Senate decries poor releases as Women Affairs Ministry seeks upward review of N134.2bn 2026 budget

From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Ireti Kingibe, has decried the abysmal fund releases by the Ministry of Finance, saying it should be addressed by the executive.

She said this while speaking when the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, defended her ministry’s budget on Monday at the National Assembly.

Responding to a request by the minister for an upward review of her budget, she stated, “We are not against upward review of what is earmarked for your ministry in 2026, but the problem of abysmal releases of funds as reflected in the presentations just made by you on the 2025 budget appropriation and releases for your ministry is a serious concern to us. That problem must be addressed first.”

Sulaiman-Ibrahim had earlier informed the committee that the ministry’s proposed ₦134.2bn budget for the 2026 fiscal year was insufficient.
She said increased funding would enable the ministry to effectively implement programmes targeted at addressing the multifaceted challenges confronting women in the country.

“In line with the plan and the need for more domestic allocations in the 2026 fiscal year, upward review of budget estimates for the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development should be done,” she said.
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In her presentation on the performance of the 2025 budget, she disclosed that out of the ₦89.8ll billion appropriated for capital expenditure, only ₦394 million was released in December, which was not even utilised.

She added that overhead funding also suffered a similar setback, as only ₦471 million was released out of the ₦2.8 billion appropriated for the year.

“The same thing happened in the release made on funds appropriated for our overhead in 2025, as only ₦471 million was released out of ₦2.8 billion appropriated,” she said.

For the 2026 fiscal year, she said a total of ₦134.2 billion n was earmarked for the ministry, comprising ₦2.1 billion for personnel costs, ₦131.2 billion for capital expenditure, and ₦810.9 million for overhead costs.