IGP, INEC Chairman and new culture of separate, self-prepared budget

…Lawmakers turn selves into MDAs’ spokespersons

The 2025 budget defence before the National Assembly has been nothing short of a theatrical spectacle.

Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) have lined up, one after another, in front of the lawmakers to voice their grievances about the “meagre” allocations they’ve received in the 2025 N49.7tn appropriation.

If anything, the lamentations are louder this year, and the gap between the actual budget allocation and MDAs’ demands is like a gulf.

In the previous years, MDAs typically begged lawmakers for more money, pleading for a bit more from the national purse to carry out their duties.
But this year, something new has emerged—something almost revolutionary. Guess what? Lawmakers are now the ones making case for more money for some MDAs!

When the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, appeared for their budget defence, the tone shifted dramatically.

Yakubu, armed with a budget of his own making, calmly unfurled it before the lawmakers like a knight drawing his sword from its scabbard.

“That leads me to the third document we’re presenting today,” he said with a flourish, holding up a 15-page proposal. “The commission requires N126 billion for 2025,” he said with an air of finality.

With an air of knowing confidence, Yakubu decided that, unlike in years past, this time, he preemptively answered the National Assembly’s annual ritual of asking him what he wanted.

Gone was the uncertainty, replaced with a neatly crafted proposal that no one could argue with.

Yakubu had no time to wait for their questions; he came armed and prepared, with his expectations, entirely disregarding the N40 billion figure allocated to his agency by the Budget Ministry.

Like Yakubu, Like Egbetokun

If Yakubu had set a precedent, Egbetokun was quick to follow. The IGP appeared before the lawmakers with a similarly “prepared” budget.

However, where Yakubu at least signaled his intentions—informing the lawmakers of his self-authored budget—Egbetokun’s approach was a bit more… well, shall we say, “mysterious.”

He came for his budget defence with two budgets.

As the IGP launched into his presentation, Mark Esset, a House of Representatives member, from Akwa Ibom, raised eyebrows, questioning why the details of the IGP’s budget were absent from the official document handed out to the lawmakers.

He said, “Mr. Chairman, I don’t know if I’m the only person, but I doubt. What the IGP is reading is quite different from the documents we have here, because we are all here for budget defence.

“It’s very important that whatever they are presenting, all members will be acquainted with it.

“You can’t give me a copy after this. It’s not the same thing. The details are not here, like the zonal offices you just mentioned are not here.”

This observation was also corroborated by Onyekachi Nwebonyi (Deputy Senate Whip), who, not at all was amused, reminded everyone that as a Senator, he should have the exact same copy of what the IGP was reading from.

Nwebonyi said, “We are here to serve Nigerians and Nigerians should see us as a very serious institution.

“We are not against the presentation of the IGP. But I, as the Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, should have a copy of what the IGP is reading.”

Despite the tension, when the dust settled, Egbetokun, like Yakubu, had made his case for more funds, especially requesting to be removed from the so-called “Envelope Budget” system, which he claimed limited his agency’s financial freedom.