Bagudu Urges Media to Deepen Budget Scrutiny and Strengthen Accountability

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, has urged the Nigerian media to take a more active role in explaining the country’s budget process and strengthening accountability in public finance.

Bagudu made the call while speaking at the Senate Press Corps Capacity-Building Workshop, organised around the theme, “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertion.”

The minister said journalists should move beyond simply identifying controversial or unfamiliar provisions in the national budget and provide the public with sufficient context to understand why such provisions were included.

According to him, effective budget scrutiny requires journalists to examine the constitutional process through which the budget is prepared and approved, as well as the reasons behind specific allocations and the development needs they are intended to address.

Bagudu urged reporters to ask appropriate questions and conduct thorough investigations before drawing conclusions about budget provisions.

He said the national conversation on budgeting should begin with a fundamental question about what Nigeria’s budget currently represents and what it ought to become in view of the country’s population and development challenges.

The minister noted that Nigeria faces limited fiscal space despite having significant infrastructure, social and economic development needs. He therefore called for broader public discussion about revenue mobilisation and the level of investment required to achieve the country’s development aspirations.

Bagudu linked the conversation to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the country’s long-term development framework under Agenda 2050.

He said the ambition of building a $1 trillion economy would require Nigerians to confront difficult questions about how the country generates revenue and finances development.

The minister also stressed the importance of public confidence in fiscal decisions involving revenue, expenditure and borrowing.

He said citizens’ understanding and support would be important to the ability of both the executive and National Assembly to take major economic decisions.

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Bagudu further highlighted the constitutional role of the National Assembly in the budget process, urging greater public understanding of the relationship between the executive and legislature in preparing and approving the national budget.

On allegations of unlawful budget insertions, the minister cautioned journalists against assuming that every unfamiliar provision was necessarily irregular.

He urged the media to establish the origin, purpose and beneficiaries of individual provisions before reaching conclusions.

Bagudu cited water infrastructure in underserved communities and equipment intended for fishing communities as examples of provisions that could appear questionable without adequate local context.

However, he stressed that providing context should not undermine vigilance.

“We are dealing with human processes and human errors. Therefore, vigilance is necessary, and the media and legislative oversight should remain vigilant,” he said.

The minister also called for balance in reporting on budget transparency, particularly where disclosure of certain information could have implications for national security or strategic interests.

Bagudu challenged the assumption that capital expenditure was automatically more valuable than recurrent expenditure. He argued that spending on security, education, healthcare, human capital and public-sector personnel could have direct developmental consequences.

He also emphasised the need for government to meet its debt-service obligations, noting that failure to honour such commitments could increase borrowing costs and affect private-sector operators.

Bagudu urged journalists to continue holding public institutions accountable while keeping Nigeria’s broader development challenges in view.

He said transforming the economy would require government action, public support and innovative thinking, adding that the media had an important role to play in bringing these conversations to the forefront.