A heated session erupted in the House of Representatives after Speaker Abbas Tajudeen blocked an attempt to immediately summon President Bola Tinubu over delays in budget implementation, as lawmakers continued to grapple with the controversy surrounding a ₦1.3 billion allocation to a reportedly non-existent government body.
The rowdy plenary followed a motion seeking to invite the President to explain concerns over delayed funding for constituency projects and the pace of implementation of the national budget. The Speaker ruled the request out of order, insisting it did not form part of the substantive motion before the House, a decision that triggered loud protests and sharp exchanges among lawmakers before calm was eventually restored.
The political tension comes amid growing public scrutiny over the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), an entity the Presidency has said does not exist but which was allocated ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The House has since launched an investigation into how the agency made its way into the budget, describing the development as a serious threat to the integrity of Nigeria’s appropriation process. Lawmakers have resolved to invite the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the Director-General of the Budget Office and other relevant officials to explain how the allocation was approved.
Meanwhile, the Senate has taken a different approach, declining to open its own probe for now after noting that President Tinubu had already directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the PFIPC controversy. Senators said they would await the outcome of the anti-graft agency’s findings before deciding on further legislative action.
The twin controversies have intensified public debate over transparency, accountability and oversight in Nigeria’s budget process, with opposition figures and civil society groups calling for a thorough investigation into how public funds were appropriated for an entity the Presidency itself has disowned.
