• Tracka queries N22.15b palace projects, cites accountability gaps
• Deputy Speaker defends church allocation as youth reorientation scheme
• Senate to compel defaulting MDAs over financial records
• Monguno questions budget delays despite improved revenue

The 2026 Appropriation Act has come under fresh scrutiny over billions of naira allocated to royal palaces and places of worship.

The public accountability organisation Tracka questioned the constitutional basis and institutional mandates of the projects.

At the same time, the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives defended a controversial church allocation in Abia State.

Tracka said the Federal Government earmarked N22.15 billion in the 2026 budget for the construction, renovation and furnishing of 106 royal palaces across the country.

In a review of the budget document released yesterday, Tracka said 11 palace projects valued at N5.85 billion had no identified physical locations, making public tracking and oversight difficult.

The organisation also alleged that none of the 45 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) assigned to execute the projects has the statutory mandate to construct royal palaces.

According to Tracka, the projects were domiciled in agencies ranging from research institutes and agricultural colleges to specialised health institutions, rather than agencies directly responsible for such infrastructure.

The review further showed that the Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan, was allocated N2.661 billion for the renovation of community halls and palaces in selected communities in Lagos under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, alongside projects worth N350 million in Ekiti South and N210 million in Ondo South.

The Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO), Abuja, was allocated N1.54 billion under the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation for the modernisation and furnishing of selected national heritage palaces.

Similarly, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Lagos, received projects valued at N3.92 billion, including N1 billion for pavilions and solar power at the Oluyin Palace in Iyin Ekiti, N525 million for a palace hall in Ojo, Lagos, and several other palace-related projects in Kogi, Ekiti and Nasarawa states.

Other allocations identified by Tracka include N750 million to the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria for the completion and furnishing of four palaces in Kogi State, N700 million to the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOURS) for palace and office projects in Plateau State, and N560 million to the National Horticultural Research Institute for projects involving Emirs’ palaces in Niger State.

The review also listed allocations to agencies, including the Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute, Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, National Cereals Research Institute, Industrial Arbitration Panel, and Border Communities Development Agency, among others.

Tracka said the allocations had triggered concerns among public policy experts, coming at a time the 2026 budget carries a fiscal deficit of N31.45 trillion amid persistent economic hardship.

Critics argued that under the Constitution, traditional institutions and community infrastructure fall within the responsibilities of state and local governments rather than the Federal Government.

“At a time of rising debt and limited fiscal space, should the Federal Government fund projects that are largely local in nature, while states and local governments constitutionally exist to address many community-level needs?” Tracka asked in a post on X.

“This is not about the importance of our traditional institutions. It is about ensuring that public budgets reflect constitutional responsibilities, institutional mandates, and Nigeria’s development priorities. The Federal Budget should not become a vehicle for financing projects outside the constitutional and statutory responsibilities of the institutions implementing them,” the organisation added.

Public affairs analysts also questioned the practice of locating palace projects within the budgets of research institutes, agricultural agencies and scientific establishments, arguing that it raises concerns over constituency projects, budget padding and accountability in public spending.

Deputy Speaker defends church allocation in 2026 budget, says funds target youth reorientation
ALSO, the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has defended a controversial provision in the 2026 Appropriation Act that allocated funds for the procurement of musical instruments for churches in Bende Federal Constituency, Abia State.

The defence followed public criticism after reports revealed that N1 billion was earmarked in the budget for the project.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Deputy Speaker’s Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, the office described the reports as a misrepresentation of the purpose of the allocation, insisting that the intervention forms part of a broader youth reorientation and social support programme to be implemented through faith-based organisations.

The controversy comes amid wider scrutiny of the 2026 budget after public accountability organisation Tracka disclosed that the Federal Government earmarked N8.05 billion for the construction, renovation and equipping of places of worship nationwide.

According to the budget breakdown released by the organisation, N1.91 billion was allocated to projects involving seven churches, while N6.14 billion was set aside for 52 mosque projects.

The budget also contained several religious projects embedded in ministries and agencies with no direct responsibility for religious affairs.

One of the projects, coded ERGP20273981, provides N1 billion through the Industrial Arbitration Panel under the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment for the provision and distribution of musical and cultural equipment to churches in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.

However, the Deputy Speaker’s office said the actual value of the intervention was N780 million after Value Added Tax (VAT) and other statutory deductions.

According to the statement, the programme is expected to support more than 130 churches across Bende Federal Constituency, with each church receiving between N5 million and N6 million during the first phase.

“The proposed allocation is actually N780 million after VAT and other tax deductions,” Nwabughiogu said.

“It is earmarked as a Youth Re-orientation and Social Support Programme delivered evangelistically through faith-based organisations in Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State.”

He said the constituency comprises 13 federal wards and more than 200 churches, with the first phase expected to cover about 10 churches in each ward.

Nwabughiogu said the intervention is intended to strengthen churches’ capacity to engage young people through programmes focused on character development, moral instruction and community outreach.

He added that the funds would be used to procure evangelical equipment, including musical instruments and public address systems, to support campaigns against drug abuse, sexual offences and violent crime.

Defending the initiative, the Deputy Speaker’s office argued: “Nation-building must go beyond roads and physical infrastructure. Government must also invest in building the character and value system of the people who use the infrastructure using various value delivery platforms,” Nwabughiogu said.

The office said the programme aligns with the government’s non-kinetic approach to promoting peace, unity and social stability, adding that traditional institutions had benefited from similar interventions through the construction of town halls and community engagement centres.

It maintained that faith-based organisations also play a key role in preserving moral values and should receive similar support.

According to the statement, similar interventions have been implemented in other parts of the country and the Bende initiative is intended to strengthen youth development efforts in the South-East through church platforms.

The office also said that no funds had been released because implementation of the 2026 budget had not yet begun.

Meanwhile, financial analyst Kalu Aja criticised the allocation, arguing that the funds should have been directed to schools, hospitals and electrification projects instead of churches.

Responding in a post on X yesterday, Aja said the intervention reflected misplaced priorities.

Senate to compel MDAs as Monguno warns on budget breaches
THE Senate has intensified oversight of public finances by moving to compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) accused of repeatedly ignoring legislative invitations to account for their financial records.

The development came as remarks by Senate Chief Whip Tahir Monguno that failure to implement an Appropriation Act constitutes a breach of the law and an impeachable offence continued to generate reactions.

The moves reflect growing concern in the upper chamber over alleged revenue leakages, poor compliance with statutory remittance obligations and the slow implementation of the federal budget despite improved revenue performance.

The Senate’s decision followed a point of order raised during yesterday’s plenary by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa, who said several government agencies had repeatedly failed to honour invitations to appear before the committee.

Musa said the committee’s investigative hearings were conducted pursuant to Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empower the National Assembly to investigate public institutions and ensure accountability in the management of public resources.

According to him, the hearings examined internally generated revenue, stamp duty collections where applicable, operating surpluses and statutory remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, while assessing compliance with existing financial laws.

He expressed concern that despite formal invitations, some agencies either failed to appear or insisted they were under no obligation to honour the committee’s summons.

Musa described the development as a direct challenge to the Senate’s constitutional oversight responsibilities, warning that such conduct would weaken legislative oversight, undermine fiscal accountability and erode transparency in public finance management.

He further alleged that many revenue-generating agencies retained substantial portions of government revenue instead of remitting the amounts required under the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Finance Act 2022.

“Most of them don’t comply. Instead of remitting what is required by law, they retain the larger percentage of the revenue and remit only a fraction,” he said.

The senator disclosed that some of the funds had remained with the agencies since 2020, adding that the committee would work with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to reconcile the accounts and ensure all outstanding revenues were refunded to the government.

Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin backed the committee’s position, insisting that agencies that ignored invitations would be summoned by the Senate.

“If they don’t appear before the committee, we will summon them. It must work,” Barau said.

Responding, Senate President Godswill Akpabio reaffirmed the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to compel attendance by public officials and agencies.

Rejecting claims that Senate committees lacked the authority to summon public institutions, Akpabio maintained that the legislature’s oversight powers were expressly guaranteed by the Constitution.

Akpabio directed Musa to return to the chamber with a substantive motion seeking authority to compel the defaulting agencies to appear before the Committee on Finance.

He warned that the Senate would invoke its constitutional powers if the agencies continued to disregard legislative invitations.

“If eventually they do not appear, we know the appropriate action to take,” Akpabio added.

The Senate subsequently adopted the motion through a voice vote, authorising the Committee on Finance to issue summonses to the affected agencies.

During an earlier engagement between lawmakers and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Monguno questioned the Federal Government’s slow implementation of the budget despite reports that revenue-generating agencies had exceeded their revenue targets.

The Borno North senator argued that budget implementation depended largely on revenue and said the figures presented to lawmakers did not justify the poor execution of the Appropriation Act.

“From the figures presented to us and the briefings we have received from revenue-generating agencies, almost all of them have exceeded their revenue targets. If revenue performance has improved so significantly, it appears inherently contradictory that government is still struggling to implement the budget. Where is the revenue going?”

Monguno recalled that about 70 per cent of the 2025 budget had been rolled over into the 2026 fiscal year after it was not fully implemented.

He said that although the executive assured lawmakers that the outstanding projects would be completed before March, the deadline was missed, prompting the National Assembly to extend the lifespan of the 2025 Appropriation Act until September.

“Meanwhile, implementation of the 2026 budget has hardly begun,” he said.

The senator also expressed concern that security agencies had told lawmakers they had received no capital releases despite worsening insecurity.

“For example, the security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of the government. Yet, all the security agencies that have appeared before this committee informed us that they have received zero capital releases,” he said.

Maintaining that the Appropriation Act is binding on the executive, Monguno declared that failure to implement it amounted to a breach of the law.

“Failure to implement an Appropriation Act amounts to a breach of the law, and such a breach is an impeachable offence,” he said.

He also sought explanations over the distribution of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenues, questioning why about N1.7 trillion was retained after roughly N3.7 trillion accrued to the Federation Account in the previous month, while only about N2 trillion was distributed among the federal, state and local governments.

Responding, government officials attributed the pace of budget implementation to expenditure pressures, including debt servicing, personnel costs and other statutory obligations, despite improvements in revenue generation.

Atiku questions Tinubu government’s credibility
FORMER Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday questioned the credibility of the Tinubu administration over what he described as conflicting accounts surrounding the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) bank accounts.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the contradictory positions taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) had plunged the administration into a credibility crisis.

He said the CBN’s testimony before the House of Representatives contradicted the OAGF’s earlier position on the opening of the PFIPC accounts, suggesting an attempt to cover up the controversy.

“This is where the cover-up appears to begin. One institution denied authorising the opening of the PFIPC accounts and alleged forgery,” he said.

“Another, before the representatives of the Nigerian people, stated that the accounts were opened on the directive of the Accountant-General after due process was followed. Both accounts cannot be true.”

Atiku said the conflicting narratives had left the administration trapped in a “web of deception”.

“When two of your most sensitive financial and monetary authorities publicly contradict each other on the same transaction, no serious leader needs a clairvoyant to know that his administration is trapped in a web of deception and a profound crisis of credibility,” he said.

“The President cannot continue to watch from the sidelines while his government tears itself apart with conflicting narratives.”

He urged President Bola Tinubu to state which version of events he accepted.

“President Tinubu must answer a simple question: Which version does he believe—the Accountant-General’s or the Central Bank’s? If he believes neither, why has he not acted?” he asked.

“Every day he delays ordering a truly independent investigation, he deepens public suspicion that preserving his administration’s image has taken precedence over establishing the truth.”

Atiku also said the silence of the Attorney-General of the Federation had compounded the controversy.

“The continued silence of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the nation’s chief law officer, only compounds this credibility crisis and reinforces the perception that this administration is more interested in containing the political fallout than uncovering the truth,” he said.

He urged the National Assembly to invite the CBN governor and the Accountant-General of the Federation to appear jointly before its investigative committee under oath.

“If a single individual could allegedly orchestrate a scheme that has thrown two of Nigeria’s most critical financial and monetary authorities into public contradiction, Nigerians are entitled to ask how many other abuses may have escaped detection because of weak oversight and institutional failure,” he added.

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected Atiku’s claim that the 2026 Service-Wide Vote (SWV) was intended to finance President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka described the allegation as a combination of “disturbing ignorance of basic public finance principles” and “calculated mischief”.