‘Nigerians Want Impact, Not Figures’: Natasha Tells Tinubu Over ₦58.18trn Budget

• Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has called on President Bola Tinubu to focus on measurable outcomes in the ₦58.18 trillion 2026 budget.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure that the proposed ₦58.18 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill delivers a measurable and positive impact on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

Reacting to Tinubu’s budget presentation at the joint sitting of the National Assembly on Friday, the senator described the session as significant but cautioned against an overemphasis on headline figures at the expense of outcomes. She also warned that fiscal size alone cannot resolve the country’s deep-seated development challenges.

“Of all the lengthy speeches, one line by Mr President struck me deeply. ‘It’s not the size of the budget but the quantum of impact felt by Nigerians,’” she said.

The lawmaker noted that while the projected ₦58.18 trillion spending plan reflects the scale of Nigeria’s economic ambitions and structural problems, citizens are far more concerned with how government spending translates into tangible improvements in their daily lives.

According to her, Nigerians expect budgets to deliver improved living standards through sustainable job creation, functional infrastructure, affordable healthcare, quality education, and accessible social services, rather than remain impressive projections on paper.

She further emphasised that accountability in governance must be jointly upheld by leaders and the governed, stressing that public scrutiny is essential to achieving meaningful outcomes. “Leaders must do better, and citizens must demand accountability,” she stressed.

A member of the Senate Committee on Finance, Akpoti-Uduaghan has consistently advocated fiscal transparency, prudent management of public resources, and people-centred budgeting—positions that align with growing public demand for governance outcomes that are not only measurable but felt at the grassroots.

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Her remarks echoed wider concerns within and outside the National Assembly that Nigeria’s annual budgets, though expanding in size, have yet to deliver commensurate improvements in welfare, productivity, and social stability.

President Tinubu, in presenting the 2026 Appropriation Bill titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” projected a cautiously improving economy while pledging stricter budget discipline and tougher revenue enforcement across government agencies. The president also vowed to adopt an uncompromising security posture, declaring that all armed non-state actors would be treated as terrorists under his administration’s security doctrine.

Defending the administration’s economic reforms, Tinubu cited economic growth of 3.98 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, eight consecutive months of easing inflation, improved oil output, stronger non-oil revenues, and renewed investor confidence as evidence of progress.

However, as debates over the proposal begin in the National Assembly, lawmakers such as Akpoti-Uduaghan insist that the ultimate test of the 2026 budget will lie not in macroeconomic indicators alone, but in its real-world impact on Nigerian households and communities.