In his first full-year budget request since he assumed office in May, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu government sent his budget proposal to the National Assembly Wednesday, asking for a jumbo-size budget of N27.5 trillion ($34.8 billion) in 2024. He is asking for an increase of more than N1.5 trillion ($1.8 billion) from the previously estimated sum of N26.01 trillion.
The budget prioritized defense- and internal security, keyed to what Tinubu says is Nigeria’s chief problem: armed conflicts all over, with kidnappings in the northwest, a festering Islamist insurgency in the northeast, a separatist insurgency in the Southeast and sectarian ethnic cleansing in the central region.
Other priorities include job creation for Nigeria’s teeming youth population, macroeconomic stability, investments, human capital and infrastructural development, and poverty reduction.
President Bola Tinubu claimed his budget is the foundation upon which his administration shall “erect the future of this great nation.”
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
