The Chairman of the Senate Press Corps, Taiye Odewale, has called for stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and the media to prevent unlawful insertions and other irregularities in Nigeria’s national budget.
Odewale made the call on Monday at a one-day capacity-building workshop organised by the Senate Press Corps at the National Assembly, Abuja.
The workshop, themed; “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions,” focused on strengthening the capacity of lawmakers and journalists to detect and expose irregularities in the budget process.
Odewale, who welcomed participants on behalf of members of the Senate Press Corps, said the controversy surrounding the alleged inclusion of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), which was subsequently declared non-existent, in the 2026 budget underscored the need for greater scrutiny of the appropriation process.
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He recalled that the controversy emerged in July after reports that the alleged agency had found its way into the N68.32 trillion 2026 budget passed by both chambers of the National Assembly in March and assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on April 17, 2026, with a purported allocation of N1.3 billion.
According to him, journalists covering the Senate investigated the matter and found that the alleged N1.3 billion allocation to PFIPC was not part of the N9.853 trillion increase made to the N58.47 trillion proposal submitted by the Executive.
He said the adjustment eventually brought the total 2026 budget to N68.32 trillion.
Odewale noted that the position of the Senate, as conveyed by its spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, during the controversy further supported the findings of the Senate Press Corps that the alleged PFIPC insertion was external to the budgetary additions made by the National Assembly.
He said the matter was appropriately being challenged by the Executive in court.
The Senate Press Corps chairman, however, stressed the need to prevent a recurrence of what he described as external and unlawful insertions into the annual national budget.
He said the media must leverage its investigative capacity alongside the constitutional oversight functions of the Senate and House of Representatives to detect and expose questionable budgetary practices.
“We believe that the presentations by our eminent and highly respected resource persons will enrich us with the required knowledge and ways of detecting such irregularities,” Odewale said.
Among the resource persons expected at the workshop were the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mallam Auwal Rafsanjani; Director of BudgIT, Mr Oluseun Onigbinde; and Publisher of Eagle Times Newspaper, Mr Ikechukwu Chukwunyere.
Those expected to deliver goodwill messages include the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio; Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kawu Sumaila; and the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana.
The Senate Press Corps chairman also highlighted the importance of technology in modern journalism, saying a technical training on the use of artificial intelligence tools by London-based Adeola Ademokoya of Mass Media TX Limited would enhance the digital skills, efficiency and professionalism of participants.
Odewale expressed optimism that the workshop would equip journalists with knowledge and skills to improve their coverage of the national budget and legislative oversight.
