NASS Appropriation C’tee Queries Tinubu’s Economic Team Over Funding Gaps
Tension rose inside the Senate as Lawmakers opened a high-stakes interrogation of the Federal Government’s economic managers over the massive ₦58.19 trillion 2026 budget, demanding explanations for revenue failures, rising debt and persistent funding gaps that crippled the 2025 fiscal plan.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Yayi, set the tone, declaring the era of rubber-stamp budgeting over.
He summoned the President’s entire economic team to defend both the performance of the 2025 budget and the assumptions behind the 2026 proposal.
According to him, the exercise was not routine oversight but a full fiscal autopsy.
“We want to see how far the administration has gone, what is left undone, and how the committee can address the challenges confronting government finances,” he said.
Sen. Yayi announced a major fiscal shift: by March 1, Nigeria will operate a single active budget year, ending the tradition of overlapping budgets.
Outstanding commitments from 2024 and 2025 will be rolled into the 2026 appropriation.
He also reminded officials of the presidential directive Ministries, Departments and Agencies must fund 30% of prior obligations before March 2026, with the remaining 70% absorbed into the new budget.
But the hearing almost derailed before it began.
Lawmakers openly accused key economic officials of disrespecting the Senate after multiple postponements and late appearances.
Some agencies failed to show up entirely.
One Senator warned the National Assembly could suspend budgets of non-appearing agencies.
“This sitting has been postponed more than five times. We cannot continue like this,” a lawmaker protested.
Despite the friction, the committee allowed the Minister of Finance to proceed.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, unveiled what he called a three-stage recovery strategy:
Market corrections
Stabilisation
Growth acceleration toward 7% GDP expansion
He said the government’s priority is attracting private investment through PPPs, asset optimisation and domestic revenue mobilisation.
The medium-term target: tax revenue equal to 18% of GDP.
Edun warned Nigeria faces a harsh global reality developing countries now repay more debt abroad than they receive in investment and aid.
He pointed to a $20 billion investment commitment from Shell as evidence reforms are gaining confidence.
The Minister admitted the 2025 budget faltered badly.
Key figures:
Federation revenue performance: 53%
Oil & gas revenue performance: 18.9%
Capital budget performance: 51.8%
Federal revenue shortfall: about ₦5 trillion
Debt service exceeded budget by: ₦4 trillion
Overall funding gap: about ₦9 trillion
As a result, the government prioritised salaries, pensions and statutory transfers while capital projects suffered.
“Actual receipts barely covered recurrent expenditure,” Edun said.
He explained the Federal Government suffered more than states because of oil revenue, its major share collapsed, while non-oil revenue largely benefited sub-nationals through VAT allocations.
The Minister addressed public alarm over Nigeria’s debt stock, now around ₦152 trillion.
He insisted it was largely accounting for transparency, not reckless borrowing:
₦30trn previously hidden Ways & Means recognised
₦49trn added from exchange-rate revaluation
Only about ₦27trn borrowed by current administration
“This increase is driven mainly by accounting corrections, not excessive borrowing,” he said.
Despite fiscal pressure, the government funded intervention programmes:
Cash transfers to nearly 9 million households
Wage awards and increases
CNG transport intervention
Edun blamed unpaid contractor liabilities on violations of procurement and fiscal responsibility laws by agencies entering commitments without proper approvals.
Lawmakers pressed the minister on whether the oil revenue projections behind the 2026 budget were achievable.
Edun deflected final validation to the revenue collection authorities, stressing that accuracy of oil revenue estimates would determine whether the new budget succeeds or fails.
The Senate’s central concern remained blunt:
Can Nigeria fund a ₦58.19 trillion budget when the previous year achieved barely half its revenue target?
The answer, Lawmakers warned will determine whether the budget becomes a recovery tool or another deficit spiral.
The hearing continues as the rest of the economic team appears before the Committee in what promises to be one of the most decisive fiscal confrontations of the current administration.