National Assembly has resumed plenary sessions to consider President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s N58.47 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill and review the 1999 Constitution, which is at the forefront of its legislative agenda.
The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, announced that both the Senate and the House of Representatives will intensify scrutiny of the budget estimates presented by Mr President to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025.
Committees in both chambers have already begun detailed assessments of projected revenues and expenditures contained in the proposed budget.
The leadership of the National Assembly states that the 2026 Appropriation Bill is crucial to economic stability, growth, and the consolidation of fiscal reforms, while also maintaining the January-to-December budget cycle.
Lawmakers project that the budget, when enacted, will strengthen macroeconomic stability, enhance Nigeria’s global competitiveness and translate economic growth into job creation, improved incomes and better living standards nationwide.
The Senate Leader linked the improved funding outlook for the 2026 budget to recent fiscal reforms, particularly the 2025 Tax Reform Act, which recalibrated the nation’s fiscal framework to ease the tax burden on low-income earners while increasing responsibility for high-income earners.
The reforms are also expected to reduce the budget deficit over time.
Beyond fiscal matters, the National Assembly is prioritising amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The proposed Electoral Bill, 2025, introduces wide-ranging reforms aimed at strengthening electoral transparency and credibility.
These include voting rights for inmates, early release of election funds to the Independent National Electoral Commission, electronically generated voter identification, real-time transmission of polling unit results, standardised delegates for indirect primaries, stricter voter registration requirements and tougher sanctions for electoral offences.
A clause-by-clause review of the Electoral Act, 2022, is already underway in both chambers.
On the constitutional amendment, the Senate Leader confirmed that technical sessions and public hearings on the review of the 1999 Constitution have been concluded.
The report of the exercise is expected to be presented to the Senate by the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, before the end of the first quarter of 2026.
The final stage of the constitutional amendment process will require approval by at least two-thirds of the 36 State Houses of Assembly, reinforcing the role of sub-national legislatures in effecting constitutional changes.
Reflecting on the tenure of the 10th National Assembly, the Senate Leader noted that 16 months remain in its four-year term, with lawmakers expected to accelerate reforms in governance, electoral administration and economic diversification amid evolving global economic and political pressures.
