Senate Reporters Moves to Strengthen Media Role in Budget, Legislative Oversight, Accountability

By Haruna Salami

The Senate Press Corps (SPC) is set to deepen the role of the media in Nigeria’s budget process, legislative oversight and public accountability as it convenes a high-level capacity-building workshop focused on protecting the national budget from unlawful insertions and other practices capable of undermining budget integrity.

The 2026 SPC Capacity-Building Workshop, scheduled for Monday, September 28, will bring together lawmakers, budget experts, civil society advocates and media professionals to examine how stronger legislative scrutiny and closer collaboration between the National Assembly and the media can improve transparency in the management of public resources.

The workshop, with the theme, “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions,” is being organised against the backdrop of growing demands for greater transparency in the preparation, consideration and implementation of Nigeria’s annual budgets.

Chairman of the Senate Press Corps, Taiye Odewale, said the choice of the theme reflects the need to strengthen professional capacity within the media while encouraging more effective engagement with the legislative process.

At the heart of the workshop is the recognition that budget oversight does not end with the passage of an Appropriation Bill. Effective scrutiny also requires sustained monitoring of budget proposals, legislative amendments, implementation and expenditure, with the media playing a critical role in informing citizens and bringing issues of public interest to the fore.

The workshop will therefore provide a platform for participants to examine how journalists covering the National Assembly can better understand the budget process, interrogate legislative decisions and report budgetary issues accurately and responsibly.

Among those invited to lead discussions are the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani; Director of BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde; and Publisher of Eagle Times Newspaper, Ikechukwu Chukwunyere.

Their presentations are expected to provide perspectives from government, civil society, budget advocacy and the media on strengthening accountability within Nigeria’s public finance system.

The programme will also feature an intensive training session on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in journalism and contemporary media practice. The session will be facilitated by London-based instructors from Mass Media TX Limited.

According to the organisers, the AI component is designed to equip members of the Senate Press Corps with practical knowledge of emerging technologies and how they can be deployed to improve research, information gathering, data analysis and professional journalism.

The workshop is expected to attract senior stakeholders from the National Assembly and its bureaucracy, including the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio (GCON); Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin (CFR); and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu.

Also invited are the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Adeola; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kawu Sumaila; and the Clerk to the National Assembly, Barrister Kamoru Ogunlana.

The convergence of lawmakers, budget specialists, civil society actors and journalists is expected to create a broader conversation on how legislative oversight can be strengthened and how the media can work more effectively with institutions of government without compromising its responsibility to scrutinise, question and inform the public.

For the Senate Press Corps, the workshop is therefore not merely a capacity-building exercise but an opportunity to reinforce the importance of specialised legislative journalism in the budget and oversight process.

The organisers said stronger understanding of parliamentary procedures, budgetary processes and oversight mechanisms would enable journalists to provide the public with more accurate and meaningful information on how public funds are proposed, appropriated, monitored and utilised.

The workshop is expected to further explore practical approaches to improving budget transparency, strengthening legislative scrutiny and building a more informed and constructive relationship between the legislature and the media in the public interest.

The 2026 SPC Capacity-Building Workshop will hold at Hearing Room 231 on Monday, September 28.