President Bola Tinubu has proposed a total of N5.41 trillion for defence and security in the 2026 Appropriation Bill, making it the largest single sectoral allocation in the budget.
Tinubu disclosed this on Friday while presenting the N58.18 trillion 2026 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.
According to the President, national security remains the bedrock of economic growth, investment and social stability, stressing that development in other sectors would be difficult to sustain without peace and stability.
Under the proposal, the defence and security sector will receive N5.41 trillion, ahead of allocations to infrastructure, education and health.
This continues a trend seen in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, where security attracted the highest funding amid persistent challenges of terrorism, banditry and kidnapping across the country.
Addressing lawmakers, Tinubu said security spending would be tied to measurable outcomes, insisting that funds allocated to the sector must translate into tangible improvements in safety.
“Security remains the foundation of development. We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
Tinubu also announced a tougher stance on violent groups, stating that all armed groups operating outside state authority, including bandits, militias, kidnappers, armed gangs and violent cult groups, would now be classified as terrorists.
He added that their financiers, informants and political or community enablers would also face the same classification, explaining that the decision was aimed at closing legal and operational loopholes that had allowed such groups to flourish for years.
