The Senate’s Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, has raised concerns over the Federal Government’s poor budget implementation despite improved revenue generation, warning that failure to execute an Appropriation Act amounts to a breach of the law and could constitute “an impeachable offence.”
Monguno spoke during a Senate engagement with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and other top economic officials, where lawmakers scrutinised the implementation of recent budgets and the country’s fiscal performance.
The senator questioned why government spending had remained sluggish despite reports from revenue-generating agencies indicating that most had surpassed their revenue targets.
“I am not an economist, but in my 100-level at the university, I took Economics 101 as an elective course. Budget implementation is fundamentally a function of revenue,” Monguno said.
“From the figures presented to us and the briefings we have received from revenue-generating agencies, almost all of them have exceeded their revenue targets. If revenue performance has improved so significantly, it appears inherently contradictory that government is still struggling to implement the budget. Where is the revenue going?”
He recalled that the 2025 budget was not fully implemented, with about 70 per cent of its provisions rolled over into the 2026 fiscal year.
According to him, the executive had assured lawmakers that the outstanding 30 per cent would be executed before March, but failed to meet the deadline, forcing the National Assembly to extend the lifespan of the 2025 Appropriation Act until September to enable completion of ongoing capital projects.
“Meanwhile, implementation of the 2026 budget has hardly begun,” he said.
“If revenues are exceeding projections, why is budget implementation lagging behind? The dividends of democracy are delivered through the implementation of the budget, particularly capital projects. If the budget is not being implemented, then the fundamental purpose of government is undermined.”
Monguno also expressed concern over the funding situation of security agencies, saying they had informed lawmakers that they were yet to receive capital releases despite worsening security challenges across the country.
“Security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of government. Yet, all the security agencies that have appeared before this committee informed us that they have received zero capital releases,” he said.
The senator maintained that failure to implement an Appropriation Act was not merely an administrative lapse but a legal violation.
“Failure to implement an Appropriation Act amounts to a breach of the law, and such a breach is an impeachable offence,” he declared.
He further sought clarification over recent Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements, noting that although about ₦3.7 trillion accrued to the Federation Account in the previous month, only about ₦2 trillion was shared among the federal, state and local governments.
“Approximately ₦1.7 trillion was retained. Why was this amount withheld instead of being distributed?” he asked.
Responding, government officials attributed the slow pace of budget implementation to mounting expenditure obligations, including debt servicing, personnel costs and other statutory commitments, despite improvements in revenue generation.