The Nigerian Senate has expressed serious concern over the Federal Government’s practice of implementing multiple budgets within a single fiscal year, warning that the trend is unacceptable and must be rectified in 2026.
During an interactive session with the federal government’s economic management team on the 2026-2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), senators from the Committee on Finance highlighted the risks posed by rolling over capital projects from one year to the next.
Senator Danjuma Goje described the repeated implementation of multiple budgets as “an ugly situation” that should end this year. “This practice is unacceptable to Nigerians.
Things must be normalized from next year,” he emphasised.
Senator Oyewumi Olalere added that the government should present realistic budget proposals to prevent non-implementation and subsequent rollovers.
Senators Victor Umeh and Ireti Kingibe also questioned why gaps in revenue targets had not been addressed, despite borrowings approved by the National Assembly.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, explained that while revenues for the 2024 budget had been fully realised, only N10 trillion of the projected N40 trillion revenue for 2025 had been collected.
This shortfall of N30 trillion necessitated rolling over 70 percent of capital projects from 2025 to 2026.
Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, assured lawmakers that normalcy in budget projections and implementation would be achieved in 2026.
He further announced the formation of a three-man ad hoc committee to liaise with the Minister of Finance and the Accountant-General on payment of local contractors for projects executed in 2024 before December 31.
Senay Musa also urged the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, to ensure the 2026 revenue target of N35 trillion is achieved, up from an earlier projection of N31 trillion.
Dr. Adedeji reported that FIRS collected N20.2 trillion in 2024 and N25.2 trillion in 2025, with excess revenue used to offset shortfalls from previous budgets.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senay Atiku Bagudu, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, defended the assumptions underlying the 2026-2028 MTEF and FSP, which include oil production at 1.84 million barrels per day, an oil price benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, and an exchange rate of N1,512 to the dollar.
The Senate committee’s interventions underscore the urgency of aligning budget projections with realistic revenue expectations to ensure that capital projects are executed efficiently and that public funds are managed transparently.
