The non-release of funds by the executive for the funding of many capital projects captured in the 2024 Budget is causing disquiet among some members of the Senate and the House of Representatives

Despite the perceived cordial relationship between the current National Assembly and the Executive, an open confrontation over the poor and slow implementation of the capital component of the 2024 Budget might soon become inevitable.

Worried by the dismal performance of the budget running concurrently with the 2025 fiscal year, lawmakers in both chambers have expressed severe discontent with non funding of capital projects, threatening a showdown with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, unless something urgent is done to address their concerns.

Contentions

The major point of contention is the poor and slow release of funds allocated for capital projects to the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).Citing a significant gap between recurrent and capital expenditures, lawmakers in the two chambers expressed dissatisfaction that only 2O per cent of capital expenditure had been implemented, compared to 80 per cent for recurrent spending. Due to this dismal performance, the National Assembly has had to grant two extensions to the capital component of the 2024 budget, first to June 30, 2025, and then again to December 31, 2025, forcing the government to run two capital budgets (the extended 2024 and the new 2025) concurrently.

Lawmakers fear that the dual-budget scenario, with both 2024 and 2025 budgets running concurrently, could destabilize Nigeria’s fragile economy and lead to inflationary pressures.

Despite the concession, Senators and House of Representatives members felt disappointed that capital allocations to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were not released adequately or on time. According to them, this has led to many abandoned projects across the country. While the Minister of Finance claimed an overall capital budget performance of around 80 per cent as of September 2025, many lawmakers have contested this, pointing to low tangible impact on the ground. Earlier reports in January 2025 showed that the capital component performance was as low as 25 per cent, while the recurrent expenditure (salaries, overheads, etc.) was almost 100 per cent implemented.

That apart, the specific, unspoken political grouse of the lawmakers regarding the non-release of funds for the 2024 budget and its connection to constituency projects is fear of re-election failure. Under the current democracy, constituency project or Zonal Intervention Project, is the most visible, tangible, and immediate link to their constituents, and is therefore considered their most critical tool for re-election. This is bearing in mind that the Nigerian electorate measures a legislator’s performance not by bills passed or debates won, but by the dividends of democracy they bring to the local community- boreholes, solar streetlights, construction of classrooms, empowerment materials, etcetera.

With the 2024 budget implementation stalled, particularly the capital component where these constituency projects reside, lawmakers have nothing concrete to show their people.

Ahead of the October 8 resumption of plenary, Sunday Sun gathered that aggrieved lawmakers have already commenced moves to compel Edun to do the needful rather than allowing him to frustrate the execution of projects, particularly constituency interventions. Investigation revealed that lawmakers who recently returned to their constituencies during the parliamentary recess met people’s anger for making fake promises, as projects captured in the budget were yet to be executed, or contractors for completed projects had not been paid.

With the next general election in 2027 gradually approaching, they fear that being unable to point to completed, visible projects will make them highly vulnerable to new challengers in their party primaries and the general election. Many of them believe that the slow funding of constituency projects is sabotaging their political careers. This has led to veiled threats of legislative action, with some lawmakers resolving to block future Executive bills until their issues, including the release of funds for their nominated projects, are addressed.

While the official complaint is about poor budget performance and a desire for national development, the political core of the grouse is that the executive’s actions are starving the lawmakers of the political capital they need to survive the next electoral cycle.

While the executive emphasises the need for fiscal responsibility to avoid financial crises, the National Assembly pushes for increased capital project funding.

Some of the aggrieved lawmakers have also heavily criticized the centralized payment system adopted by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, claiming it has woefully failed and is paralyzing MDAs. With the brewing crisis of confidence, and in exercise of their oversight functions, lawmakers may go beyond verbal threats but invoke their constitutional powers to compel the Executive to release funds for capital projects and improve implementation transparency.

It is indeed, within the constitutional oversight role of the legislators to demand that the Executive account for the funds, release the capital allocations, and ensure that the budget passed into law translates into tangible development and economic impact for Nigerians.

Looming confrontation

As reliably gathered, tempers are already rising within both chambers of the legislature, with many senators and members of the House of Representatives accusing the Minister of Finance of frustrating the execution of their constituency interventions.

A lawmaker, who spoke in confidence, revealed that some of his colleagues had been dragged into embarrassing situations with contractors over the matter. According to him, he has had to personally step in on at least three occasions to resolve disputes between his colleagues and contractors who executed constituency projects but had yet to be paid.

The source disclosed that the lawmakers in question had “sold” their constituency project contracts to contractors who, after execution, were now unable to recover their funds from the government.

“My colleagues are facing serious problems. They facilitated constituency projects, sort of sold the contracts to contractors, and those contractors have completed the jobs. But up till now, no kobo has been released by the government and they feel cheated. It has become a crisis,” he told Sunday Sun.

It will be recalled that the Appropriations Committees of the two chambers had, on multiple occasions, met with the Minister of Finance over the issue. Edun was said to have consistently assured the lawmakers that the situation would soon be resolved, with funds made available to clear outstanding contracts.

Despite these assurances, legislators felt disappointed that the Finance Minister could not make good his words, creating what they describe as a credibility problem for them. According to the source, they have threatened not to resume unless action is taken on the matter.

It Is against this background that the National Assembly in September ordered the withdrawal of all circulars already issued for contract awards under the 2025 fiscal year.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, who announced the resolution during a joint session with the House Appropriations Committee on September 18, explained that the move was necessary to properly sequence the 2024 and 2025 capital budgets. According to him, the capital component of the 2024 budget will remain active until December 31, 2025, meaning that the implementation of the 2025 capital component will only commence afterwards.

“The capital component of the 2024 budget will continue till December 31, 2025. Implementation of the 2025 capital component will commence as soon as possible, and Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) should be issued within seven days after this session with the economic team. Circulars issued by the Ministry of Finance to MDAs should therefore be withdrawn pending issuance of AIE,” Adeola said.

The resolution was adopted after a heated meeting with the federal government’s economic team, which included Finance Minister Wale Edun, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, Accountant-General of the Federation Samsudeen Ogunjimi, and Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu.

Following the resolution, lawmakers went into a closed-door session with the officials, where sources hinted that the non-release of funds and the controversies surrounding constituency projects dominated discussions.

A ranking senator told Sunday Sun after the closed-door meeting that

“We have tolerated excuses for too long. Contractors are protesting, lawmakers are being embarrassed, and yet, the Finance Ministry keeps assuring us without action. This is war.”

However, some members of the House of Representatives who spoke with Sunday Sun, said they were waiting for briefing from relevant Committees on the level of implementation of the capital component of the 2024 and 2025 budgets running concurrently.

A member of the House representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, Afam Ogene, told Sunday Sun that lawmakers were looking forward to receiving the report of a special committee headed by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, which was set up to interface with the Executive over the budget implementation, to determine the next line of action.

Ogene, however, said he was not aware of any planned showdown with the Executive arm of government over the issue, declaring that “there is nothing like that. Not to my knowledge. We know that a committee led by the deputy speaker was set up to interface with the Economic Team.

“So, they will brief the House. We have been on recess. I don’t think anybody is moving towards that direction (showdown) until we have been briefed. There is no movement against the leadership or government yet,” he clarified.

Similarly, the chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Philip Agbese, told Sunday Sun that lawmakers were looking forward to the implementation of agreements reached by the relevant House Committees and President Bola Tinubu’s Economic Team.

Agbese said: “ZIP for 2024 have all been executed. It is 2025 that are yet to be executed. It is the capital component of the budget that has been the issue between the parliament and the handlers of the economy.”

The lawmaker also denied knowledge of any planned showdown, saying “I am not aware.” He was however quick to add, “you cannot rule out that our constituents are not happy, and as their representatives, we cannot be happy.

“So, we look forward to the agreement that was reached between the leadership of the Committee on Appropriations that they will service the capital component of the budget for our constituents to see progressive changes in our constituencies.”

Similarly, another member of the House, who did not want to be quoted told Sunday Sun that “while members are not happy with issues relating to implementation of the capital component of the budget, there is no plan for any showdown with the Executive.”

Failed promises

At the previous meetings, Sunday Sun gathered that the Federal Government team led by Edun had assured lawmakers that concerns raised about the implementation of the 2024 budget would be addressed. “We looked at what is happening in 2025, and we put heads together to ensure that particularly the projects that touch the grassroots, that provide support, resources, and facilities, like irrigation and other infrastructure projects at the grassroots level, are focused on and are given adequate attention and priority. So discussion is on on-going implementation of the budget faithfully and fully,” Edun declared.

Less than three months to the end of the fiscal year, lawmakers are at a crossroads, debating what next to do with haphazard implementation of two budgets running concurrently. (Sunday Sun)

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