The Federal Government will transfer outstanding projects and expenditure commitments under the 2026 budget to 2027 to end the practice of running multiple budgets simultaneously. Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the launch of the World Bank’s October 2026 Nigeria Development Update. He said the government was working to improve budget credibility, ensure realistic revenue projections and resolve outstanding commitments from previous fiscal years.
Oyedele said the reforms would take effect in the 2027 budget, alongside measures to promote infrastructure development, private investment and job creation. The World Bank urged federal and state governments to strengthen expenditure controls and ensure increased revenues translate into better public services. Its report showed that the Federal Government’s fiscal deficit fell from five per cent of GDP in the first half of 2025 to four per cent in the same period of 2026, although spending pressures are expected to rise in the second half.
Other speakers, including CBN Deputy Governor Lamido Yuguda, Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda and Nigerian Economic Summit Group CEO Tayo Aduloju, called for stronger economic coordination, improved public services and greater private investment. Aduloju said Nigeria needed to create about four million jobs annually through 2030 to achieve substantial poverty reduction, stressing that infrastructure gaps, insecurity and high borrowing costs remained major barriers to growth.
