By George Mgbeleke

President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Monday said the National Assembly will not tolerate unlawful insertions in the national budget, declaring that the budget is not for sharing but for the development of Nigeria.

Akpabio stated this while delivering a goodwill message at the 2026 Capacity-Building Workshop of the Senate Press Corps (SPC) held at Hearing Room 231, National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

The workshop theme is: *“Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions.”*

The Senate President, who was represented at the workshop, said the theme was timely given the public controversy over the alleged N1.3 billion allocation to the non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 budget.

He noted that the Senate had already clarified through its spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, that the allocation was not part of the N9.853 trillion added by the National Assembly to the N58.47 trillion Executive proposal that produced the N68.32 trillion 2026 budget.

Akpabio said the Executive was right to challenge the matter in court and the National Assembly would support all efforts to prevent external and unlawful insertions.

According to him, *“The budget is not for sharing. It is a law for the welfare and security of Nigerians. Every Naira must be accounted for.”*

He charged chairmen of Appropriations, Finance and other standing committees to strengthen oversight of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), insisting that late submission of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and poor budget performance assessment must stop.

The Senate President also commended the Senate Press Corps under Chief Taiye Odewale (Baba T) for organizing the workshop, and urged journalists to move beyond headline figures to investigative, data-driven reporting.

“The Senate is not merely a theatre of debate; it is a workshop of solutions. We need the media as partners to track budget from allocation to impact,” Akpabio said.

He reaffirmed that under his leadership, the 10th Senate will promote transparency, credible elections, and accountable use of public resources.

The workshop featured papers by Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Rafsanjani (represented by Ebu Emmanuel), BudgIT Director, Oluseun Onigbinde (represented by Vahyala Kwaga), Publisher of Eagle Times, Ikechukwu Chukwunyere, and AI training by Ms. Adeola Ademokaya of Mass Media LLC, Texas.

By Our correspondent

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, on Monday called for stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and the media to safeguard the integrity of Nigeria’s national budget from unlawful insertions.

Bagudu made the call while presenting a paper at the 2026 Capacity-Building Workshop of the Senate Press Corps (SPC) held at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

The workshop, with the theme: *“Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions,”* was organized by the SPC under its Chairman, Taiye Odewale.

According to Bagudu, national planning is not optional but a constitutional obligation, and every insertion that is outside approved development priorities undermines sustainable growth.

He said the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has introduced difficult but necessary reforms, and the budget must reflect those priorities transparently.

“The total 2026 budget rose to N68.32 trillion after necessary adjustments. We must ensure that what is finally appropriated reflects approved priorities and serves the broader interests of Nigerians,” the Minister was quoted as saying.

Bagudu reaffirmed the commitment of the Executive to work with the Legislature to close gaps between development plans and annual budgets, noting that weak alignment continues to undermine service delivery.

He stressed that legislative oversight and responsible journalism remain critical instruments to detect and expose questionable budgetary practices, including the alleged external insertion of the Presidential Fiscal and Infrastructure Project Cost (PFIPC) which is already being challenged in court by the Executive.

Earlier, SPC Chairman Taiye Odewale said the theme was chosen against the backdrop of public concern over budget padding and the need to strengthen oversight, responsible journalism and public accountability.

The workshop also included intensive training on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools facilitated by London-based instructors from Mass Media TX Limited to equip Senate Press Corps members with emerging technologies for data analysis and investigative reporting. ba882a29

By George Mgbeleke

The controversial allocation of N1.3 billion to a non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 budget dominated discussions on Monday at the Senate Press Corps (SPC) Capacity-Building Workshop in Abuja, as stakeholders called for stronger legislative oversight and media collaboration to safeguard the national budget.

The workshop, held at Hearing Room 231, National Assembly Complex, with the theme *“Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions,”* brought together the Executive, civil society, budget experts and journalists.

In his welcome address, Chairman of the Senate Press Corps, Chief Taiye Odewale alias Baba T., said the alleged N1.3bn allocation to the non-existent PFIPC exposed the urgent need for stronger checks against unlawful insertions.

Odewale said SPC findings showed that the allocation was not part of the N9.853 trillion added by the National Assembly to the N58.47 trillion Executive proposal that produced the N68.32 trillion 2026 budget.

He said the controversy prompted the workshop to strengthen collaboration between legislative oversight and the media in detecting questionable budget entries and to equip journalists with better knowledge of budget scrutiny and AI tools for professional reporting.

The first paper titled: *“Critical Scrutiny of Budget Line Items: Preventing Garbage In, Garbage Out and Strengthening the Roles of Legislators and the Media”* was presented by Mr. Ebu Emmanuel who represented the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani.

Key takeaways from his paper include that budget provisions must be justified, transparent, properly costed and measurable, warning that vague, duplicated or inflated items fuel waste.

He cited ICPC findings which claimed that about 4,508 inserted/padded projects worth N434.5bn and 66 duplicated projects worth N6.43bn were included in the 2022 budget.

He urged lawmakers to scrutinise provisions before appropriation, verify their purpose, MDA, location, beneficiaries, cost and expected results, and maintain a clear audit trail from proposal to final budget.

CISLAC urged the media to scrutinise budget changes, verify projects and track implementation, while institutions collaborate to strengthen transparency.

He suggested that the media should ask key questions: “What changed, why, who justified it, what will it cost, where will it be implemented, who benefits and how will delivery be verified?”

He recommended that accountability should cover proposal, justification, verification, approval, disclosure, implementation, monitoring, audit and accountability.

The second paper titled: *“From Insertion to Interrogation, the National Assembly’s Role in Evaluating the Executive’s Budget Proposal: A Guide and Roadmap for Evidence-Based, Citizen-Centred and Technology-Enabled Budget Scrutiny”* was delivered by the Director of BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde, represented by the Country Director of BudgIT Foundation, Vahyala Kwaga.

Onigbinde argued that budget scrutiny by the National Assembly is too often focused on appropriations rather than on public policy performance, which should be a critical component of the legislative budget process.

He identified persistent challenges affecting Nigeria’s budgeting process from the perspectives of different arms of government.

On the part of the Executive, he identified late submission of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF-FSP) to the National Assembly as a recurring challenge, which often results in expenditure projections exceeding credible available resources.

On the role of the National Assembly, he noted that limited engagement with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) contributes to weakened legislative oversight of budget implementation and performance.

BudgIT therefore recommended early submission of the budget proposal to the National Assembly at least 90 days before the end of the financial year, to allow sufficient time for review.

It also recommended that the National Assembly assess the performance of an agency’s previous budget before approving a new allocation, and called for stakeholder participation in the budget proposal and review process.

The MD/Publisher of The Eagle Times Newspaper, Mr. Ikechukwu Chukwunyere, represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Tabuko Kennedy, in his presentation titled: *“Making the Eagle Eye of the Media Sharper at Yearly Budget Scrutinies,”* identified weak budget scrutiny by the media, including overreliance on headline figures and official statements, poor understanding of budget data, limited follow-up, failure to compare allocations across years, detect duplication, verify projects on the ground and track spending from allocation to impact.

In his recommendations, he urged journalists to follow the money by comparing budgets, releases, expenditure, outputs and impact; scrutinise projects through data and field verification; check previous budgets, audit reports and procurement records; investigate red flags and distinguish verified facts from official claims.

He also proposed a Senate Press Corps Budget Accountability Reporting Desk, a joint budget scrutiny report within 72 hours of budget presentation, a public database of major projects and tracking at least 10 projects from budget document to project site.

Ms. Adeola Ademokaya, Nigeria Representative of Mass Media LLC Texas, who was Consultant and Moderator, in her presentation focused on how Artificial Intelligence can strengthen legislative budget oversight and parliamentary journalism.

She stressed that the national budget is a public trust, covering critical areas such as roads, schools, healthcare, security, jobs and infrastructure.

She said AI can help journalists analyse lengthy budget documents, compare different versions, identify vague project descriptions, unusual figures and possible duplication, and generate relevant questions for budget defence sessions. It can also simplify complex budget issues for radio, television, newspapers and social media.

However, she emphasised that AI is an assistant, not the final authority. Journalists must verify information with official documents, seek responses and exercise editorial judgment before publication.

The core message was simple: Read, question, verify, seek clarification and report responsibly. AI can make journalists faster and more effective, but human judgment remains central to credible journalism.

The workshop drew participation from lawmakers, budget experts, civil society advocates and members of the Senate Press Corps.