- …urges stronger public scrutiny
By Haruna Salami
The Senate Press Corps has called for stronger legislative oversight, closer media collaboration and greater public scrutiny of Nigeria’s national budget to curb unlawful insertions, duplication and other practices capable of undermining budgetary integrity.
The call was made at the 2026 Senate Press Corps Capacity-Building Workshop, held with the theme: “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions”.
In his welcome address, Chairman of the Senate Press Corps, Taiye Odewale, said the alleged N1.3 billion allocation to the non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 budget underscored the need for stronger mechanisms to detect and prevent questionable budget entries.
Odewale said findings by the Senate Press Corps indicated that the controversial allocation was not part of the N9.853 trillion added by the National Assembly to the N58.47 trillion Executive proposal, which resulted in the N68.32 trillion 2026 budget.
He said the controversy further demonstrated the importance of closer collaboration between legislative oversight institutions and the media in scrutinising budget proposals and tracking their implementation.
According to him, the workshop was also designed to equip journalists with the skills required to analyse budget documents more effectively and responsibly, including the use of artificial intelligence tools in parliamentary reporting.
Earlier, in the first presentation, titled “Critical Scrutiny of Budget Line Items: Preventing ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’ and Strengthening the Roles of Legislators and the Media,” Mr. Ebu Emmanuel, who represented the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, urged lawmakers and journalists to subject budget provisions to rigorous scrutiny.
He said budgetary provisions must be justified, transparent, properly costed and measurable, warning that vague, duplicated or inflated projects could facilitate waste and undermine accountability.
Citing findings attributed to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Emmanuel said about 4,508 inserted or padded projects valued at N434.5 billion, as well as 66 duplicated projects worth N6.43 billion, were identified in the 2022 budget.
He urged lawmakers to verify the purpose, responsible Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA), location, beneficiaries, cost and expected results of proposed projects before approval.
He also called for a clear audit trail covering the movement of a project from proposal through approval and implementation.
For the media, he recommended sustained scrutiny of budget changes, verification of projects and tracking of implementation.
He said journalists should ask critical questions, including what changed, why it changed, who justified the change, its cost, location, beneficiaries and how delivery would be verified.
He said the accountability process should cover proposal, justification, verification, approval, disclosure, implementation, monitoring, audit and accountability.
BudgIT seeks 90-day budget window
The Director of BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde, represented by the Country Director of BudgIT Foundation, Vahyala Kwaga, in a presentation titled “From Insertion to Interrogation: The National Assembly’s Role in Evaluating the Executive’s Budget Proposal,” called for a more evidence-based, citizen-centred and technology-enabled budget process.
Onigbinde argued that legislative scrutiny often focuses heavily on appropriations rather than assessing public policy performance, which he described as an important part of the budget process.
He identified late submission of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF-FSP) by the Executive as one of the recurring challenges affecting effective budget scrutiny.
He also said limited engagement between the National Assembly and MDAs weakened legislative oversight of budget implementation and performance.
BudgIT recommended that the Executive submit the budget proposal to the National Assembly at least 90 days before the end of the financial year to allow lawmakers sufficient time for detailed examination.
It also called on the National Assembly to assess the performance of agencies under previous budgets before approving fresh allocations and urged greater stakeholder participation in the budget preparation and review process.
Media urged to “follow the money”
The Managing Director/Publisher of The Eagle Times Newspaper, Mr. Ikechukwu Chukwunyere, represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Tabuko Kennedy, urged journalists to deepen their understanding of budget documents and move beyond reporting headline figures and official statements.
In his presentation, “Making the Eagle Eye of the Media Sharper at Yearly Budget Scrutinies,” Kennedy identified poor understanding of budget data, inadequate follow-up, failure to compare allocations across years, and limited verification of projects as major weaknesses in budget reporting.
He urged journalists to “follow the money” by comparing budgetary allocations with releases, expenditure, actual outputs and impact.
He also advised journalists to examine previous budgets, audit reports and procurement records, investigate red flags and clearly distinguish verified facts from official claims.
He proposed the establishment of a Senate Press Corps Budget Accountability Reporting Desk, as well as a joint budget scrutiny report within 72 hours of budget presentation.
Other proposals included establishing a public database of major projects and tracking at least 10 projects from their appearance in the budget document to the project sites.
AI can strengthen budget reporting
Ms. Adeola Ademokaya, Nigeria Representative of Mass Media LCC Texas Consultant and moderator, focused her presentation on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in legislative budget oversight and parliamentary journalism.
She said the national budget represents a public trust because it provides funding for critical sectors, including roads, schools, healthcare, security, employment and infrastructure.
According to her, AI can assist journalists in analysing lengthy budget documents, comparing different versions, identifying vague project descriptions, detecting unusual figures and possible duplication, and generating questions for budget defence sessions.
She added that AI could also help simplify complex budget issues for newspapers, television, radio and social media audiences.
However, Ademokaya stressed that AI should remain an assisting tool rather than the final authority.
She urged journalists to verify information against official documents, seek clarification and responses from relevant authorities and apply sound editorial judgment before publication.
Her message to journalists was to read, question, verify, seek clarification and report responsibly.
Bagudu explains FG’s position
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, explained the role of the Executive, particularly his ministry, in preparing and scrutinising the national budget.
Bagudu said Nigeria’s national budget remained relatively small compared with those of the world’s 10 largest economies, while the country had also recorded a low revenue-to-GDP ratio when President Bola Tinubu assumed office.
He said the administration was working to expand the size of the national economy and budget, with the long-term ambition of moving towards a $1 trillion economy.
The minister cited Brazil as a country whose budget size, according to him, was about 20 times larger than Nigeria’s, saying Nigeria was seeking to increase its fiscal capacity.
Bagudu cautioned against inaccurate reporting of budget line items, noting that provisions were often intended to address specific needs within communities.
He urged the media to help Nigerians understand the rationale behind projects and expenditures rather than drawing conclusions without adequate verification.
The minister nevertheless supported continued vigilance against unlawful insertions and budget irregularities, stressing that allegations should be properly verified.
He also cautioned against assessing budget performance solely on capital expenditure, noting that recurrent expenditure, salaries, security and debt servicing were also essential components of government spending.
On AI, Bagudu said the technology should assist lawmakers and journalists in asking better questions rather than replacing human judgment, adding that safeguards, verification and responsible use remained necessary.
Adaramodu, Akpabio urge balanced reportage
The Chief Host and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, said the media had an important responsibility to scrutinise the budget and its implementation.
He noted that budget provisions were designed to address needs within communities and urged journalists to avoid reporting that could misinform the public.
In his goodwill message, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, represented by Adaramodu, called for balanced and accurate reportage of the national budget to strengthen public confidence and trust.
Akpabio urged parliamentary journalists to familiarise themselves with legislative processes and procedures to improve the accuracy of their reports.
He charged the media to continue playing its watchdog role by exposing waste, promoting transparency and ensuring that public funds were properly utilised.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
