…Public disfavour, legislative-executive face-off fingered for delay
The 2026 Rivers State Appropriation Bill has passed the second reading on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The reading on Tuesday marked more than six weeks after Governor Siminalayi Fubara presented the N1.854 trillion budget estimates to the House of Assembly for consideration.
Governor Fubara had on July 10 presented the budget, christened “Budget of Resilience for Growth and Development,” to the House of Assembly.
Public disfavour has followed the perceived delay in the Assembly’s passage of the bill in the face of alleged legislative-executive faceoff over constituency projects and “other settlements for members of the Assembly.”
After members’ debate on the major components of the bill at the 36th Legislative Sitting of the Fourth Session on Tuesday, the House committed the appropriation bill to the committee stage.
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Martin Amaewhule, Speaker of the Assembly, recalled that Governor Fubara presented the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the House about six weeks ago.
He noted, however, that since then, various committees of the House have been dissecting the different components of the budget estimate, adding that the House would conduct detailed legislative scrutiny and oversight to ensure that appropriated funds are judiciously utilised.
Amaewhule urged the various committees of the House to ensure that all ministries, departments and agencies under the legislative competence of the House are invited for the budget defence session.
Major Jack, Majority Leader of the House, while leading the debate on the bill after the second reading, emphasised the revenue framework of the estimate, stressing that with proper legislative input, the bill, as christened, would engender speedy development.
The budget, which totals N1,854,248,734,475.76, has about N1.405 trillion allocated to capital projects and N413.1 billion to recurrent expenditure.
