professional advisers. An interactive session with the President’s economic management team—comprising the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu—is scheduled for February 5.
He said the economic team would brief lawmakers on the performance of the 2025 budget, the administration’s economic policy direction, and the components of the 2026 proposal.
Crucially, Adeola announced that the 2025 budget would terminate on March 31, 2026, stressing that the Senate had resolved that Nigeria would henceforth operate a single budget cycle. As a result, any unimplemented portions of the 2025 budget would be rolled into the 2026 fiscal framework, effective April 1, 2026.
A public hearing on the budget is slated for February 9, 2026, under the theme: “From Budget to Impact: Strengthening Macroeconomic Stability, Accelerating Infrastructure Delivery and Improving Security through Fiscal Discipline and Effective Implementation of the 2026 Budget.”
Submission and defence of reports by standing committees will run from February 16 to 23, while collation and harmonisation by the Appropriations Committee will take place between February 24 and March 15. The committee’s final report is expected to be presented to the Senate on March 17, the same day the budget is slated for passage.
President Tinubu described the proposal as a “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity.” It provides ₦26.08 trillion for capital expenditure, with projected revenue of ₦34.33 trillion and debt servicing estimated at ₦15.52 trillion.
The ₦23.85 trillion deficit represents 4.28 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, based on an oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of ₦1,400 to the dollar.
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Sectoral allocations show defence receiving the highest share at ₦5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure (₦3.56 trillion), education (₦3.52 trillion) and health (₦2.48 trillion). President Tinubu said security spending would be tied to measurable performance outcomes to ensure value for money and improved national safety.
Lawmakers said the timetable is designed to enhance transparency, promote public participation and ensure thorough legislative oversight ahead of the budget’s final passage.
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