There was mild drama on Wednesday as Members of the House of Representatives grilled Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance; his Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Atiku Bagudu; and the Chairman of the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), Zach Adedeji.
The House Committee on Appropriation had summoned the economic team of Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the alleged non-performance of the 2025 budget.
Lawmakers also queried the zero releases for the capital components of the 2025 budget, which they said had grounded projects and other economic activities across sectors and government agencies.
During his opening remarks, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abubakar Bichi, said the interface with the President's economic team was necessary to investigate the non-release of funds for capital projects in the 2025 budget despite increased revenues and excess earnings.
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"This is for us to study, consider, and approve the request. We decided to engage the President's economic team to discuss the performance of the 2025 budget as well as the proposed 2026 budget.
"We have also invited the NRS Chairman to shed more light on revenue projections for 2026. In 2025, we achieved about ₦28 trillion in revenue, against the target of ₦25 trillion. We need more information so Nigerians who are watching will be informed," Bichi said.
Lawmakers noted that the executive had earlier requested, and both the House of Representatives and Senate approved, ₦1.15 trillion to fund portions of the 2025 capital budget.
They questioned why the executive still recorded zero implementation despite the approval.
Responding, Edun said:
"We stopped the unsustainable methodology of printing money, whether to pay debt service, contractors, or other obligations of the government.
We moved from a position of irregularity to regularizing, and that was the first step.
"We had a naira debt of ₦152 trillion. About ₦30 trillion of that was an adjustment, not new funding, but bringing onto the government's books what was previously ignored.
Another ₦50 trillion was due to exchange rate adjustments after moving from an opaque foreign exchange system to a market-based system. Naturally, foreign debt had to be valued at the new exchange rate."
Bagudu, on his part, recalled that previous meetings with the Senate and House Appropriation Committees allowed the ministry to move 70% of the 2025 capital budget into 2026, forming part of the 2026 proposal currently before the National Assembly.
On budget performance figures, Bagudu maintained that the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning relies on the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance for data on implementation.
NRS Chairman Adedeji defended his agency's performance, stating that it generated ₦28.23 trillion in 2025, surpassing the ₦25.2 trillion target.
However, dissatisfied with the explanations, lawmakers turned the meeting into a rowdy session and yelled at the Finance Minister, the Budget and Economic Planning Minister, and the Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite, calling for their resignation over alleged incompetence.
Chairman Bichi intervened and urged his colleagues to step down the session pending the appearance of the Minister of State for Finance.
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The Committee adjourned sitting until Thursday at 1 p.m., issuing a summons for her appearance.
Recall that the Minister of Health, Ali Pate, had told the House of Representatives that his ministry received only ₦38 million out of the ₦286 billion allocated in the 2025 budget.
Nearly all ministers and agency heads who appeared for budget defence lamented zero releases for the 2025 capital budget, a situation many lawmakers say has contributed to the near collapse of the nation's economy.
Earlier in January, the Association of Indigenous Contractors in Nigeria barricaded the main complex of the Ministry of Finance, protesting non-payment of over ₦4 trillion for contracts executed under the 2024 budget.
