Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, has presented a N1.016 trillion budget estimate for 2026 to the Abia State House of Assembly for consideration.
He made the presentation on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ukoha, Njoku Ukoha.
The proposed budget, titled the “Budget of Acceleration and New Possibilities,” reflected a 13% increase from the 2025 budget.
Of the total estimate, N811.8 billion (80%) was allocated to capital expenditure, while N204.4 billion (20%) was set aside for recurrent spending.
Otti said the capital budget represents a 32% increase from the 2025 proposal, while the recurrent expenditure grew by 33% from last year’s figure of N136 billion. He explained that the increase was to support administrative functions and personnel obligations, noting the recent addition of thousands of new employees to the state payroll.
“Abia State Governor, His Excellency, Dr Alex Otti, OFR, has presented the 2026 Budget Estimate of one trillion, sixteen billion, two hundred and twenty-eight million, seventy-two thousand, six hundred- and fifty-one-naira, ninety-nine kobo (N1,016,228,072,651.99), to the Abia State House of Assembly for consideration,” the statement read in part.
It further quoted Otti as saying, “This figure represents a 13% increase from the 2025 appropriation numbers and captures the scale of our ambition to drive rapid socioeconomic growth and sustained development through investments in infrastructural projects, social services, security and similar outlays that are at the heart of the ongoing transformation of the State.
“A total outlay of N811.8 billion for capital projects represents a 32% jump from our 2025 proposal which stood at N726.4billion.”
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The statement further noted that in the proposed budget for next year, education and health received 20% and 15% of the total allocation, bringing their combined share to 35%.
- It also stated that N169.3 billion was set aside for road construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and maintenance in 2026.
- According to the statement, the 2026 budget was prepared using conservative revenue assumptions based on economic conditions in 2025. Abia projects internally generated revenue of N223.4 billion for the year.
Otti said the plan is to fund all recurrent expenditure from IGR, while any borrowing would be directed to infrastructure.
