Reps in rowdy session over bid to summon Tinubu over budget
The House of Representatives descended into chaos on Wednesday as lawmakers clashed over an attempt to summon President Tinubu to explain the poor implementation of the budget.
The House of Representatives descended into a heated and rowdy session on Wednesday as lawmakers clashed over an attempt to summon President Bola Tinubu to explain the poor implementation of the 2025 budget, the delayed release of appropriated funds and worsening funding gaps affecting ministries, departments and agencies.
The controversy began when Benedict Etanabene, who represents Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency of Delta State, raised the issue under a matter of personal explanation. He called on the House to invite President Tinubu to account for the persistent failure to implement budgets despite trillions of naira approved by the National Assembly.
Speaker Abbas Tajudeen ruled that the matter could not be debated because it was raised under a personal explanation. Under the House Standing Orders, a personal explanation allows members to clarify or explain issues affecting them personally or matters requiring immediate clarification. Such statements are ordinarily not subject to debate or decision by the House.
The Speaker informed lawmakers that Mr Etanabene’s point had been noted but could not be entertained on procedural grounds. The ruling immediately sparked protests from some members and briefly disrupted proceedings. Shortly afterwards, the member representing Aba North and South Federal Constituency of Abia State, Alex Ikwechegh (APGA), revived the issue by bringing a motion under matters of urgent public importance, effectively reopening the debate through the appropriate parliamentary procedure.
Moving the motion, Mr Ikwechegh argued that Sections 80 and 81 of the 1999 Constitution vest the power of appropriation in the National Assembly, and that the integrity of the budget process depends not merely on passing appropriations but also on the timely release, cash backing and utilisation of approved funds. He said disclosures made by ministers and heads of MDAs during the ongoing 2026 budget defence sessions painted a disturbing picture of the 2025 budget's implementation. According to him, several MDAs informed lawmakers that they received little or no capital releases throughout the fiscal year, despite funds having been appropriated for critical projects.
The lawmaker said the revelations corroborated repeated protests staged by indigenous contractors throughout 2025 and into 2026 at the Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly over unpaid certificates for completed and verified contracts. He recalled that some of the protests disrupted legislative activities, as contractors lamented their inability to repay bank loans taken out to execute government projects.
Mr Ikwechegh further recalled that President Tinubu had, during a Federal Executive Council meeting on 10 December 2025, directed the settlement of verified contractor liabilities estimated at ₦1.5 trillion. He said the Federal Executive Council had approved the payment, but the funds had not been released. The lawmaker argued that the executive had failed to implement the budget it had signed into law, leaving contractors stranded and projects abandoned.
The rowdy session reflects growing frustration within the National Assembly over the executive’s handling of the budget process. The Constitution requires the executive to implement the budget as passed by the legislature, but successive administrations have delayed releases and failed to fund approved projects. The 2025 budget appears to be following the same pattern.
This echoes the 2016 budget implementation crisis, when the National Assembly and the executive clashed over the release of funds for capital projects. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: projects abandoned, contractors unpaid and legislators frustrated.
The winners: the lawmakers who forced a debate on the issue. The losers: President Tinubu, who faces a constitutional challenge; the contractors who remain unpaid; and the Nigerian public, which continues to wait for projects that were approved but never funded.
Bottom Line: The House of Representatives wants to summon the President over budget implementation. The Speaker says the procedure is wrong. The underlying problem is not the procedure. It is that the government is not spending the money it has been given.