No fewer than 13 State Houses of Assembly across Nigeria have injected over N1tn into their respective 2026 budgets following legislative reviews and amendments to appropriation bills submitted by governors, findings by The PUNCH have shown.

The figure emerged from an analysis comparing the 2026 budget proposals presented by state governors with the final appropriation laws passed by the assemblies, with the differences reflecting legislative additions and adjustments.

This development comes amid persistent public calls for a reduction in the cost of governance, driven by concerns over worsening fiscal pressures and the rising debt-servicing burden faced by sub-national governments.

Annually, state governors prepare budget proposals, commonly referred to as appropriation bills, which are transmitted to the State Houses of Assembly for consideration, amendment and eventual approval.

The proposals are typically divided into recurrent expenditure, which covers personnel costs, overheads, pensions and routine government operations, and capital expenditure, which focuses on infrastructure and development projects.

In the first half of 2025, about 20 states borrowed approximately N458bn, according to their second-quarter 2025 budget implementation reports.

Within the same period, the states spent about N235.58bn on servicing external debt, representing an increase of N95.65bn or 68.4 per cent from the N139.92bn recorded in the corresponding half of 2024.

In addition, 10 states this year plan to source about N4.287tn, largely through loans and grants, to finance budget deficits.

Amid rising concerns over possible state insolvency, there have been repeated calls for State Assemblies to cut the cost of governance, particularly by trimming budget sizes to rein in deficits often funded through domestic and foreign borrowing.

However, contrary to these calls, lawmakers in several states have continued to increase budget estimates submitted by governors, further widening annual fiscal deficits.

In 2025 alone, about 15 State Assemblies raised their states’ budgets by a combined N470bn, significantly increasing expenditure despite sustained appeals for restraint.

The states that expanded their budgets included Bayelsa, Ondo, Gombe, Edo, Oyo, Osun, Katsina, Ebonyi, Delta, Taraba, Zamfara, Plateau, Bauchi, Borno and Cross River.

As of the time of filing this report, the 2026 budgets of about 30 states had been signed into law, while roughly four remained under legislative scrutiny and assessment.

Nonetheless, no fewer than 13 of the 36 State Assemblies collectively added about N866bn to their states’ 2026 budgets, with portions of the increments allocated to recurrent expenditure.

While Borno, Ebonyi, Kwara and Sokoto State Assemblies are yet to pass their budgets, about 17 others did not alter the size of the appropriation bills presented by governors.

The states where budgets remained unchanged include Oyo, Enugu, Kogi, Plateau, Katsina, Kaduna, Abia, Imo, Adamawa, Edo, Bauchi, Jigawa, Ogun, Kebbi, Ekiti, Yobe and Zamfara.

States where the assemblies expanded the budgets include Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Benue, Gombe, Osun, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, Ondo, Nasarawa and Niger.

Notably, assemblies in six of these states had also inflated their budgets in the previous fiscal year, highlighting a sustained pattern of legislative upward reviews.

The Lagos State House of Assembly recorded the largest addition, injecting about N207.51bn into the 2026 appropriation bill earlier presented by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The lawmakers raised the budget estimate from N4.237tn to N4.44tn.

In the previous fiscal year, the Lagos Assembly had similarly increased the 2025 appropriation bill by N360.88bn, raising it from the N3.005tn submitted by Governor Sanwo-Olu in November 2024 to N3.366tn, which was later signed into law.

The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly made the second-largest adjustment, increasing the budget from the N1.39tn proposed by the governor to N1.58tn, an addition of N194bn representing about a 14 per cent increase.

The increase in Akwa Ibom was distributed across both capital and recurrent expenditure.

In the original proposal submitted in November, recurrent spending stood at N354bn but was raised to N416.5bn, while capital expenditure increased from N1.035tn to N1.167tn.

The Cross River State Assembly, which had increased the state’s 2025 budget by N40bn, significantly expanded its additions in 2026 by inserting about N180bn.

Governor Bassey Otu had presented a N780.59bn proposal late last year, but lawmakers raised it to N961bn, which has since been signed into law.

The Kano State House of Assembly recorded the third-highest increase, raising the budget from N1.368tn submitted by Governor Abba Yusuf to N1.477tn, representing a 7.8 per cent increase.

Benue State followed, with lawmakers adding N89.5bn to its 2026 budget, increasing it from N605.51bn to N695.01bn.

In Gombe State, the Assembly added N82bn, raising the budget from N535.69bn to N617.95bn. In the 2025 fiscal year, the lawmakers had similarly increased the state’s budget by N49bn.

The Delta State Assembly, which added N43bn to its budget last year, increased its adjustment to N65bn in 2026, raising the budget from N1.664tn to N1.729tn.

The Niger and Ondo State Assemblies also raised their budget estimates by N40bn and N31.6bn respectively, with the Ondo legislature having added N43.4bn in the previous year.

States with relatively smaller increases include Osun with N17.7bn, Anambra with N9bn, Bayelsa with N18.629bn and Nasarawa with N27.7bn.

The findings further showed that the practice of legislative upward reviews is not confined to the states, as the federal legislature has repeatedly increased national budget estimates beyond executive proposals.

In March 2024, the National Assembly raised the 2024 budget from the N27.5tn proposed by President Bola Tinubu to N28.7tn, inserting 7,447 constituency projects valued at N2.24tn, according to BudgIT.

The civic-tech organisation criticised the move, stating that most of the inserted projects lacked “national significance” and were designed to serve narrow personal interests.

The trend continued with the 2025 national budget.

President Tinubu had presented a N49.7tn proposal to the National Assembly in December 2024.

In February 2025, he submitted a revised proposal of N54.2tn, citing additional revenues from the defunct Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Customs Service and other agencies.

Despite this, the federal legislature passed the budget at N54.99tn on February 13, adding about N790bn to the revised executive figure.

Experts have warned that the practice will further widen fiscal deficits by increasing the gap between projected revenues and actual expenditure.

Speaking with The PUNCH, a Professor of Economics at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Taiwo Owoeye, said most states already have weak internally generated revenue bases.

He noted that the additional spending pressure, often financed through increased borrowing, would deepen debt vulnerabilities.

The economist added that the trend would further escalate the cost of governance at a time when Nigerians are calling for fiscal restraint.

He said rising recurrent expenditure, particularly on personnel and overheads, continues to erode fiscal flexibility and limits states’ ability to respond effectively to economic shocks.