₦airaland Forum

bibiking7:



I am not an accountant or financial analyst but I would appreciate it if one of the folks commenting to explain recurrent non debt spending. Then I will take it from there.

Adeh2009:
hahahaha criminals!!! thieves!!! God have mercy on Tinubu and his government

can these guys ever get tired of stealing ? this is so pathetic

LivingEarthMan:
Did he explain where the money will come from? Don't tell me it's more borrowing!

jmoore:
Historic babablu.

After lying they met revenue target.

5.4 trillion for security, how much from this have been set aside to give to terrorists as ransom?

SixSeven:
Salaries and everyday spending by the government to keep the country running. Administration costs and things like that. It is the opposite of the capital spending, that one is for huge spendings. That's why it is not called recurrent. Recurrent is from the word recur.

Recurrent is everyday spending, capital is for projects.

Basicend:
N58 Trillion (for over 220 million people) is about $39 - $40 billion.
Nigerian recent leaders have truly made a huge mess of our value.

That's the budget status of the entire nation for 2026.

While Elon Musk alone is worth $680 billion.

Love800:
Thanks so much for dis explanation. You made it sound well.

But then what's the difference between the total expenditure of 58.18 trillion and capital expenditure of 26.08 trillion?

Iexclusivenews:
President Tinubu unveils Nigeria’s largest-ever N58 trillion 2026 budget, declaring armed groups as terrorists while promising prosperity.

https://iexclusivenews.com.ng/tinubu-n58trn-2026-budget-national-assembly/

SixSeven:
The total expenditure of 58.18 trillion is RECURRENT + CAPITAL (26.08T). There is a part that is missing which is why you asked this question. That part is the debt servicing but normally total expenditure is capital + recurrent.

The difference between total expenditure (₦58.18tn) and capital expenditure (₦26.08tn) is the portion of spending that goes to recurrent expenses and debt servicing, not new projects.



Total Expenditure: ₦58.18 trillion
This is made up of three main components:
1. Capital Expenditure= ₦26.08tn
Long-term investments and projects
Examples: roads (Eg Lagos - Calabar costal road), rail, power projects, schools, hospitals, dams, digital infrastructure.

2. Recurrent Non-Debt Expenditure= ₦15.25tn
Day-to-day running costs of government as I told you earlier.
Examples: salaries, pensions, overheads, maintenance, subsidies, operations of MDAs



The difference you’re asking about is ₦32.10 trillion that is spent on:
A. Debt servicing (₦15.52tn)
B. Recurrent non-debt spending (₦15.25tn)

In layman terms, government is spending a total of ₦58tr. One part will be use for CAPITAL EXPENDITURES, that is capital projects. The other part will be used for RECURRENT EXPENDITURES. Then they will service the debts with the remaining making it DEBT SERVICING.

TOTAL EXPENDITURES = CAPITAL + RECURRENT + DEBT SERVICING
58 = 26.08 + 15.25 + 15.52

Hope this helps. Ask me any questions

Love800:
Thanks so much.
Sorry for my late reply.

My last question please.

But if you remove the fiscal framework project revenue(34.33T) from the capital expenditure(26.08T), how much will now be remaining in the budget?

And, why are nairalanders complaining about the budget.
Is the budget too small or too big? Are they angry about the amount of money?

SixSeven:
You cannot subtract projected revenue (₦34.33T) from capital expenditure (₦26.08T) as you wrote it here.
Revenue is income, capital expenditure is spending.
The breakdown is:
Total Expenditure: ₦58.18trn
Projected Revenue: ₦34.33trn
Budget Deficit = ₦23.85trn
If we spent less money than revenue, that is, if we swapped the figures, it will be called a budget surplus.

In simple English, Nigeria says it will earn ₦34.33trn this year. But plans to spend ₦58.18trn. That difference means we are borrowing almost ₦24trn to survive in 2026. We are spending more than we earn.

That alone should worry anyone paying attention but Nigeria is not the only country to run its budget on deficits. As long as the borrowing is for good use, it's generally okay but if it's to spend on wastage, that doesn't make sense

Recall how the money is shared:
• Capital projects (roads, rail, power): ₦26.08trn
• Recurrent expenditures (Salaries & running gov't): ₦15.25trn
• Debt servicing: ₦15.52trn

So again, we are spending almost the same amount on old debts as we spend on building the future.

Why some people may be angry are the following:

1. Budgets keep getting bigger, lives keep getting harder

In 2015 our budget was around ₦5trn.
• 2020: ₦10T
• 2023: ₦21T
• 2024: ₦27T
• Now: ₦58T
Today it’s ₦58tr. Is the increase commensurate with growth and development

2. We’ve seen this debt movie play out in our eyes before

Nigeria was once crushed by debt. We begged, negotiated, and finally got debt relief in 2005 under Obasanjo. One of the reasons we got the Paris Club debt forgiven was because we promised to do better and somehow blamed the military for the past debts We could hide under the cover that military are not supposed to be in government and can be financially irresponsible. We are back to it after 20 years. The irony of this premise is that people are referring to capital projects the Military did and saying they could see more of their work than now where you have to beg your government to provide you with basic infrastructure for survival.

If you love entertainment, that 2005 debt is one of the achievements of Ned Nwoko, the man Regina claimed she made He still claims some outstanding balance from the negotiations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJyjj0GbDKA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_w1uioBw1Q

3. Borrowing is not for growth but for survival

Borrowing to build factories, power plants, industries? Fine.
Borrowing to pay salaries and service old loans? Ugly.

When you borrow to survive, the bill always comes back to citizens through:
• Higher taxes
• Higher fuel prices
• Higher electricity tariffs
• More inflation

We are already seeing it. The reason why these things increase is because gov't needs money so it will get it back from you


4. Government keeps telling citizens to sacrifice, but never itself


Recurrent spending is still huge.
Same big government. Same inefficiencies. Same lifestyle at the top. Now they flash it in front of us, their luxurious lifestyle and yet they say we are poor, we should tighten our belts.

Past budgets promised refineries, power, roads, jobs. Most Nigerians never saw the results.
So no, this may not just be about Nigerians whining. Where's the light? Where's the hospital? Where's the healthcare? Where are the roads? Where are the jobs created by this budget? Why are they flying out of the country if the projects are implemented?

The anger could be about pattern. Big budgets. More debt. Little impact. Rinse and repeat.

If smaller budgets didn’t fix Nigeria, why will a ₦58trn budget funded by debt suddenly do magic? I don't speak for the Nairalanders, I am just doing an analysis.