Reps Call for Proper Scrutiny of the 2027 Budget: The Same Budget That Is Still Being Spent as the 2025 Budget? My Friend, Let Us Begin

The House of Representatives has said it will scrutinise the 2027 budget estimates, and I need you to be calm, because there are tears in this story.

On Tuesday, the House resumed after its annual recess. Speaker Abbas stood up and urged President Tinubu to quickly submit the 2027 budget estimates and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. He said it would give lawmakers time to “properly scrutinise” the spending so the budget can pass on time. On time! In Nigeria, “on time” is a spiritual concept. We believe in it, we pray for it, and we have never seen it.

Now, here is where the comedy starts. The House also extended the 2025 capital budget to the end of December, to protect ongoing projects. My friend, the 2025 budget is now being spent in the last days of 2026. It is like paying for last year’s wedding with this year’s salary and calling it “continuity”. By the time the 2027 budget arrives, the 2025 one will probably be asking for its own pension.

Then the Speaker made a speech that I loved. He told lawmakers: “Legislation and oversight must not be abandoned for the campaign trail.” Beautiful. Very important. He is asking people who just came back from a three-month holiday, in an election season, to remain in their seats. That is like telling a groom to pay attention to the lecture at his own wedding. Half of them already have their campaign flags in their cars and a Hilux waiting at the gate.

He also announced a 100-day legislative programme. A hundred days! We love a number in this country. Anything with “100 days” in it is serious. There will be a scorecard too, and a Legacy Report. A Legacy Report! Imagine it: the House of Representatives scoring the House of Representatives. A student marking his own exam, and giving himself an A with a small note, “Could do better in budget implementation.”

But I must be fair. The Speaker said something very true: “A law must solve a problem.” My friend, I clapped in my sitting room. If every law solved a problem, we would have fewer lawyers and more electricity. Now let the House apply it to the budget too. Every line must solve a problem. Not “purchase of 40 sofas for a committee room that already has 40 sofas”.

Because the real fear is simple, everybody is excited about scrutiny until we see the budget: strange items, mystery allocations, a project that has been running for ten years in the same village. Last time someone spotted a line for something unbelievable, the answer was “it was a typing error”. Typing errors in Nigeria are the most expensive in the world.

So yes, scrutinise away. Bring a magnifying glass and a very strong cup of tea. We are all watching, and, like the budget, we have no idea how it will end.