13 state assemblies add over ₦1trn to 2026 budgets

No fewer than 13 State Houses of Assembly across the country have collectively added more than ₦1tn to their states’ 2026 budgets, following legislative reviews and amendments to appropriation bills submitted by governors.

The increase emerged from an analysis of the original budget proposals presented by governors and the final appropriation laws passed by the assemblies, with the gaps reflecting additional spending introduced during legislative consideration.

The development has reignited concerns over the rising cost of governance, particularly at a time when many states are struggling with mounting debts and heavy debt-servicing obligations.

Under the budgeting process, governors submit annual appropriation bills to their state assemblies, which have the constitutional powers to review, amend and approve them.

The budgets are usually divided into recurrent expenditure, covering salaries, overheads and pensions, and capital expenditure, meant for infrastructure and development projects.

Financial pressure on states has continued to intensify.

In the first half of 2025, about 20 states borrowed an estimated ₦458bn, according to their second-quarter budget implementation reports.

Within the same period, states spent roughly ₦235.58bn on servicing external debt, representing a 68.4 per cent increase from the ₦139.92bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.

This year, 10 states are also planning to raise about ₦4.287tn, largely through loans and grants, to finance budget deficits.

Despite repeated public calls for restraint and reductions in the cost of governance, lawmakers in several states have continued to increase expenditure estimates, in many cases widening fiscal deficits that are often financed through borrowing.

In 2025 alone, about 15 state assemblies raised their budgets by a combined ₦470bn, a pattern that has persisted into the 2026 fiscal year.

As of the time of filing this report, about 30 states had their 2026 budgets signed into law, while four were still undergoing legislative scrutiny.

Findings showed that no fewer than 13 assemblies added about ₦866bn to their states’ budgets, with some of the increments channelled into recurrent spending.

Meanwhile, about 17 states passed their budgets without altering the figures submitted by their governors.

States that recorded upward budget reviews include Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Benue, Gombe, Osun, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, Ondo, Nasarawa and Niger.

In six of these states, similar legislative increases were recorded in the previous fiscal year, underscoring a recurring trend.

Lagos State recorded the largest increase, with the House of Assembly adding about ₦207.51bn to the ₦4.237tn budget proposal submitted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, raising it to ₦4.44tn.

The assembly had also increased the state’s 2025 budget by ₦360.88bn.

Akwa Ibom followed, with lawmakers raising the budget from ₦1.39tn to ₦1.58tn, an increase of ₦194bn spread across both recurrent and capital expenditure.

Cross River lawmakers added about ₦180bn, raising the budget from ₦780.59bn to ₦961bn.

In Kano, the assembly increased the budget by about ₦109bn, from ₦1.368tn to ₦1.477tn, while Benue lawmakers added ₦89.5bn, pushing the budget to ₦695.01bn.

Gombe increased its estimate by ₦82bn, Delta by ₦65bn, Niger by ₦40bn and Ondo by ₦31.6bn.

Smaller increases were recorded in Osun, Anambra, Bayelsa and Nasarawa.

The trend of legislative expansion of budgets is not limited to the states, as the National Assembly has repeatedly raised national budget estimates beyond executive proposals.

In 2024, the federal legislature increased the budget from ₦27.5tn to ₦28.7tn, largely through the insertion of thousands of constituency projects.

A similar pattern played out in the 2025 budget, which was passed at ₦54.99tn, about ₦790bn higher than the revised executive proposal.

Experts have warned that continued upward budget reviews could further weaken public finances.

A Professor of Economics at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Taiwo Owoeye, said many states already have weak internally generated revenue bases, noting that additional spending pressures are often financed through increased borrowing.

He cautioned that the practice would deepen debt vulnerabilities, raise the cost of governance and reduce states’ capacity to respond to economic shocks, especially as recurrent expenditure continues to crowd out development spending.