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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
A coalition of civil society organisations has unleashed scathing criticism against President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly, accusing them of “fiscal rascality” through unconstitutional breaches in the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts. The group, in a hard-hitting joint statement titled “Stop This Fiscal Rascality in Nigeria,” warn that these actions represent a blatant desecration of the rule of law, opacity in budgeting, and a dangerous precedent for managing public funds.
The organisations – Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLSI), BudgIT, and PRIMORG – expressed profound alarm over the lack of transparency and public participation in the federal budgeting process. They revealed that, 18 days after the President presented the 2026 federal executive budget, neither the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) nor the National Assembly has uploaded the document to their official websites. Compounding this, the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts (Repeal and Re-enactment) bills, already approved by the National Assembly, remain inaccessible to Nigerians on any electronic portal, with zero opportunity for citizen input during their consideration.
These lapses, they argue, strike at the heart of constitutional fiscal safeguards enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act. “We are also concerned about the opacity, lack of transparency and popular participation in the federal budgeting process,” the statement declares, emphasising that such practices erode public trust and accountability.
Delving into specifics, the coalition recalled Section 81 of the Constitution, which mandates the President to submit expenditure proposals to the National Assembly for prior approval before any public spending occurs – a requirement reinforced by Sections 80(2), (3), and (4). This framework, the coalition saie underpins the annual executive budget submission and any in-year amendments.
However, the executive and legislature have flouted it by endorsing expenditures after the fact, the groups charged.
A prime example is the 2024 Appropriation Act, which should have lapsed on December 31, 2024. Instead, the National Assembly extended its lifespan first to June 2025 and later to December 2025. Even during this extension, implementation fell short of its original terms. Now, with the extended period expired, President Tinubu has pushed through a repeal and re-enactment that balloons the budget from ₦35.05 trillion to ₦43.56 trillion – an extra ₦8.51 trillion spent without prior legislative nod.
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“This is a legal and constitutional impossibility and can only be possible in a country where the rule of law is continuously desecrated,” the statement thundered. “The President only sought endorsement after expenditure and the supine rubber stamp NASS gave its approval.”
The coalition also dissected irregularities in the 2025 budget, noting that mid-year reviews typically occur in June to inform amendments, not arbitrary December overhauls as the budget’s life ends. They dismissed the National Assembly’s justification – that the repeal aligned Nigeria’s process with global best practices, boosted transparency, and eased multiple-budget challenges – as untenable. “This position of NASS cannot be supported by Nigerian fiscal laws and policies or any international best practice. Rather it is a mismanagement and gross abuse of due process and our fiscal laws,” they stated.
Transparency breaches extend to Section 48(1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which requires the federal government to conduct fiscal affairs openly, with full, timely disclosure and wide publication of all revenue, expenditure decisions, and their financial implications.
The coalition highlighted the BOF’s failure to release even basic budget documents or simplified “citizens’ budgets,” as done in the past, leaving Nigerians unable to scrutinise or engage with fiscal proposals.
In a series of robust demands, the CSOs insisted that the National Assembly enforce “no expenditure without appropriation,” stressing that unbudgeted spending outside constitutional bounds constitutes an impeachable offence. They sought an unconditional presidential pledge to adhere strictly to appropriated spending limits. Additionally, they called for the immediate online publication by BOF and National Assembly of the 2026 federal budget estimates, the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) bills, and the corresponding acts. Finally, they demanded a firm commitment to fiscal transparency under Section 48 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, including genuine popular participation in all fiscal laws and policies.
