The Senate Committee on Appropriations on Thursday held a high-stakes interactive session with the Federal Government’s economic team, challenging the feasibility of the proposed ₦58.472 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill and expressing dissatisfaction over recurring failures in budget implementation.
The session, chaired by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Ogun West), focused on the persistent discrepancy between projected revenues and actual capital releases to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
During the five-hour hearing, lawmakers questioned the logic behind current revenue benchmarks. Senator Adeola pointed to a “wide gap” in oil revenue performance, noting the contradiction of projecting 36.5% performance for the coming year when previous performance struggled at a mere 18%.
“The document before us originated from the executive,” Senator Adeola remarked. “The projections and challenges came from the executive arm, not the legislature. The question is: Do we reduce the ₦58.472 trillion 2026 budget, or do we proceed and make adjustments?”
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, defended the administration’s “stretch targets,” particularly the oil production benchmark of 1.84 million barrels per day, intended to drive output. He emphasized that the primary challenge facing the economy is the high cost of international borrowing rather than the debt-to-GDP ratio.
However, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), warned that budget efficiency is tied to realistic assumptions. “If you assume you have one hundred units and spend accordingly, you run into serious problems if those funds do not materialize,” Adedeji cautioned.
In a move to address the backlog of capital projects, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, assured the Committee that the 30% capital component of both the 2024 and 2025 budgets would be fully implemented by the March 31, 2026 deadline.
She confirmed that the government’s financial management system is back online and that payments for outstanding 2024 projects commenced this Thursday. MDAs have been directed to upload their cash plans by Monday to facilitate further disbursements.
The session concluded with a two-hour closed-door meeting to further iron out fiscal discrepancies. Also in attendance were the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi.
