By Iyoho Emmanuel
ABUJA — The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has accused the National Assembly of failing to exercise its constitutional oversight powers to compel the executive arm of government to implement the Federal Government’s capital budgets since 2023.
Lead Director of the CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, made the allegation in the latest edition of the organisation’s Public Finance Management (PFM) Series titled, “National Assembly: A Failure to Implement the Capital Budget.”
Speaking in his Abuja office, Onyekpere said the legislature, which is vested with the powers of appropriation, oversight, checks and balances over public expenditure, had failed to adequately deploy those powers to ensure that appropriated capital funds were released and implemented by the executive.
According to him, the National Assembly did not sufficiently exercise its oversight powers over the non-implementation of the capital budget in 2023, 2024 and 2025, adding that the situation had persisted into 2026.
He expressed concern that, as of September 2026, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were still struggling to receive the full allocation of the 2025 capital budget carried over for implementation.
“Most of the MDAs have not received more than 50 per cent,” he said, stressing that the situation was having serious consequences for development and Nigerians who bear the brunt of poor capital budget implementation.
Onyekpere noted that members of the National Assembly might not fully appreciate the impact of inadequate capital releases because statutory transfers and constitutional expenditure allocated to the legislature are generally released to it in full.
“As such, they do not know the meaning nor feel the impact of the failure to release capital budgets,” he stated.
He challenged Nigerians to demand explanations from their representatives in the National Assembly, particularly lawmakers currently seeking re-election, over what he described as their failure to use their oversight powers to ensure the implementation of appropriated capital expenditure.
He questioned the value that legislators who had failed to effectively scrutinise, challenge and compel the executive to implement the capital budget had added to the lives of their constituents.
“Can Nigerians begin to hear their legislators from the constituencies, especially now they are campaigning to come back to the National Assembly, that majority of them, when they have failed and refused to exercise the powers of oversight, to nudge, to urge, and to compel the executive to implement the capital budget, of what value added to the Nigerian people?” he asked.
The CSJ director also called on the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, principal officers and all members of both chambers to urgently deploy their constitutional powers to compel the executive to release funds appropriated for the 2025 and 2026 capital budgets.
He said ensuring the release and implementation of the appropriated funds was the least the National Assembly could do to support Nigerians suffering the consequences of inadequate capital expenditure.
“That is the least they can do to support the Nigerian people who are suffering and bearing the brunt of the failure to implement the capital budget by the executive arm of government,” Onyekpere said.