The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has presented a budget of N878 billion for 2026, asking the state House of Assembly to scrutinise and approve it.

The state earmarked N567 billion for capital expenditure, representing 65 per cent, and N310 billion for recurrent expenditure, representing 35 per cent.

While presenting the document on Thursday, Mohammed tagged it as “Budget of Consolidation and Sustainability”. The proposal for 2026 is 41.07 per cent higher than the budget presented to the house in 2025.

The increment, according to him, is necessitated by the surge in revenue from reforms undertaken and the anticipated price rise resulting from tax reforms to be implemented in January 2026.

He highlighted some key sectors with priority and their allocation to include: Administration Sector (N120 billion) representing 13.7 per cent, Economic sector (N435 billion) representing 49.6 per cent, Law and Justice sector with the sum of N12 billion representing 1.4 per cent and Social Sector with N310 billion representing 34.4 per cent.

The governor assured the lawmakers that the budget would be fully implemented, explaining that it was prepared in accordance with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the Bauchi State Fiscal Responsibility Law.

He added that his administration has adopted a conservative approach to ensure that the projects and programmes captured were realistically implementable, and that the budget preparation process had been inclusive and participatory.

While appraising the performance of the 2025 budget, Mohammed said it had achieved about 79.1 per cent implementation as of September 2025, adding that they would achieve no less than 85 per cent performance at the end of the fiscal year.

He, however, solicited the continuous support of the lawmakers towards the development of the state and the speedy passage of the 2026 Appropriation Bill into law.

Meanwhile, the Speaker, Hon. Abubakar Sulaiman, assured that the budget would be speedily scrutinised and passed into law within the shortest time.

Sulaiman, who commended the governor for the timely presentation of the budget, assured him and the people of the state that the legislature remained committed to the betterment of the state.

In other news, the Bauchi State Government has signed a new law creating an additional 29 local government areas, while seeking the National Assembly’s approval for ratification in the ongoing constitution amendment.

In a document obtained by our Correspondent, Governor Bala Mohammed had, on October 28, 2025, signed the legislation while the acting deputy clerk of the House, Musa Yerima, sent the proposal to the Committee on Constitution Review.

Currently, Bauchi State has 20 local government areas recognised by the 1999 Constitution. With the proposed 29 additional local government areas, the state, with an estimated population of about 10 million, will have 49 LGAs.