The Nigerian Civil Society Economy Action (NCSEA) yesterday asked the National Assembly (NASS) to stop the Presidency from incurring further expenditure without appropriation.

The civil society organisations, who alleged a lack of transparency and popular participation in the budgeting process, also expressed concerns that 18 days after the presentation of the 2026 budget, the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and the NASS had failed to upload the same to their websites.

In a statement, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), PRIMEORG, PLSI and BudgIT, accused the Federal Government of fiscal rascality.

The CSOs said: “These breaches raise fundamental questions about the management of public revenues and expenditure and the responsiveness of the executive and legislature to the fiscal stipulations of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

“We recall that S.81 of the Constitution explicitly provides for the submission of expenditure proposals by the President to NASS and prior approval of the NASS before public expenditure is incurred.”

The statement added: “Essentially, expenditure must be based on prior legislative approval and not legislative endorsement of already incurred expenditure.

“The 2024 Appropriation Act should have expired on December 31, 2024, but NASS purported to extend the life span to June 2025 and later to December 2025.

“Even in its extended lifespan, the executive failed to implement the 2024 budget in accordance with its tenor and now that the extended life has ended, the President sought to repeal and re-enact the Act, increasing the total budget size from N35.05 trillion to N43.56 trillion.

“This is a legal and constitutional impossibility and can only be possible in a country where the rule of law is continuously desecrated. “It is an affront to the fiscal provisions of the constitution for the President to spend an extra N8 trillion in public funds without prior legislative approval and Nigeria was not operating under any declared fiscal emergency.

“The President only sought endorsement after expenditure and the supine rubber stamp NASS gave its approval. “On the reduction in the size of the 2025 federal budget, a budget is reviewed mid-year in June and the outcome of the review is deployed in the amendment of the budget. “A budget is not arbitrarily reviewed in December when its life should end.

We recall that NASS stated that the decision to repeal and re-enact the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts was taken to align Nigeria’s budgeting process with global best practices, enhance transparency, and resolve implementation challenges associated with running multiple budgets.

This position of NASS cannot be supported by Nigerian fiscal laws and policies or any international best practice. “Rather, it is a mismanagement and gross abuse of due process and our fiscal laws.”