There was drama in the National Assembly on Wednesday as Senators Jimoh Ibrahim (APC Ondo North) and Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi Central took themselves up over the 2025 budget defense of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development which led to a brief halt in the budget defense.

The lawmakers had questioned the Ministry of Housing over its N92 billion contractor debt and the implementation of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Housing Program. The session highlighted concerns about transparency, project visibility, and the ministry’s capacity to address Nigeria’s housing deficit.

Central to the session was the ministry’s claim of constructing 7,522 housing units under Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, with 3,388 completed.

However, Sen. Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) expressed skepticism, alleging that these units are invisible in key regions, including his constituency in Bauchi State.

Ningi had taken the minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Right Honourable Yusuf Abdulahi up the Renew Hope Housing project which he said was not visible in his state even after one year of commencement.

“These housing units are supposed to be symbols of renewed hope, yet they seem to exist only on paper,” Ningi said, calling for detailed disclosure of project locations and status.

The senator also criticized the ministry’s financial management, particularly the unresolved N92 billion debt owed to 6,455 contractors.

Sen. Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West) decried the plight of contractors, many of whom borrowed funds to execute government projects under the Renewed Hope initiative.

“These contractors have been abandoned, their livelihoods destroyed, while the housing deficit remains unaddressed,” Ngwu said, urging for a special intervention fund to settle the debts.

Sen. Ningi further raised concerns about the N22.6 billion unaccounted for from the 2023 supplementary budget. “How can we move forward when past allocations remain shrouded in mystery?” he asked, demanding comprehensive reports on budget utilization.

Trouble started when Sen. Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South) defended the ministry, emphasizing that housing projects require time and careful planning.

“You don’t acquire land, do surveys, and build houses overnight,” Ibrahim argued, calling for patience and faith in the Renewed Hope Housing Program.

His defense, however, provoked an uproar, with lawmakers accusing him of shielding the ministry from accountability

His response drew the wrath of other lawmakers who chided Ibrahim for rising in defense of the minister, saying it was not in his place to do so.

As tension grew among the lawmakers and the committee chairman, Senator Aminu Tambuwal immediately called Jimoh Ibrahim to calm down but he angrily replied “Chairman don’t call my name and Tambuwal also replied to him “I will call your name.”

After a quick intervention by the chairman of the committee, the situation later returned to normalcy as both Ningi and Ibrahim exchanged banters before the committee decided to suspend the sitting till Tuesday next to allow the minister to be better prepared for the budget defense.

Consequently, the National Assembly rejected the 2025 budget proposals of the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development and directed the minister to come back on Tuesday and represent himself before the federal lawmakers.

The Lawmakers faulted the shoddy budget presentation by the ministry and frowned at so many loopholes in the documents presented saying it showed lack of preparedness on the part of the ministry.

Chairman of the joint committee for the budget defense, Senator Aminu Tambuwal specifically asked the minister to make a clare difference between the Renew Hope Housing Project and the National Housing Development project which he said remained ambiguous to the lawmakers.

The Minister of State for Housing, RT. Hon. Yusuf Abdulahi, who represented the Minister of Housing presented the ministry’s estimate for the 2025 fiscal year before the Committee confessed that he did not know the difference between the 2024 and 2025 because he only resumed work a few weeks ago.

The minister subsequently referred the question of the senators to the Director of Works in the ministry.

Senator Abdul Ningi, while responding to the estimate presented by the Ministry, raised objections, accusing the Minister of not defending it’s budget before the Senate.