The National Assembly will today resume plenary sessions with the scrutiny of President Bola Tinubu’s ₦58.47tn 2026 Appropriation Bill and amendments to Nigeria’s electoral laws topping its legislative agenda.
The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, stated that the upper and lower chambers would also expedite work on the review of the 1999 Constitution, assuring all that the document would be completed and ready for transmission to state legislatures by the first quarter of 2026.
Bamidele disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Monday, noting that committees in both chambers had already commenced detailed assessments of the revenue and expenditure estimates presented by President Tinubu to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025.
He said, “Now that we have resumed plenary, we will devote quality time to the scrutiny and passage of the 2026 Appropriation Bill valued at ₦58.47 trillion. In both chambers, our committees are already looking deeply into the estimates of revenues and expenditures that President Bola Tinubu laid before the joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025.
“The proposal is crucial to the growth, prosperity, and stability of our economy this year and even beyond, given its emphasis on consolidating the gains of the previous years.”
He said the budget, when enacted, would reinforce macroeconomic stability, deepen Nigeria’s global competitiveness, and translate economic growth into jobs, higher incomes, and improved living standards, while restoring the January-to-December budget cycle.
“The budget, when it finally becomes effective, will further reinforce our collective resolve to guarantee our nation’s macroeconomic stability, deepen her global competitiveness and translate economic growth to decent jobs, rising incomes and a better quality of life across the federation.
“This will help us restore and maintain a budget cycle that annually starts from January and ends in December. Achieving these ends might be tough, perhaps unattainable, given the bottlenecks we have experienced before now,” the lawmaker stated.
Bamidele linked improved funding prospects for the budget to recent fiscal reforms, including the enactment of the 2025 Tax Reform Act, which he said had recalibrated the nation’s fiscal space to reduce the tax burden on low-income earners while placing more responsibility on high-income earners.
“Unlike previous years, we have significantly reformed our fiscal space to reflect our socio-economic realities. From the reforms of our fiscal space, we believe funding our budget will no longer be a challenge, and our budget deficit will definitely begin to shrink year by year,” he said.
Beyond the budget, the Senate Leader said the National Assembly was prioritising amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the aim of guaranteeing credible, transparent, and secure polls.
He said the proposed Electoral Bill, 2025, contained over 20 major innovations, including voting rights for inmates, early release of election funds to INEC, electronically generated voter identification, real-time transmission of polling unit results, standardised delegates for indirect primaries, stricter voter registration requirements, and tougher sanctions for electoral offences.
“Apart from the 2025 Appropriation Bill, we are prioritising the delivery of an electoral governance framework that will guarantee a credible and transparent process in the 2027 general elections. We have started the review of the Electoral Act, 2022, clause by clause, to achieve this end.
“The Bill introduces a system of consequences to our nation’s electoral regime. This provision forecloses the possibility of impunity when electoral offences are established,” he noted.
On constitutional amendments, Bamidele said technical sessions and public hearings had been concluded, adding that the report of the exercise would be laid before the Senate by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, before the end of the first quarter.
“The review of the 1999 Constitution is also at its peak. Before the first quarter elapses, the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Barau Jibrin, will lay the report of the exercise before the Senate,” the Senate Leader assured.
He stressed that the final phase of the process would require approval by at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly, underscoring the central role of sub-national legislatures in effecting constitutional alterations.
Reflecting on the lifespan of the 10th National Assembly, Bamidele noted that only 16 months remained out of its constitutionally prescribed 48 months, pledging that lawmakers would intensify reforms touching on governance, elections, and economic diversification.
He said, “At this highly critical time, when what happens in other parts of the world now dictates the direction of our economy and polity, the onus rests much more upon us than at any time in history to reinforce our constituents’ trust in their representatives, in the National Assembly and in their fatherland.”
PUNCH.
