Your 2026 budget carries a ₦25.27 trillion deficit—nearly half the entire ₦58.47 trillion spending plan.

On Monday, Senate Appropriations Chairman Solomon Adeola didn't promise belt-tightening. Didn't promise better revenue collection. He promised more borrowing, declaring deficit financing "inevitable." The government will borrow ₦70 for every ₦100 it earns. And senators want you to know this won't change.

Here's the arithmetic. Projected revenue is ₦33.19 trillion. Projected spending is ₦58.47 trillion. That leaves ₦25.27 trillion to borrow. Of that spending, ₦15.90 trillion goes straight to debt service—paying interest and principal on money Nigeria already owes. Another ₦23.21 trillion is earmarked for capital expenditure, the productive investments that supposedly justify borrowing. But 2025's track record shows capital budgets don't actually get spent.

Finance Minister Wale Edun admitted last year that only ₦10 trillion of the ₦40 trillion projected revenue actually arrived. That's a 75% shortfall. It meant 70% of capital projects rolled over into 2026, creating overlapping budgets where 2024, 2025 and 2026 spending all compete for the same cash. Former Gombe governor Danjuma Goje called it "ugly," warned it undermines fiscal discipline. Adeola's response? A speech about why borrowing more money is necessary.

The Senate chairman defended continued borrowing by pointing to your infrastructure deficit and development needs. Fair enough. But he also announced the National Assembly won't approve budget extensions beyond December anymore, blaming rollovers for poor outcomes. So if capital budgets consistently fail because cash doesn't arrive, and the Senate won't extend deadlines, what happens to unspent billions? They evaporate. Get replaced by fresh borrowing for next year's identical promises.

Debt servicing already consumes ₦15.90 trillion—nearly half of projected revenue—before a single hospital gets built or road gets paved. Every borrowed naira today becomes a debt servicing obligation tomorrow, tightening the squeeze on your future budgets. The Senate acknowledges this death spiral you're funding while promising to accelerate it. Borrow to fund deficits, watch capital budgets fail, borrow again next year for the same projects plus new debt payments.

Edun told senators that 2024 projected revenue of ₦25.9 trillion delivered only ₦8.27 trillion in actual receipts. 2025 pattern repeated. Yet 2026 assumes ₦33.19 trillion will somehow materialise despite zero evidence of improved collection. The deficit isn't a planning failure. It's a feature. Budget on fantasy revenues, miss targets catastrophically, borrow the difference, present next year's fantasy with a straight face.

The Senate's borrowing declaration isn't economic policy. It's an announcement that the machinery producing deficits will keep operating at full capacity. Revenue projections will stay fictional. Capital budgets will keep failing. Future Nigerians—your children—will inherit the bill. The system isn't broken. It's working perfectly for those who benefit from perpetual borrowing while bearing none of the consequences you'll face.