By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
The Senate has fired the starting gun on Nigeria’s 2026 budget cycle, approving a detailed timetable for the consideration and passage of the ₦58.47 trillion Appropriation Bill, with March 17, 2026 fixed as the decisive date for final approval.
The roadmap was endorsed by the Senate Committee on Appropriation at a high-level meeting held on Tuesday, signalling the legislature’s resolve to keep faith with fiscal discipline and return the country to a stable, predictable budget calendar.
Briefing journalists after a closed-door roundtable with committee members and subcommittee chairmen, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola (Yayi), disclosed that the timetable was initially reviewed and adopted by the Committee before being fine-tuned to reflect critical milestones in the 2026 budget process.
According to him, the budget journey formally commenced on December 19, 2025, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his capacity as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, presented the 2026 Draft Budget to a joint sitting of the National Assembly.
The second reading and debate on the general principles of the bill followed shortly after, on December 23, 2025.
As part of preparations for detailed scrutiny, the committee confirmed that the production and circulation of budget documents had begun.
Soft copies of the estimates are already being transmitted to all Senate Standing Committees and subcommittee chairmen, while hard copies are being dispatched to committees and their respective Secretariat.
The intense phase of the exercise budget defence will kick off in early February and run through late February 2026.
During this period, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are expected to appear before relevant committees to defend their proposals.
Engagements will also involve professionals, indigenous contractors and other key stakeholders to ensure broad-based input into the spending plan.
A major highlight of the process, Senator Yayi revealed, is a scheduled briefing by the President’s Economic Team on February 6, 2026.
The session will focus on the policy thrust of the 2026 budget, Nigeria’s macroeconomic outlook and a performance review of the 2025 Appropriation Act.
The Committee also announced that a public hearing on the 2026 Appropriation Bill will hold on February 9, 2026, under the theme: “From Budget to Impact: Strengthening Macroeconomic Stability, Accelerating Infrastructure Delivery, and Improving Security through Fiscal Discipline and Effective Implementation.”
Sub-Committee Chairmen are to submit and defend their reports between February 16 and 23, after which the Appropriation Committee will begin the painstaking task of collating and harmonising the submissions from February 24 to March 15, 2026.
The final report will be laid before the Senate on March 17, with lawmakers expected to pass the 2026 Appropriation Bill into law the same day.
Crucially, the Committee reaffirmed that from 2026, Nigeria will operate a single fiscal-year budget system, with no extensions of previous budgets, taking full effect from April 1, 2026.
Expressing confidence in the process, Senator Yayi said the cooperation of all stakeholders would enable the National Assembly to deliver a budget that drives economic growth, strengthens national security and improves the welfare of Nigerians.
With timelines locked in and expectations high, the countdown to Nigeria’s most consequential fiscal document for 2026 has officially begun.
