That was the central message from the senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who has urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure that the country’s largest-ever spending plan translates into visible and measurable improvements for citizens.
Beyond big numbers
Reacting to the President’s presentation of the budget at a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Friday, Akpoti-Uduaghan described the moment as significant, but warned against placing too much emphasis on headline figures.
While acknowledging that the ₦58.18 trillion proposal reflects the scale of Nigeria’s economic ambitions and deep-rooted structural challenges, she stressed that fiscal size alone cannot solve the country’s development problems.
“Of all the lengthy speeches, one line by Mr President struck me deeply,” she said. “It’s not the size of the budget but the quantum of impact felt by Nigerians.”
For many citizens, she noted, the true measure of any budget lies in how it improves daily living conditions rather than how impressive it looks on paper.
What Nigerians expect from government spending
According to the senator, Nigerians are less concerned with projections and more interested in outcomes. She outlined expectations that government spending should lead to sustainable job creation, functional infrastructure, affordable healthcare, quality education and accessible social services.
In her view, budgets that fail to deliver tangible improvements in these areas risk deepening public frustration, regardless of their size or ambition.
Her comments reflect growing public sentiment that Nigeria’s annual budgets have expanded steadily over the years without producing commensurate gains in welfare, productivity or social stability.
Accountability as a shared responsibility
Akpoti-Uduaghan also emphasised the role of accountability in ensuring meaningful budget outcomes. She argued that responsibility does not rest solely with political leaders but also with citizens, who must actively scrutinise government actions.
“Leaders must do better, and citizens must demand accountability,” she said.
As a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, the lawmaker has consistently advocated fiscal transparency, prudent management of public resources and people-centred budgeting—positions that resonate with broader calls for governance that delivers results at the grassroots.
Tinubu’s case for the 2026 budget
President Tinubu, in presenting the 2026 Appropriation Bill, projected a cautiously improving economy and pledged stricter budget discipline alongside tougher revenue enforcement across government agencies.
Titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” the proposal is designed, according to the President, to lock in recent macroeconomic gains, restore investor confidence and convert economic stability into broad-based prosperity.
He defended the administration’s economic reforms, citing 3.98 per cent economic growth in the third quarter of 2025, eight consecutive months of easing inflation, improved oil output, stronger non-oil revenues and renewed investor confidence as signs of progress.
On security, Tinubu also vowed an uncompromising stance, declaring that all armed non-state actors would be treated as terrorists under his administration’s security doctrine.
The real test ahead
Despite these assurances, lawmakers like Akpoti-Uduaghan insist that macroeconomic indicators alone will not be enough to judge the success of the 2026 budget.
As legislative scrutiny intensifies, the senator argues that the ultimate test will be whether Nigerian households and communities actually feel the impact of government spending in their everyday lives.
For many Nigerians, that impact—not the size of the budget—will determine whether the promises of “shared prosperity” truly hold.