The Budget Office of the Federation has told the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) that none of the N1.3 billion appropriated for the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act was released or spent.

Appearing before the committee on Friday, the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, said public discourse had focused on the budgetary allocation rather than the constitutional and statutory processes required before government funds could be disbursed.

Yakubu explained that an appropriation only grants legal authority for possible expenditure and does not automatically translate into the release of public funds.

According to him, several regulatory approvals must be obtained before any agency can access budgeted allocations.

He clarified that the Budget Office neither established the council nor approved its recruitment, administrative structure or budget code, stressing that its role was limited to assessing the fiscal implications of proposals submitted by the appropriate government institutions.

The Budget Office boss disclosed that while the council initially proposed N3.85 billion as personnel costs, the agency rejected the estimate and independently recalculated the requirement at N802.98 million, using the approved staff establishment, recruitment waiver and the applicable public service salary structure.

He noted that the revised figure was subsequently incorporated into the Executive Budget proposal before being approved by the National Assembly.

However, Yakubu said the Budget Office never issued financial clearance for the personnel expenditure because key regulatory requirements were not fulfilled.

He identified one of the outstanding conditions as confirmation by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission that the proposed staffing structure and remuneration complied with existing government policies.

Without the required clearance, he said, no recruitment could legally take place, no staff member could be enrolled on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and no salaries could be paid.

He further explained that the N802.98 million personnel allocation, representing about 61.6 per cent of the total appropriation, was never available to the council as cash.

According to him, personnel allocations are paid directly on a monthly basis into the bank accounts of verified federal employees through the government’s payroll system and not transferred as lump sums to ministries, departments or agencies.

“Not one kobo of the personnel provision could lawfully have been drawn. Not one kobo was drawn,” Yakubu told the lawmakers.

On the council’s N200 million overhead allocation, the Director-General said the amount never became eligible for release.

He explained that following concerns over the legal status of the council in June 2026, the Budget Office formally requested the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to suspend all payment processes relating to the council.

Yakubu also disclosed that the N300 million capital allocation remained untouched because none of the mandatory procurement procedures—including approvals by the Ministerial Tenders Board and, where necessary, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP)—had been completed before the expenditure process was halted.

He maintained that Nigeria’s public financial management controls functioned effectively by preventing any unlawful disbursement of funds.

According to him, the personnel allocation was stopped at the financial clearance stage, the overhead allocation was halted before warranting and cash backing, while the capital allocation did not progress beyond the procurement approval stage.

“The controls did not discover a loss after the event. They prevented the event,” Yakubu said, adding that there were no public funds to recover because no money was ever released.

The House Ad-hoc Committee is investigating issues surrounding the establishment, funding and operations of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.

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President Bola Tinubu has transmitted a Constitution Alteration Bill to the Senate seeking the establishment of state police, marking a significant step toward restructuring Nigeria’s security architecture.

The proposed legislation aims to amend relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution to create a legal framework for state-controlled policing across the federation.

The move follows repeated calls by the President for constitutional reforms that would allow states to play a greater role in securing their territories amid rising security challenges.

Earlier in February, Tinubu urged the National Assembly to consider constitutional amendments to enable state police, describing the reform as necessary to address terrorism, banditry and other violent crimes across the country.

During his Democracy Day address, the President reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to defeating insecurity, declaring that terrorists, bandits and their sponsors would face the full weight of the law.

He also stated that more than 13,000 terrorists had been neutralised within the last year, while noting a decline in terrorism-related deaths compared to previous years.

However, he acknowledged that the continued captivity of schoolchildren abducted in parts of Oyo and Borno States remains a painful reminder of Nigeria’s ongoing security challenges.

The state police proposal has gained momentum in recent months, with both chambers of the National Assembly advancing constitutional amendment processes aimed at decentralising policing powers.

The Senate is expected to reconvene for an emergency plenary session as lawmakers move to deliberate on the bill, which is regarded as one of the most far-reaching security reform proposals in the country’s democratic history.

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The Presidency has disclosed that Nigeria is moving closer to establishing state police, with a constitutional amendment required for the new policing structure expected to be introduced soon.

Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, made the disclosure after a high-level consultative meeting on state police held at the State House in Abuja.

According to Gbajabiamila, discussions on the proposed state policing framework began several months ago on the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and have made significant progress.

He explained that establishing state police involves complex constitutional and legal processes that require extensive consultations among stakeholders, including the Executive, the National Assembly, and security agencies.

“We started deliberations in the last three or four months on how to go about the establishment of state police as directed by Mr President. Establishing state police is not something that you do with the snap of the fingers. There is a lot involved in terms of constitution and legalities, and thank God we have now gained a lot of traction,” he said.

Constitutional Amendment Under Consideration

Gbajabiamila stated that attention is now focused on drafting the constitutional amendment that will provide the legal basis for state police, while enabling legislation will follow afterward.

“Right now, what we are looking at is the constitutional amendment itself, and then the enabling law would follow thereafter,” he added.

The Chief of Staff noted that there is growing national consensus on the need for state police, stressing that the debate has shifted from whether Nigeria should adopt the system to how it should be implemented effectively.

Tinubu to Receive Report

Gbajabiamila said President Tinubu would be presented with a detailed report of the consultations and recommendations arising from the meeting.

The proposed reform is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture by improving grassroots intelligence gathering, enhancing rapid response capabilities, and empowering state governments to address local security challenges more effectively.

President Tinubu has consistently advocated for decentralised policing, arguing that state police would provide a more effective response to the country’s evolving security threats while improving protection of lives and property.

Key Stakeholders Attend Meeting

Among those present at the meeting were Deputy President of the Senate Barau Jibrin, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, and Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, alongside other senior government and security officials.

If approved, the state police initiative would represent one of the most significant security reforms in Nigeria’s democratic history, potentially reshaping law enforcement and internal security management across the country.

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Health workers under the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations are currently staging a protest at the Unity Fountain in Abuja over a proposed health sector reform bill before the National Assembly.

The demonstrators voiced strong opposition to the legislation, warning that it could significantly restructure the regulatory framework of Nigeria’s health sector.

Concerns over centralised control

According to the protesters, the bill seeks to place all medical professions under the authority of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

They argue that such a move would undermine existing professional councils and disrupt the balance within the healthcare system.

Health workers insist that each profession already operates under its own regulatory body and caution that the proposed reform could weaken institutional independence.

Fear of professional imbalance

The unions further warned that the legislation could relegate non-physician healthcare workers to a subordinate status.

Some protesters described the proposal as an attempt to make other health professionals “second-class” compared to medical doctors.

They stressed that the bill, if passed, could create structural inequality and affect collaboration across the sector.

Planned escalation to National Assembly

The protesters said they plan to proceed to the National Assembly Complex to formally present their grievances and demand a reconsideration of the bill.

The protest follows earlier announcements by the unions to mobilise healthcare professionals nationwide against the proposed Health Sector Executive Bills 2026.

Participants from across the country are expected to join the demonstration, which began at Unity Fountain in Maitama.

What happens next

Stakeholders say the outcome of the protest could shape ongoing legislative deliberations, as lawmakers face mounting pressure to review the bill.

The development highlights growing tensions within Nigeria’s health sector over regulatory control and professional autonomy.

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The House of Representatives Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee has confirmed that several of Nigeria’s recently passed tax laws were illegally altered before publication, raising concerns about executive interference in legislative affairs.

The committee’s interim report, released Friday, focused particularly on the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, identifying discrepancies between the versions passed by the National Assembly and those gazetted by the government.

The controversy began after Rep. Abdulsamad Dasuki highlighted the circulation of altered tax laws that differed from those approved by lawmakers. In response, the Minority Caucus, led by Kingsley Chinda, set up a seven-member fact-finding team chaired by Victor Ogene.

According to the report, key sections of the tax laws were modified in ways that expanded executive powers, changed taxpayer thresholds, and introduced additional enforcement measures not passed by the legislature. For instance, the gazetted Act reduced the individual reporting threshold from N50 million to N25 million and introduced mandatory deposits for disputed tax appeals—changes absent in the authentic versions.

The committee also flagged alterations in the Nigerian Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, noting that oversight provisions for the National Assembly were removed in the gazetted version, undermining parliamentary accountability.

The findings prompted the committee to request an extension to conduct a deeper investigation into these irregularities, emphasizing that the anomalies “undermine constitutional powers and the independence of the legislature.”

The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, had earlier instructed the public release of all four tax reform Acts for verification:

• Nigeria Tax Act, 2025
• Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025
• National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025
• Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025

The revelations have reignited debates over the checks and balances between Nigeria’s legislative and executive branches, with calls for urgent corrective measures to safeguard the integrity of national lawmaking.

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The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has petitioned the National Assembly over a bill currently before the Senate seeking to establish the Chartered Institute of Planning of Nigeria, cautioning that the proposed legislation could create legal conflicts and institutional confusion within the planning profession.

The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has raised concerns over a bill that has passed second reading in the Senate, proposing the establishment of the Chartered Institute of Planning of Nigeria, warning that its provisions conflict with existing laws governing planning practice in the country.

In a petition submitted to the National Assembly, the institute argued that the proposed body is empowered to develop and raise planning standards across all sectors of national life, enhance plan implementation, and maintain a register of fellows, associates, chartered planners and honorary planners.

According to the petition, the bill also seeks to empower the proposed institute to set standards of knowledge, skills and competence for membership, license and register practitioners across various faculties, and establish training institutions for education and professional development.

Other outlined functions include promoting a planning culture at individual, institutional, national and international levels; creating public awareness on the relevance of planning in modern society; encouraging research to improve planning techniques; and facilitating effective resource management to achieve optimal development outcomes.

Confirming the development, NITP President, Dr Ogbonna Chime, said the name, objectives and provisions of the bill are largely in conflict with the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, a professional body that has existed for decades.

He faulted the sponsor of the bill for what he described as insufficient research, particularly regarding the duplication of mandates already assigned to existing institutions.

Chime noted that about 95 per cent of the objectives contained in the proposed legislation are already covered by existing laws, including the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law of 1992, now Cap 138 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria Law of 1988.

While acknowledging that the sponsor of the bill may have acted with good intentions, he warned that its passage could result in institutional overlap, regulatory conflicts and confusion within the planning profession.

He recalled a similar attempt in 2015, when an organisation registered as the Institute of Planning of Nigeria sponsored a bill that also passed second reading in the Senate before public scrutiny exposed its implications.

According to Chime, the organisation was later deregistered by the Corporate Affairs Commission following investigations. He stressed that globally, planning remains synonymous with town planning, citing Ghana’s Institute of Planning and similar professional structures in other countries.

He argued that transparency, accountability and effective resource management would be better achieved through enforcement of existing laws rather than the proliferation of professional institutions.

NITP, RTPI Partner on Urban Planning Challenges

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners and the United Kingdom’s Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) have agreed to strengthen cooperation aimed at addressing urban planning challenges facing cities.

The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by RTPI President, Helen Fadipe, and NITP President, Dr Chime, is designed to promote knowledge exchange, professional development and the sharing of global best practices.

Under the agreement, both institutions will encourage mutual visits, joint participation in programmes, co-branding of selected NITP events in Nigeria as RTPI Core Continuing Professional Development activities, and information sharing on professional membership pathways and CPD frameworks.

The MoU also covers collaboration on addressing planning challenges confronting towns and cities, raising awareness of professional development routes, and strengthening continuous learning structures within both organisations.

Both bodies have a history of collaboration through the Commonwealth Association of Planners, and the agreement builds on that longstanding relationship.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Fadipe highlighted the importance of international collaboration in driving sustainable global development, while Chime said the partnership would expose young planners to global standards, professional excellence and shared knowledge.

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A Professor of Law, Auwalu H. Yadudu, has expressed serious concern over alleged discrepancies between tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions later gazetted by the Federal Government, warning that the situation amounts to a possible usurpation of legislative powers.

In a detailed commentary released on Thursday, Yadudu said his review of documents highlighting differences between Acts passed by lawmakers and their gazetted counterparts led him to the conclusion that elements within the Executive arm may have unilaterally altered the laws to advance a tax reform agenda outside constitutional processes.

His remarks followed a motion raised on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Abdussamad Dasuki, representing Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency in Sokoto State, who alleged a breach of legislative privilege. Dasuki told lawmakers that provisions of four tax bills debated, harmonised, and passed by both chambers were materially different from what appeared in the official Gazette.

Yadudu said if the allegations are verified, they strike at the foundation of constitutional governance and legislative autonomy. He questioned how laws that underwent public debate, committee scrutiny, and public hearings could later emerge with new provisions inserted or duly passed clauses removed.

Citing specific examples from the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the law professor pointed to changes affecting petroleum income tax and value-added tax provisions, which he said undermined legislative consensus and introduced internal contradictions. He also highlighted a provision in the gazetted version mandating the use of the United States dollar as the sole currency for computing tax obligations, contrary to the version passed by lawmakers, which permits computation in any currency relevant to the transaction.

According to Yadudu, the gazetted law further introduced a requirement compelling taxpayers to pay 20 per cent of a disputed tax assessment before filing an appeal, a provision he said was absent from the law approved by the National Assembly and potentially unconstitutional.

He also criticised provisions granting tax authorities garnishee powers without court orders, warning that such measures weaken procedural fairness and judicial oversight. Yadudu noted that while the law passed by lawmakers requires court authorisation for garnishee actions, the gazetted version exempts certain tax authorities from this requirement.

“These discrepancies are not minor drafting errors,” Yadudu said, adding that they raise fundamental questions about legality, accountability, and respect for the separation of powers. He warned that the credibility of the entire tax reform exercise had been severely undermined, further eroding public trust.

The professor called on both chambers of the National Assembly to conduct a transparent and comprehensive investigation to determine how the changes were introduced and who authorised them. He also questioned the proposed January 1, 2026, commencement date for the tax reforms, warning that enforcing laws under a cloud of alleged illegality could expose the government to extensive litigation and uncertainty.

Proceeding without resolving the controversy, he cautioned, would risk legitimising impunity and further weakening legislative authority.

Earlier, Rep. Dasuki had informed the House that his comparison of the gazetted laws with the Votes and Proceedings and harmonised versions adopted by both chambers revealed inconsistencies he described as a clear breach of legislative privilege.

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Lawmakers in Benin Republic have approved a constitutional amendment extending the presidential term to seven years, renewable only once, ahead of the 2026 general elections.

The amendment passed in an overwhelming 90-19 vote, according to a statement from the national assembly.

Under the revised Article 42, the President of the Republic will now be elected by direct universal suffrage for a single seven-year term, renewable once.

The change also applies to mayors and municipal councillors.

The move comes as President Patrice Talon, who has been in office since 2016, approaches the end of his second term. Talon has publicly stated that he will not seek a third term.

Despite Benin Republic’s relative political stability in the West African region, authorities previously foiled a suspected coup attempt in September 2025.

Prosecutors reported that Oswald Homeky, a former sports minister, allegedly handed over 1.5 billion CFA francs (about $2.5 million) to Djimon Tevoedjre, head of the republican guard.

Businessman Olivier Boko, a friend of Talon and prospective 2026 presidential candidate, was also implicated and arrested in Cotonou.

The amendment is seen as a significant step in political reforms ahead of next year’s elections, establishing clear term limits while maintaining stability in the country’s democratic framework.

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The Senate has revealed that about $303 billion in proceeds from stolen crude oil transactions both local and international remain unaccounted for.

This disclosure came on Wednesday as the upper chamber received an interim report from its Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft and Related Sabotage in the Niger Delta, chaired by Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North).

According to the report, forensic investigations conducted by independent consultants uncovered missing funds of $22 billion, $81 billion, and $200 billion across different periods.

The committee recommended that the Federal Government enforce internationally recognized crude oil measurement standards at all production and export terminals. It also urged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to deploy modern measuring technologies or transfer the task to the Weights and Measures Department under the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment.

To curb theft, the report further proposed the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and an integrity pipeline monitoring system, as well as the establishment of a Maritime Trust Fund to enhance maritime infrastructure, safety, and security.

The committee also called for the creation of a special court to expedite the prosecution of crude oil thieves and their collaborators. It advised immediate implementation of the Host Communities Development Trust Fund under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to reduce sabotage and hand over abandoned wells to modular refineries for local production.

During deliberations, several lawmakers expressed mixed reactions to the report.

Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) cautioned that while the committee could trace losses, it lacked constitutional power to recover stolen funds.

Senator Olamilekan Adeola (Ogun West) urged the consultants to name the companies and individuals involved.

Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin (Kano North) clarified that the National Assembly could only recommend recovery to the executive arm.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended the committee’s efforts, directing it to continue investigations and present a comprehensive final report before any recommendations are adopted.

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The National Assembly has restated its commitment to enacting business-friendly laws and tax incentives to draw foreign investment into Nigeria’s economy.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Oluwole Oke, made the pledge on Wednesday while addressing parliamentarians at the Global South Legislators’ Summit in Urumqi, China.

Oke, who represents Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun State, said the legislature had been backing President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms. “Our parliament has been supportive of reforms that ease business operations,” he said.

He noted that Nigeria’s population offers “a vast market and opportunities across multiple sectors” and urged for deeper collaboration among Global South nations based on “mutual respect, equal partnership, and shared benefits.”

Oke reminded delegates that Nigeria had signed agreements promoting regional integration, including visa-free access for Chinese diplomats. He called on the summit to “look at the global south, not only as a political alliance but as a platform to deepen economic ties, transfer technology, promote climate-friendly policies, and ensure prosperity for our people.”

He also used the forum to solicit support for Nigeria’s bid for a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat and invited Chinese investors to explore opportunities in aviation, energy, and agriculture.

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