Nigeria's 2026 Budget: Strange MDA Allocations Raise Transparency Concerns
- 2026 Nigeria appropriation bill faced scrutiny over questionable allocations and duplicated spending across ministries
- Budget analysts warned of potential transparency issues and negative impacts on public funds amid fiscal challenges
- Public reactions revealed mixed sentiments about the budget's effectiveness in addressing key sectors like defence, agriculture, and health
The 2026 appropriation bill for Nigeria has numerous allocations whose headlines have been questioned. This is because there were many projects that did not align with the agency mandate, and duplicated spendings were observed across ministries and agencies.
Budget analysts have warned that the spending plan could have a ripple effect on transparency, weaken accountability and disrupt the impact of public funds in the face of acute fiscal pressure.
Source: Twitter
The discrepancies in Tinubu's 2026 budget
The Sun reported that one of the remarkable features of the bill is the scale of funds that were too broad, with poorly explained project descriptions.
For instance, the budget for research and development under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Headquarters was a whopping sum of N252.2 billion. The allocation was questionable, not because of the money but because there was no breakdown that detailed the specific programmes, timeline, institutions and projected outcome that the funds would be used for.
Similarly, the same pattern was observed in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Finance, which was pegged at ₦197.26 billion for research and development. Historically, the budget for research and development is often associated with agencies driven by science, health and technology, not ministries with fiscal policy, public finance coordination and revenue management as their core mandates.
Breakdown of Tinubu's 2026 budget
In a social media post, the summary of the bill was shared by Bashir Ahmad, a former presidential aide.
Summary by MDAs
- Works – N3.4 trillion
- Defence – N3.2 trillion
- Education – N2.3 trillion
- Health – N2.1 trillion
- Agriculture – N1.4 trillion
- Police Affairs – N1.3 trillion
- Niger Delta – N1.3 trillion
- Power – N1.1 trillion
- INEC – N1 trillion
Some Nigerians have started reacting to the summary. Below are some of their reactions:
Saviour decried the budget for defence:
"Imagine we didn’t have Islamic terrorists disturbing the country, that 3.2 trillion would have been invested in other aspects."
Source: Twitter
Umar said the budget did not have an impact on the masses:
"Sadly, these bills contribute little or less than 20% of the overall population of the Nigerian masses.'
Muhammad Ibrahim expressed optimism about the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture:
"In Sha Allah, by 2027/28, this 1.7B for the agricultural sector will become a story because they won’t depend on the budget to grow!! Bookmark this."
Mefo Ekundayo commented on the health sector:
"Do you think this will improve the already disrupted health sector? We are in for a long 2026. Hospitals are grounded at the moment. Wish the country well."
Read more comments about the budget breakdown on X here:
Atiku's son joins Tinubu's camp
Legit.ng earlier reported that Abba Atiku Abubakar, the son of former vice president Atiku Abubakar, officially resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in a bid to mobilise for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
The younger Atiku was received into the APC by the deputy Senate president, Barau Jibrin and the APC National Vice Chairman, North-East, Mustafa Salihu, in Abuja on Thursday, January 15.
Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
