Nigeria's 2026 budget opens with a striking gap: the government plans to spend N68.3 trillion while projecting revenue of only N36.9 trillion. That leaves a fiscal deficit of N31.5 trillion, which works out to 6.4 percent of gross domestic product.
Civil society organization BudgIT, in a statement released Monday, described the budget as ambitious but ultimately unviable. The numbers, they argue, simply do not add up in a way that points toward sustainable public finance.
The question now is not just how government plans to close that gap, but what it will mean for everyday Nigerians if it cannot.
Originally published by Premium Times.