The Federal Government has disclosed plans to roll over about 70 per cent of the 2025 Appropriation Act into the 2026 fiscal year, citing funding gaps and the need to stabilise budget implementation.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, made this known on Monday during a one-day interactive session between the Senate Committee on Finance and members of President Bola Tinubu’s economic team on the 2026–2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).
Edun explained that only about 30 per cent of the 2025 budget had been fully funded so far, making a rollover inevitable to enable the completion of ongoing capital projects and prevent repeated extensions of the fiscal year.
According to him, the 2024 budget was extended and largely implemented, particularly on the capital expenditure side, with funds still available to complete outstanding components.
He further disclosed that revenue projections had significantly increased, rising from about ₦20tn in 2024 to ₦40tn in 2025, but admitted that actual collections continued to lag behind estimates.
“While there has been a yeoman’s job in revenue mobilisation, we need a more robust revenue optimisation programme for 2026,” Edun said.
“The focus is not borrowing but revenue. For the economy to grow, we need mass savings and productive investment.”
The session, chaired by the Senate Committee on Finance chairman, Senator Sani Musa, followed a formal request by the Executive to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, seeking approval of the 2026–2028 MTEF/FSP, which had earlier been endorsed by the Federal Executive Council on December 3, 2025.
In attendance were the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu; Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite; Minister of Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Babatunde Ogunjimi; and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji.
Ogunjimi told lawmakers that arrangements had been concluded to clear outstanding 2024 obligations, adding that indigenous contractors had been paid up to 80 per cent, with the first and second batches of payments already completed.
However, senators raised concerns over persistent weaknesses in budget implementation. Senator Danjuma Goje queried the continued non-execution of constituency projects despite claims that revenue targets for 2025 had been met, warning that the country was effectively running three budgets simultaneously.
Other lawmakers questioned whether revenue projections would also be rolled over into 2026 and whether fresh capital funding would be introduced under the new budget cycle.
Responding, Edun said the rollover was intended to ensure that 2026 operates as a single, clean budget year, stressing that while non-oil revenue had shown relative improvement, oil revenue remained a major challenge requiring flexibility in expenditure planning.
Some senators, however, argued that rolling over 70 per cent of the 2025 budget contradicted claims of avoiding multiple budgets, describing the move as “playing with words.”
At the end of the session, the Senate Committee on Finance announced the immediate constitution of a three-man committee to work with the President’s economic team to fast-track the release of outstanding payments to indigenous contractors.
Musa assured that the National Assembly would rigorously interrogate the assumptions underpinning the 2026–2028 MTEF to ensure fiscal discipline, credibility and realistic projections.
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