The Federal Government has introduced Investment Budgeting as a central feature of the 2026 Budget, marking a significant shift in Nigeria’s public finance strategy aimed at accelerating long-term economic growth and development.
Speaking at the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja on Monday and during the 2026 Budget defence sessions, the Honourable Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed that Investment Budgeting be adopted as a foundational pillar of the 2026 Budget framework. According to her, the directive positions the budget not merely as a fiscal document, but as a strategic growth execution tool aligned with the Renewed Hope National Development Plan (2026–2030).
Dr. Uzoka-Anite explained that the initiative reflects President Tinubu’s broader economic agenda to transition Nigeria from a phase of macroeconomic stabilisation to one of sustained, accelerated, and inclusive growth. She noted that achieving Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a one trillion-dollar economy requires more than recurrent expenditure and traditional capital allocations. “It requires deliberate, structured investment that mobilises private capital at scale,” she stated.
ALSO READ: GHANA MOVES TO STRENGTHEN LAWS FOR DIGITAL ECONOMY GROWTH
She further clarified that Investment Budgeting introduces a third pillar to public finance management, complementing revenue and expenditure. While recurrent spending sustains government operations and capital expenditure funds public assets, investment budgeting is designed to deliberately crowd in private capital, de-risk priority sectors, and generate long-term economic returns through productive assets.
Under the new framework, government resources will be strategically deployed to unlock investments in key sectors including infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, energy, housing, digital infrastructure, transport, and logistics. Rather than serving as the sole financier of development, the government will act as a catalyst, using limited public funds to mobilise significantly larger pools of domestic and international private capital.
Dr. Uzoka-Anite emphasised that the reform is critical given Nigeria’s fiscal realities. She observed that public revenues remain constrained, debt service obligations continue to limit fiscal space, and the country’s infrastructure financing needs far exceed what the public balance sheet alone can support. At current levels of public infrastructure spending, she noted, Nigeria would require more than a century to close its infrastructure gap. “Investment Budgeting addresses this constraint directly by making private capital mobilisation a core feature of budget design,” she said.
The framework aligns with the Domestic Growth Acceleration Strategy and the Renewed Hope National Development Plan, both of which aim to convert macroeconomic stabilisation into broad-based production, job creation, export expansion, and sustainable revenue growth. By embedding Investment Budgeting into the 2026 Budget, the Tinubu administration has effectively institutionalised a mechanism designed to shift Nigeria from incidental growth to intentional growth.
In practical terms, the Minister explained that Investment Budgeting will focus exclusively on growth-generating and income-producing assets. It integrates private sector participation from the project design stage, leverages innovative financing models such as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and blended finance, spreads costs over the life cycle of assets, and establishes dedicated revenue streams to support debt service and investor returns.
The reform follows earlier stabilisation measures implemented by the administration, including fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange reforms. With macroeconomic credibility gradually being restored, Dr. Uzoka-Anite described Investment Budgeting as the bridge between reform and tangible economic results.
“As articulated at the National Economic Council, Investment Budgeting is not optional,” she stressed. “It is essential to achieving the scale of growth required to lift incomes, create jobs, and deliver lasting prosperity to Nigerians under the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
With the integration of this new budgeting approach into the 2026 fiscal framework, Nigeria is positioning itself to unlock new growth opportunities, expand employment, and improve living standards, reinforcing the administration’s commitment to long-term economic transformation.
