President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday transmitted the 2026 statutory budget of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to the Senate for consideration and approval.
Alongside the budget submission, the President requested the Senate to screen and confirm Mr. Taiwo Oyedele as Minister of State for Finance, replacing Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite. He also urged lawmakers to confirm former Rivers South-East senator Magnus Abe as chairman of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The letters conveying the budget proposal and nominations were read on the Senate floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary.
Lawmakers resumed from a three-week recess, which allowed committees to conduct budget defence sessions. Under Nigeria’s constitutional framework, the National Assembly exercises legislative authority over the Federal Capital Territory, making approval of the FCT budget a key responsibility of the federal legislature.
In the letter, President Tinubu highlighted that the FCT budget would prioritise health care services, job creation, youth empowerment, social welfare, education infrastructure, and agricultural productivity. He emphasized that the spending plan is designed to stimulate socio-economic development in the capital territory and improve residents’ welfare.
Before his nomination as Minister of State for Finance, Oyedele, from Ikaram in Akoko, Ondo State, served as chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms. The 50-year-old economist and accountant spent over two decades at PwC, where he rose to become Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.
The Senate will also consider the confirmation of Paul Yaro Jezhi, a former Trade Union Congress chairman, and Sunday Adebayo Babalola, a former deputy director at the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources, as non-executive commissioners of the NUPRC.
The letters were referred to the relevant Senate committees for further legislative action before final approval.
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