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  • Tinubu Asks Senate to Approve ₦9.3trn Hike, Raising 2026 Budget to ₦67.7trn

    President Bola Tinubu has formally requested the National Assembly to approve an upward revision of ₦9.3 trillion to Nigeria’s 2026 budget, a move that, if approved, would raise total federal spending from ₦58.47 trillion to ₦67.7 trillion, making it the largest proposed federal budget in Nigerian history.

    The request was conveyed in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, as lawmakers returned from the two-week Eid-el-Fitr recess. Akpabio subsequently referred the proposal to the Senate Committee on Appropriations for detailed legislative consideration.

    Why Tinubu says the increase is needed

    The president cited three reasons for the proposed increase in his letter to the Senate.

    First, he said the adjustment is designed to regularise and account for outstanding legal commitments carried over from previous appropriation cycles, preventing them from burdening the execution of the 2026 budget going forward.

    Second, the increase is intended to fund outstanding legacy capital projects inherited from previous budgets — with a specific focus on ensuring their completion rather than allowing them to continue rolling over indefinitely from one fiscal year to the next.

    Third, the president said the additional spending would support key transport infrastructure projects aligned with the administration’s development agenda, while also preserving macro-fiscal stability and easing pressure on the domestic financial market.

    The 2026 budget’s original framework

    Tinubu presented the original 2026 budget of ₦58.18 trillion to the National Assembly on December 19, 2025, themed “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity.” The budget projected total revenue of ₦34.33 trillion, capital expenditure of ₦26.08 trillion, and recurrent non-debt expenditure of ₦15.25 trillion. It carried a deficit of ₦23.85 trillion, representing 4.28 per cent of GDP. Key projections included a crude oil benchmark price of $64.85 per barrel, oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of ₦1,400 to the dollar.

    Notably, the 2026 budget had not yet been passed by the National Assembly as of Tuesday’s request, meaning Tinubu is seeking a significant amendment to a budget that is still awaiting legislative approval.

    Legacy capital rollover problem

    Tuesday’s request is directly connected to a broader fiscal reset Tinubu has been attempting since taking office. In December 2025, the House of Representatives approved Tinubu’s request to extend the 2025 budget implementation to March 31, 2026, after the administration disclosed that approximately ₦16.76 trillion initially earmarked for capital projects could not be funded within the original 2025 timeline and was rolled over to the 2026 fiscal year.

    Tinubu has repeatedly stated his determination to end Nigeria’s long-standing practice of overlapping budgets, vowing that from April 2026, Nigeria will operate on a single budget backed by a single revenue cycle, with no rollovers, no overlaps, and no excuses. Tuesday’s request to increase the 2026 budget by ₦9.3 trillion is framed as the mechanism to clear the inherited backlog before that clean slate begins.

    What it means for Nigerians

    The proposed ₦67.7 trillion budget,  if approved, would mean Nigeria’s federal government would spend more than double what it did just three years ago, when the 2023 budget stood at approximately ₦21.8 trillion. The increase reflects the sharp devaluation of the naira since the subsidy removal in 2023, which has inflated the naira cost of virtually all government programmes denominated in dollars, including debt service, infrastructure contracts, and security spending.

    The development is expected to generate debate among lawmakers and economic stakeholders, particularly regarding funding sources, implementation capacity, and the broader implications for Nigeria’s fiscal outlook. Critics are likely to question how a government that has already warned of a ₦23.85 trillion deficit in the original budget plans to fund an additional ₦9.3 trillion in spending.

    The Senate Committee on Appropriations is expected to schedule public hearings on the request before reporting back to the full Senate for a vote.

  • Fayose Warns Fuel May Hit ₦5,000 Per Litre If Tinubu Wins 2027 Election

    Nigerian businessman and social commentator Isaac Fayose has warned that petrol prices could rise to ₦5,000 per litre if President Bola Tinubu wins re-election in 2027, accusing the federal government of failing to restore Nigeria’s refining capacity despite billions of dollars in public investment.

    Fayose made the remarks in a video posted to his Instagram page on Wednesday, amid a fresh wave of public anger over rising fuel prices across Nigeria, with petrol now selling at between ₦1,300 and ₦1,400 per litre in many parts of the country.

    What Fayose said

    Fayose dismissed claims by some Nigerians that the US-Iran war was responsible for the fuel price hike, insisting that the federal government bears full responsibility. “Many fools are saying we cannot blame President Tinubu for our fuel going up, that we should blame America, Israel and Iran. That is a fat lie,” he said.

    He accused successive APC administrations of spending massive sums on refinery projects that have yielded no results, alleging that ₦210 trillion in oil revenue remains unaccounted for. “They’ve spent our money on refineries. 210 trillion is still missing from our oil money,” he said, contrasting the government-owned refineries with the privately funded Dangote refinery, which he acknowledged as fully operational.

    Fayose warned that the economic trajectory is unsustainable, predicting that food prices will continue to rise alongside fuel costs due to rising transport expenses. “The way we are going, be ready for 5,000 a litre. And the ripple effect, the price of yams has gone up. Food prices are going up in the market because they need vehicles to bring them from the farm to the market,” he said.

    Fayose on 2027

    The fuel crisis commentary forms part of Fayose’s broader campaign against Tinubu’s re-election bid. The businessman has separately predicted that President Tinubu will fail to secure even 20 per cent of votes in the South-East region in 2027, backing that claim with a ₦10 million wager directed at the City Boys Movement — a pro-Tinubu campaign group widely associated with the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu.

    Fayose has openly declared support for Labour Party’s Peter Obi, predicting that the former Anambra State governor will dominate the South-East and South-South zones in the next presidential election.

    Opposing views

    Not all Nigerians agree with Fayose’s framing. One social media user, identified as @prinxe_B, argued that blaming the fuel crisis solely on Tinubu was intellectually dishonest, describing the refinery problem as a legacy of collective failure spanning the administrations of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, and Buhari.

    Nigeria’s four government-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna have remained largely non-operational for decades despite repeated rounds of rehabilitation spending. The Dangote refinery began distributing fuel locally in late 2024, but prices have remained high, with the refinery citing the naira’s weakness against the dollar as a key factor. Petrol prices have risen from under ₦200 per litre at the time of the subsidy removal in May 2023 to current levels above ₦1,300 in many states.

  • Kunle Remi Slams ₦1,300 Fuel Price, Challenges Pro-Tinubu Colleagues

    Nollywood actor Kunle Remi has broken his usual silence on political matters, taking to social media on Tuesday to express frustration over Nigeria’s worsening fuel prices, erratic power supply, and what he described as a lack of accountability in government.

    The actor, known for roles in several popular Nigerian productions, said the current economic reality had become impossible to ignore or stay quiet about.

    “Sitting on the fence is stupid”

    In a video shared on his Instagram page, Remi said he has always avoided discussing politics publicly but now considers that position untenable. “That’s the most stupid statement of anybody in Nigeria right now. We should be discussing, trying to fix things, and inquiring about what is happening in the nation. There’s nothing like sitting on the fence,” he said.

    The fuel and power crisis

    Remi said petrol now sells for ₦1,300 per litre on Lagos Island, where he lives, and that residents have been running generators continuously due to a lack of stable electricity supply. He noted the financial and psychological toll this has taken, including on his own staff, who struggle to afford the higher transport costs just to get to work.

    “All the things I’m working for… for what? It’s messing with my brain, and my spirit is very angry,” he said.

    He also pointed to the country’s dependence on a single functioning refinery — the Dangote refinery — while other refineries across the country remain non-operational, describing government support in the sector as inadequate.

    Challenge to colleagues

    Remi directly challenged fellow entertainers who he said are part of a group promoting the message that Nigerians should “relax” because President Tinubu is fixing the country, questioning whether they are truly standing for the right reasons.

    He did not name any individual colleagues in the video.

    Nigeria has seen significant increases in fuel prices since the removal of the fuel subsidy in May 2023, shortly after President Bola Tinubu took office. Petrol prices have risen from under ₦200 per litre at the time of the removal to well above ₦1,000 in several parts of the country by early 2026. The Dangote refinery began local fuel sales in late 2024, but prices have remained high, with the naira’s continued weakness against the dollar cited as a key factor.

    Remi’s video had generated significant engagement on social media by Tuesday evening. RNN.NG will follow any responses from the colleagues he referenced. Nigerians can watch the full video on his official Instagram page, @kunleremiofficial.