Budget: Kwara, Benue propose N1.2trn for 2026

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has presented over N644 billion as the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the parliament on Monday. Tagged as “budget of consolidation and sustained growth”, 65.95% of the fiscal plan goes for capital expenditure, while the remaining 34.02% will be for recurrent. Similarly, Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State presented a N605.5 […]

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has presented over N644 billion as the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the parliament on Monday.
Tagged as “budget of consolidation and sustained growth”, 65.95% of the fiscal plan goes for capital expenditure, while the remaining 34.02% will be for recurrent.
Similarly, Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State presented a N605.5 billion budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly.
In Kwara State, the Governor said the budget will focus more on finishing the ongoing capital projects and break the grounds for new ones that align with strategic needs of the state.
“The total size of the proposal is N644,004,816,893.00. 65.98% of this fiscal plan goes to capital expenditure, while the rest (34.02%) takes care of recurrent spendings.
“These allocations point the direction we are headed in the new year. We will focus more on completing ongoing projects and invest in areas of urgent needs such as security hardwares, vehicles, and technologies to enhance our response to kidnapping and activities of bad faith actors.

 

“The budget of Consolidation and Sustained Growth is built around the following national economic outlook for the year: oil price of US $64.85; daily oil production estimates of 1.84m barrels per day; exchange rate of N1,400 per US dollar; and GDP growth of 4.68%”, he said.

 

He said “economic affairs” gulped 26.46%.

 

“A new Teachers Salary Allowance (TSA) will be implemented in 2026 to further support our teachers and complement our infrastructural upgrades across health and education sectors.

 

In Benue, Alia said the proposed 2026 budget, tagged Budget of Rural Development, Livelihood Support and Sustained Growth, represents a 10 percent increase over the 2025 budget and built on the performance of the revised 2025 budget, which recorded an overall implementation rate of 73.2 per cent as at November 2025.

He said that the state achieved an 81.1 percent performance in recurrent expenditure amounting to N187.3 billion, while capital expenditure recorded 67.5 percent performance valued at N215.3 billion within the same period.

 

The governor explained that the 2026 budget would be guided by key principles including rural transformation, support for vulnerable households, rebuilding the productive base of the economy, youth and women empowerment, fiscal discipline, transparency and result-oriented governance.

 

He disclosed that N281.08 billion, representing 46.4 percent of the total budget, has been proposed for recurrent expenditure to cater for salaries, the new minimum wage and other overhead costs, while N342.42 billion, or 54 percent, has been earmarked for capital expenditure.

 

Alia noted that under capital spending, 30.23 percent has been allocated to rural roads, feeder roads and bridges to improve access to markets, schools and healthcare facilities, while 12.61 percent will go to rural electrification, water supply and environmental protection projects.

 

The rural roads, feeder roads and bridges sector got a total of N103,514billion as the highest share of the 2026 budget allocation, making it the largest single sectoral allocation of 30.23 percent of the capital budget.

 

He added that agriculture and agro-industrial development would receive 17.62 per cent of the capital budget to support farm inputs, mechanisation, extension services and agro-processing facilities, while 14.11 per cent is dedicated to livelihood support programmes for women, youths and vulnerable groups.

 

He further said that education and health sectors are to receive 24.71 percent and 15.35 percent of the capital budget respectively, aimed at improving schools, healthcare facilities and human capital development across the state.

 

The governor also assured lawmakers that the administration would prioritise completion of ongoing projects, maintain fiscal responsibility, block revenue leakages as well as strengthen internally generated revenue through automation and transparency.

 

Alia urged members of the House to give speedy consideration and approval to the budget to enable timely implementation in the 2026 fiscal year.

 

Speaker of the Assembly, Alfred Emberga, however assured the governor of speedy passage of the budget after members’ scrutiny of the document.