Funding Crunch Rocks Senate Committees, Threatens 2026 Budget Process

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate yesterday witnessed tense moments as several senators openly lamented acute funding shortfalls crippling the operations of standing committees and raising fresh concerns over Nigeria’s perennial budget implementation challenges.

The complaints erupted during a meeting between the Senate Committee on Appropriations and chairmen of various standing committees, convened to outline the timetable for consideration of the N58.472 trillion 2026 budget proposal.

The first alarm was raised by Senator Anthony Ani (Ebonyi South), who disclosed that the Senate Committee on the South East Development Commission had received no funds since its inauguration, making it impossible to carry out its statutory oversight functions.

Ani said, “Mr. Chairman, you have read out the timetable for committees to consider the 2026 budget, but the Senate Committee on the South East Development Commission, which I belong to, has not been given a dime since it was formed and inaugurated.

“We cannot even organise a meeting with any agency because there is zero allocation to the committee.”

He added that credible information available to him indicated that other committees overseeing zonal development commissions were similarly unfunded, questioning how such critical committees were expected to function effectively.

Corroborating Ani’s position, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission, Senator Titus Zam (Benue North West), warned that the initial excitement surrounding the creation of the commissions was fast giving way to frustration.

“The lack of funding for committees on zonal development commissions in the Senate is gradually turning the excitement that heralded their creation into disappointment and even lamentation,” Zam said.

The debate soon widened beyond committee operations to broader concerns over budget implementation. Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Oyewunmi Olalere (Osun West), cautioned that the much-vaunted plan to commence single-budget implementation from April 1, 2026, was already under threat.

According to him, key components of previous budgets remained unfunded.

“Parts of the capital component of the 2024 budget, in terms of contract execution, have not been paid, not to talk of the 30 per cent capital component of the 2025 budget expected to expire by March 31,” he said.

Olalere noted that with only about two months left to clear outstanding obligations from the 2024 and 2025 budgets, urgent action was required to prevent the continuation of multiple budget implementations.

He urged the Senator Solomon Adeola-led Appropriations Committee to intensify efforts to compel revenue-generating agencies to meet their funding obligations.

Adding his voice, Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi (Osun East), said unpaid contractors were still protesting over the unimplemented portions of the 2024 budget, underscoring the gravity of the situation.

Fadahunsi said, “I concur with my colleague from our state. The 2024 budget debt has not been fully paid, and contractors are still carrying placards around.

“This committee must urgently engage critical stakeholders to tidy up the 2024 and 2025 budgets before April 1, 2026.”

However, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North) sought to rein in the growing wave of lamentations, advising his colleagues to exercise restraint until full details of the 2026 budget were made available to them.

Following Oshiomhole’s intervention, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Ogun West), called for an executive session, requesting journalists to excuse the lawmakers as deliberations continued behind closed doors.