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80% of budget for capital projects
From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Governor Alex Otti has presented a 2026 budget estimate of N1,016,228,072,651.99 to the Abia State House of Assembly for consideration. The figure represents a 13 per cent increase from the 2025 budget outlay.
Presenting the 2026 budget estimate christened “Budget of Acceleration and New Possibilities”, the size of the total envelope proposed for the 2026 fiscal year is N1,016,228,072,651.99, Otti said this year’s budget estimate is in consonance with the standard that had been set since the presentation of his administration’s first budget proposal two years ago.
Otti said his government would be committing N811,813,769,862.24 billion of the total budget, representing 80 per cent of the entire outlay to the execution of capital projects, while the sum of N204,414,302,789.75, representing 20 per cent of the budget, shall be committed to recurrent spending.
“A total outlay of N811.8 billion for capital projects represents a 32 per cent jump from our 2025 proposal, which stood at N726.4 billion.
“Conversely, the size of the envelope for recurrent expenditure has been raised by 33 per cent from last year’s figure, which stood at N136 billion.”
Otti said the increase is to enable his administration to support critical day-to-day administrative functions and effectively meet its obligations to personnel, especially with the addition of thousands of new employees to the payroll.
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He said in the 2026 fiscal year, the government shall continue its standing practice of committing 20 per cent of the total budget, amounting to N203.2 billion, to the education sector.
“Of this sum, N150.4 billion would be committed to offsetting our recurrent expenditures like paying the salaries of about 15,000 teachers working in our primary and secondary schools and in the execution of capital projects.
“We have made provisions for the building of 17 model primary and secondary schools as well as 3 technical colleges for vocational training programmes.
“Also noteworthy is the fact that provisions have been made for the building of staff quarters and ICT labs in more than 100 public schools around the state. In the same vein, we have also earmarked N52.8 billion for recurrent and capital projects in the tertiary education sub-sector.”
In the health sector, the governor proposed a budget of N149.7 billion, representing 15 per cent of the total budget pack, while education was allotted 20 per cent of the total budget.
Otti enumerated many developmental projects he said his administration executed with the 2025 budget and promised to utilise the 2026 budget transparently if passed by the House of Assembly.
