The Chairman of the Senate Press Corps, Taiye Odewale, has called for stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and the media to prevent unlawful insertions and other irregularities in Nigeria’s national budget.
Mr Odewale made the call on Monday at a one-day capacity-building workshop organised by the Senate Press Corps at the National Assembly, Abuja.
The workshop, with the theme, “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions,” focused on strengthening the capacity of lawmakers and journalists to detect and expose irregularities in the budget process.
Odewale, who welcomed participants on behalf of members of the Senate Press Corps, said the controversy surrounding the alleged inclusion of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), which was subsequently declared non-existent, in the 2026 budget underscored the need for greater scrutiny of the appropriation process.
He recalled that the controversy emerged in July after reports that the alleged agency had found its way into the N68.32 trillion 2026 budget passed by both chambers of the National Assembly in March and assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on April 17, 2026, with a purported allocation of N1.3 billion.
According to him, journalists covering the Senate investigated the matter and found that the alleged N1.3 billion allocation to PFIPC was not part of the N9.853 trillion increase made to the N58.47 trillion proposal submitted by the Executive.
He said the adjustment eventually brought the total 2026 budget to N68.32 trillion.
Odewale noted that the position of the Senate, as conveyed by its spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, during the controversy further supported the findings of the Senate Press Corps that the alleged PFIPC insertion was external to the budgetary additions made by the National Assembly.
He said the matter was appropriately being challenged by the Executive in court.
The Senate Press Corps chairman, however, stressed the need to prevent a recurrence of what he described as external and unlawful insertions into the annual national budget.
He said the media must leverage its investigative capacity alongside the constitutional oversight functions of the Senate and House of Representatives to detect and expose questionable budgetary practices.
“We believe that the presentations by our eminent and highly respected resource persons will enrich us with the required knowledge and ways of detecting such irregularities,”
In his goodwill message, the Special Guest of Honour, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, represented by Senator Adaramodu, called for balanced reportage by the Press in order to gain public confidence and trust in the national budget.
He urged parliamentary journalists to familiarise themselves with legislative processes and procedures in order to ensure accurate reporting.
The Senate President charged the media to continue to act as watchdogs to expose waste and ensure proper utilisation of public funds.
The Chief Host/Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, in his remarks, affirmed that the media has the responsibility to scrutinise the budget and its implementation.
He noted that the budget is prepared according to needs of locals in communities and warned against misinforming the public.
The Honorable Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, spoke on the role of the executive, especially his office, in preparing the national budget and proper scrutiny to avoid illegal insertions.
The Minister explained that Nigeria’s national budget is the smallest among the 10 largest countries in the world. He said as at the time President Bola Tinubu took over the government, the country in terms of revenue had the lowest revenue GDP ratio.
The Minister maintained that the Tinubu administration is ensuring that the country increases its national budget to a one trillion dollar economy, while taking cues from other developed countries.
He specifically said Nigeria is targeting to have the same budget size with Brazil whose national budget is 20 times bigger than that of Nigeria.
The Minister also cautioned against erroneous reportage of the budgetary line items, arguing that line items are presumed to be the critical needs of certain communities. He, however, urged Nigerians to continue mobilising for transparency rather than blaming the government.
He urged the media to help Nigerians understand why particular projects and expenditures appear in the budget, noting that some items may reflect genuine needs in communities that are not immediately obvious.
He also supported continued vigilance against unlawful insertions and budget errors, but called for proper verification before drawing conclusions.
The minister further argued that budget performance should not be judged only by capital spending, stressing the importance of recurrent expenditure, salaries, security and debt servicing.
On artificial intelligence, Bagudu said it should help lawmakers and journalists ask better questions, not replace human judgment, stressing the need for safeguards, verification and responsible use of technology.
