Reps Rally Behind Tinubu’s ₦58trn Painful But Necessary Budget

By Linda Ike

The House of Representatives unanimously backed President Bola Tinubu’s 2026 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday, with House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere urging lawmakers to embrace short-term hardship for consolidation, renewed resilience and shared prosperity.

President Bola Tinubu had on December 19, 2025, presented the budget titled The Project of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience, and Shared Prosperity to the National Assembly.

Leading the debate at plenary, Ihonvbere described it as “a defining moment in our national journey”.

He defended the ₦58.18trn budget against ₦34.33trn revenue: “The process of promoting growth is very challenging, difficult and painful. That is what we are going through. Nobody has promised that restructuring our political economy will not be painless.”

He cited gains under Tinubu: 3.98% GDP growth, inflation down to 14.45%, naira stabilised at ₦1,400/$ from ₦1,800, and reserves hitting $47bn, a 7-year high.

Key Budget Highlights include: Capital expenditure ₦26.08trn, beats recurrent ₦15.25trn, Security/defence ₦5.41trn, Infrastructure ₦3.56trn, Education ₦3.54trn, Health ₦2.48trn, Oil benchmark $64.85/bbl, 1.84mbpd

Speaker of the house, Tajudeen Abbas put the question and the house unanimously shouted ayes to back the budget

House adjourns till Feb 17 for committee defences.

Ihonvbere closed, “Let us join the executive in this budget of consolidation… We are part of the government. It is in our collective interest.”