Today, the National Assembly will continue its plenary sessions to examine President Bola Tinubu's ₦58.47 trillion 2026 proposal. Nigeria's legislative agenda is dominated by an appropriations bill and changes to the country's electoral rules.

Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the Senate's leader, promised everyone that the 1999 Constitution would be finished and prepared for delivery to state legislatures by the first quarter of 2026 and that both the upper and lower chambers would accelerate the review process.

Bamidele revealed this on Monday in Abuja, pointing out that committees in both chambers had already started conducting thorough evaluations of the revenue and spending projections that President Tinubu had submitted to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025.

"We will devote quality time to the scrutiny and passage of the 2026 Appropriations Bill valued at ₦58.47 trillion now that we have resumed plenary," he declared. The revenue and spending estimates that President Bola Tinubu presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2025, are already being thoroughly examined by our committees in both houses.

"Given its emphasis on consolidating the gains of the previous years, the proposal is critical to the growth, prosperity, and stability of our economy this year and even beyond."

He claimed that the budget would restore the January-to-December budget cycle, strengthen macroeconomic stability, increase Nigeria's competitiveness internationally, and translate economic development into jobs, higher incomes, and better living standards.

“The budget, when it finally becomes effective, will further reinforce our collective resolve to guarantee our nation’s macroeconomic stability, deepen her global competitiveness and translate economic growth to decent jobs, rising incomes and a better quality of life across the federation.

“This will help us restore and maintain a budget cycle that annually starts from January and ends in December. Achieving these ends might be tough, perhaps unattainable, given the bottlenecks we have experienced before now,” the lawmaker stated.

Bamidele linked improved funding prospects for the budget to recent fiscal reforms, including the enactment of the 2025 Tax Reform Act, which he said had recalibrated the nation’s fiscal space to reduce the tax burden on low-income earners while placing more responsibility on high-income earners.

“Unlike previous years, we have significantly reformed our fiscal space to reflect our socio-economic realities. From the reforms of our fiscal space, we believe funding our budget will no longer be a challenge, and our budget deficit will definitely begin to shrink year by year,” he said.

Beyond the budget, the Senate Leader said the National Assembly was prioritising amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the aim of guaranteeing credible, transparent, and secure polls.

He said the proposed Electoral Bill, 2025, contained over 20 major innovations, including voting rights for inmates, early release of election funds to INEC, electronically generated voter identification, real-time transmission of polling unit results, standardised delegates for indirect primaries, stricter voter registration requirements, and tougher sanctions for electoral offences.

“Apart from the 2025 Appropriation Bill, we are prioritising the delivery of an electoral governance framework that will guarantee a credible and transparent process in the 2027 general elections. We have started the review of the Electoral Act, 2022, clause by clause, to achieve this end.

"The Bill adds a system of repercussions to the electoral system in our country. When election violations are proven, this clause eliminates the possibility of impunity, he pointed out.

Bamidele stated that technical sessions and public hearings on constitutional revisions had been completed and that the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, will present the exercise's report to the Senate prior to the conclusion of the first quarter.

Additionally, the 1999 Constitution review is at its height. Senator Barau Jibrin, the Senate's Deputy President and Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, will present the exercise's findings to the Senate before the first quarter ends, the Senate Leader promised.

He emphasised that at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly would need to approve the process's final stage, highlighting the crucial role subnational legislatures play in enacting constitutional changes.

Bamidele pledged that parliamentarians will step up reforms pertaining to governance, elections, and economic diversification while reflecting on the 10th National Assembly's 48-month term, noting that only 16 months left.

"At this extremely critical time, when events in other parts of the world now dictate the direction of our economy and polity, the onus rests much more upon us than at any time in history to reinforce our constituents' trust in their representatives, in the National Assembly, and in their fatherland," he stated.