Nigeria’s House of Representatives experienced mild drama at Wednesday’s plenary over a motion seeking to summon President Bola Tinubu to explain the reason behind the slow implementation of the 2025 Budget.
This followed a motion of urgent public importance by Alex Ikwechegh, who cited reports of low budgetary releases by some ministers and heads of ministries, departments, and agencies during the 2026 budget defence sessions.
Ikwechegh noted that the disclosures are consistent with the repeated protests staged in 2025 and early 2026 by indigenous contractors at the Federal Ministry of Finance and the gates of the National Assembly over unpaid certificates for completed and verified projects, with many contractors unable to service bank loans obtained to execute government projects.
While commending President Bola Tinubu for constituting an inter-ministerial committee to address the situation at the Federal Executive Council meeting of December 10, 2025, Ikwechegh expressed displeasure that, despite this intervention, releases to MDAs remain slow and uneven, stalling critical projects, escalating contract costs, exposing contractors to insolvency, and increasing non-performing loans.
The lawmaker maintained that the National Assembly approved borrowing in excess of ₦1 trillion specifically to finance the settlement of outstanding obligations on completed and verified capital projects, in addition to dedicated provisions in the 2026 Appropriation Act for contractor liabilities, but insisted these interventions have not addressed the matter.
But trouble started when Ikwechegh, in one of his prayers, asked the House to summon the President to answer questions over the slow implementation of the budget.
House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, after calming tensions, noted that the original motion did not contain the prayer and, as such, could not be entertained by the House, asking the lawmaker to retain only the prayers contained in his motion.
The Speaker had earlier promised the House’s intervention in addressing delays in the implementation of the 2025 Budget when the member representing Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency of Delta State, Benedict Etanabene, raised a point of privilege drawing the attention of the House to a circular by the Accountant-General of the Federation dated June 29, 2026.
The circular, according to him, directed all federal ministries, departments, and agencies to stop processing payments for constituency and zonal intervention projects unless such projects had been vetted by the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Etanabene also asked the House to invite President Tinubu to explain the delay in the implementation of the 2025 Budget, warning that the circular would further frustrate the execution of the Appropriation Act.
(Editor: Ada Ononye)
