By Yusuf Salihu Sansani, Jalingo
Taraba State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas, has presented a N148.26 billion supplementary budget to the State House of Assembly for consideration and approval for the 2026 fiscal year.
The supplementary appropriation, according to the governor, is intended to address emerging priorities and financial commitments not adequately captured in the state’s original 2026 Appropriation Law.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Governor Kefas said the state had initially approved a N653.63 billion budget for 2026, comprising N460.39 billion for capital expenditure and N193.24 billion for recurrent expenditure.
He explained that the state subsequently became eligible to access N7 billion monthly under its Discounting Programme, creating an additional financing window that was not provided for in the original budget.
According to the governor, the additional resources would be channelled towards emerging priorities, including security initiatives, infrastructure development and the implementation of the Taraba State Security Advancement and Sustainability Project, SAS-P.
Kefas further disclosed that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning had proposed internal budget adjustments totalling N176.33 billion.
He said N44.8 billion of the proposed adjustments would be sourced from the approved 2026 contingency fund and reallocated to Ministries, Departments and Agencies that had exceeded their recurrent expenditure provisions.
The governor explained that the remaining N131.53 billion would be addressed through virement and budget revision.
He urged the lawmakers to approve the supplementary budget, saying the measure would enable the government to strengthen capital development, realign expenditure with emerging priorities and respond to prevailing fiscal realities.
The supplementary budget has already scaled second reading at the Taraba State House of Assembly, signalling further legislative consideration of the proposal.
The development is expected to pave the way for detailed scrutiny of the expenditure proposals before the bill proceeds through the remaining legislative stages.
