There was mild drama at the National Assembly on Wednesday as members of the House of Representatives grilled the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; his counterpart at the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; and the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Zach Adedeji, over the zero implementation of the 2025 capital budget despite excess revenue.

The lawmakers, during a heated session of the House Committee on Appropriation, openly asked the ministers and top government officials to resign over what they termed incompetence and failure to implement the 2025 Appropriation Act, despite what they said were excess earnings recorded during the fiscal year.

It was gathered that the Committee had summoned the economic team of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to explain the alleged non-performance of the 2025 budget, especially the zero releases for capital projects across ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

In his opening remarks, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abubakar Bichi, said the interface was aimed at probing why no funds had been released for the execution of capital projects in the 2025 budget, despite increased revenue and excess earnings.

“This is for us to study, consider and approve the request. We decided to engage the economic team of the President to discuss the previous performance of the 2025, as well as the proposed 2026.

“We have decided to engage the NRS Chairman to shed more light on the revenue in terms of the 2026 projections. In 2025 we achieved about 28 trillion in our revenue, from the target of 25 trillion. We need to have more information from you so that Nigerians who are watching will be informed,” Bichi said.

Lawmakers revealed that the executive had requested and obtained approval for N1.15 trillion to fund portions of the capital component of the 2025 budget. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the request.

However, the committee demanded to know why the executive still recorded zero implementation of capital projects despite the legislative approval.

Responding to the barrage of questions, Finance Minister Edun defended the administration’s fiscal decisions, stating that the government had discontinued unsustainable methodology of financing.

“We stopped the unsustainable methodology of printing money, whether to pay debt service, or contractors or meet other obligations of government. We were moving from a position of irregularity to regularizing, and that’s the first thing that happened.

“Now we had naira debt of N152 trillion. About N30 trillion of that was an adjustment. Not new funding, it was just bringing in to the books of the government what was previously ignored as if it didn’t exist and then another N50 trillion was exchange rate adjustment, because when we moved from an opaque system of foreign exchange allocation to market based, of course the exchange, we all know where it moved from in 2023 to 2024, for example. That meant that the foreign debt now had to be borne at the new exchange rate” Edun said.

On his part, Budget and Economic Planning Minister Bagudu disclosed that following meetings with the Appropriation Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly, approval was granted to move 70 percent of the 2025 capital expenditure into the 2026 fiscal year.

According to him, the deferred capital allocations have now formed part of the 2026 budget proposal currently before the National Assembly.

Addressing concerns over budget performance data, Bagudu distanced his ministry from the figures on implementation.

“The Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, including the Budget Office, relies on the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Ministry of Finance, for data about budget implementation.

Defending his agency’s performance, NRS Chairman Zach Adedeji insisted that revenue generation was not the problem, stating that the service exceeded its 2025 target.

Adedeji said that the agency did well in revenue in 2025, by generating N28.23 trillion instead of the N25.2 trillion target for the year.

Not satisfied with Edun’s explanations, several lawmakers turned the session rowdy, shouting at the Finance Minister Edun, Bagudu, and the Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite, to resign for what they described as lack of competence and failure to deliver on budget execution.

The chaotic session was eventually brought under control by Committee Chairman Bichi, who pleaded with his colleagues to step down the sitting pending the appearance of the Minister of State for Finance.

The committee subsequently adjourned proceedings until Thursday at 1pm to summon the Minister of State for Finance to appear and provide further clarification.

The development comes days after the Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate, informed the House of Representatives that his ministry received only N38 million out of the N286 billion allocated to it in the 2025 budget.

According to lawmakers, almost all ministers and heads of agencies who appeared for budget defence complained of zero releases for capital expenditure in 2025, a situation many legislators believe is responsible for what they described as the near collapse of the nation’s economy.

In January, the Association of Indigenous Contractors in Nigeria barricaded the main complex of the Ministry of Finance in protest over the non-payment of more than N4 trillion for contracts executed under the 2024 budget.

The contractors accused the government of abandoning certified and completed projects despite budgetary provisions, further compounding economic hardship and job losses across the country.

Sahara Reporters

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