The House of Representatives passed through Second Reading the 2026 budget estimates of N58.473 trillion laid by President Bola Tinubu before the joint session of the National Assembly in December, 2025.
Ahead of the plenary session, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen asked Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere to move a motion for the House to suspend the rules and dissolve the executive session.
While leading the motion, Hon. Ihonvbere moved the motion which was seconded by the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Aliyu Madaki.
However, at the end of the executive session which lasted for about 32 minutes, most of the lawmakers who attended the plenary left the chambers ahead of the debate on the 2026 Appropriation bill and consideration of a bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act, 2022 to regulate the conduct of Federal, State and Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory elections and for related matters.
While giving the synopsis of the Appropriation bill, Hon. Ihonvbere who acknowledged that the process of promoting growth is very challenging, difficult, and painful.
“That is what we are going through.
And it can be more painful if we inherited, distorted and disarticulated the institutions and structures of our politics at the time, which was exactly the case with the present administration.
Nobody has ever promised that the journey, the structuring and the positioning and the focusing of our political economy will not be painless.”
While stressing the need for the House to support President Tinubu’s administration in taking the country’s economy out of the woods, he maintained that former Presidents including: late Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and late Muhammadu Buhari had their own shares of the challenges.
“So it’s a challenge, and I’m saying this so that we all put ourselves in the shoes of those trying to manage the economy.
I’m not saying they are saints or they are perfect.
It is our job as nationalists, representing 360 constituencies, fully elected by the people, to guide them to do the right things at all times.
“Mr. Speaker. Statistics can be good. Sometimes they can be sleet. Sometimes they may not reflect our dreams and hopes. But we can’t run away from statistics. So, we say that the economy before the 2026 budget grew by 3.98%.
A decent figure compared to many other countries in developing countries. That inflation is down to 14.45%, down from about 25%. And all our revenues increased, exports grew, and direct foreign investments expanded.
“And I think we all see the activities of the President from one country to the other, in the midst of winter, trying to sign these rich understandings with other countries.
And I think the recent visit to Turkey is an example. And I will encourage my colleagues to Google Turkey, to they will discover it’s one of the most developed countries in Europe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get credit.
“And he gets more international visitors, more international investment than many countries in Europe, including Britain, France, and Belgium. So, Turkey is a good country that we can partner with. In many ways to improve our economy. The era has remained stable.
“Yes, we cannot argue. Now I’ll check the figures. We promised in the last budget to bring it down to 1,400. From over 1,800, it is there at 1,400 today. As we speak, and as we in that range dwell over some time. This is credit to you.
And we have not printed a single Naira since this government came into office. No abuse, apparently. To that extent, it has helped us to see the life.
“Our external reserves start at a seven-year high of 47 billion U.S. dollars, sufficient to provide over 10 months of units.
This is the background for each of these things. What are the promises that have been made?What are the promises that have been made? Give us a stronger discipline in budget execution to improve revenue performance.
And we all join hands to give them the new Tax Acts to ensure their revenue generation and we block leakages and generate revenue and not just for their budget, consolidate macroeconomic stability, improve the business environment, strengthen human capital development and manage existing debt. These are promises. I know the president is committed. I know that many in his team are committed.
“I also know that those of us in the National Assembly, especially the House of Reps, we are committed to ensuring that these promises are happening. This is in our collective interest.”He specifically applauded the Executive for prioritizing security and defence, as well as high budgetary allocations to infrastructure, education and health sectors in the 2026 fiscal year.
“Be rest assured that we’ll have a whole new order and approach to helping the security with the massive recruitment that has been ordered by the President.
“Distinguished colleagues, this is a budget. It’s a promise. It’s expectations. It’s the dream of the government. And I believe that this administration is committed, to ensuring that if we all work together, put ideas together, we commit to a better Nigeria, we build a kind of sociopolitical, economic, and cultural environment that will encourage Nigerians in their respective constituencies and communities to reach the highest points of their creative and productive abilities.“When we’re able to do this, Nigeria will be a better place, not just for us, but for generations to come,” hr opined.
Hence, he urged his counterparts “to join the executive in this budget of consolidation, renewed resilience, and shared prosperity.”
He further observed that 70% of this budget we are talking about has already been debated earlier in 2025, so there is very little that is new.
To this end, Speaker Tajudeen referred the Appropriation bill to the Committee on Appropriation with all standing committees as sub-committees of the Committee on Appropriation for further legislative action.
Leave a comment