The Federal Government is yet to present the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, with less than two months to the end of the fiscal year, prolonging uncertainty over the country’s fiscal direction and raising fresh concerns among economists about the mounting backlog of unexecuted capital projects and the breakdown of the January–December budget cycle.
Findings by The PUNCH on Monday showed that the Budget Office of the Federation is still compiling the 2026 budget despite earlier assurances from the Bola Tinubu administration that annual budgets would return to timely submission. The PUNCH earlier reported that the Federal Government planned to submit the 2026 national budget to the National Assembly by September 2025.
This was contained in the 2026 Personnel Cost Budget Call Circular obtained from the website of the Budget Office of the Federation by The PUNCH.
Signed by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, the circular, dated July 7, 2025, was addressed to ministers, permanent secretaries, service chiefs, chief executives of parastatals, and other top government officials, directing them to commence preparations for the personnel component of their budget proposals for the 2026 fiscal year.
