The National Assembly is set to resume plenary today, with lawmakers focusing primarily on the examination of President Bola Tinubu’s N58.47 trillion 2026 budget proposal and key amendments to Nigeria’s electoral framework.

Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, said both the Senate and the House of Representatives would also fast-track the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution, promising that the final document would be ready for transmission to state assemblies before the end of the first quarter of 2026.

Speaking in Abuja on Monday, Bamidele revealed that committees across both chambers had already begun scrutinising the revenue and spending components of the 2026 budget submitted by the president to a joint sitting of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025.

According to him, “Now that we have resumed plenary, we will devote quality time to the scrutiny and passage of the 2026 Appropriation Bill valued at N58.47 trillion. In both chambers, our committees are already looking deeply into the estimates of revenues and expenditures that President Bola Tinubu laid before the joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025.
“The proposal is crucial to the growth, prosperity, and stability of our economy this year and even beyond, given its emphasis on consolidating the gains of the previous years.”

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Bamidele noted that once passed, the budget would strengthen macroeconomic stability, improve Nigeria’s competitiveness, and convert economic growth into tangible benefits for citizens, while also restoring the January-to-December fiscal calendar.

“The budget, when it finally becomes effective, will further reinforce our collective resolve to guarantee our nation’s macroeconomic stability, deepen her global competitiveness and translate economic growth to decent jobs, rising incomes and a better quality of life across the federation.

“This will help us restore and maintain a budget cycle that annually starts from January and ends in December. Achieving these ends might be tough, perhaps unattainable, given the bottlenecks we have experienced before now,” he said.

He attributed improved prospects for funding the 2026 budget to recent fiscal reforms, particularly the 2025 Tax Reform Act, which he said had adjusted the nation’s fiscal structure to ease pressure on low-income earners while placing greater obligations on wealthier citizens.

“Unlike previous years, we have significantly reformed our fiscal space to reflect our socio-economic realities. From the reforms of our fiscal space, we believe funding our budget will no longer be a challenge, and our budget deficit will definitely begin to shrink year by year,” Bamidele stated.

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Beyond the budget, the Senate Leader said electoral reforms remained a top priority ahead of the 2027 general elections. He explained that lawmakers were working to amend the Electoral Act to ensure credible, transparent, and secure polls.

He disclosed that the proposed Electoral Bill, 2025, featured more than 20 major changes, including voting rights for inmates, early release of election funds to INEC, electronically generated voter identification, real-time transmission of results, uniform delegates for indirect primaries, stricter voter registration rules, and tougher penalties for electoral offences.

“Apart from the 2025 Appropriation Bill, we are prioritising the delivery of an electoral governance framework that will guarantee a credible and transparent process in the 2027 general elections. We have started the review of the Electoral Act, 2022, clause by clause, to achieve this end.

“The Bill introduces a system of consequences to our nation’s electoral regime. This provision forecloses the possibility of impunity when electoral offences are established,” he said.

On the constitutional review, Bamidele said technical consultations and public hearings had been completed, and that the final report would soon be presented to the Senate.

“The review of the 1999 Constitution is also at its peak. Before the first quarter elapses, the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Barau Jibrin, will lay the report of the exercise before the Senate,” he assured.

He added that any amendments would still require approval from at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly, stressing the importance of state legislatures in the process.

Reflecting on the tenure of the 10th National Assembly, Bamidele observed that only 16 months remained of its four-year term, and pledged that lawmakers would intensify efforts on reforms related to governance, elections, and economic development.

“At this highly critical time, when what happens in other parts of the world now dictates the direction of our economy and polity, the onus rests much more upon us than at any time in history to reinforce our constituents’ trust in their representatives, in the National Assembly and in their fatherland,” he said.