Humanitarian ministry seeks Senate’s approval for increased 2026 budget

2026-02-25 - 18:57

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Bernard Doro, has appealed to the Senate to approve increased funding to strengthen the ministry’s poverty reduction programmes and improve the living standards of Nigerians. Doro appealed while defending the ministry’s 2026 budget proposal before the Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Investment Programme on Wednesday in Abuja. Reviewing 2024 performance, he said N1.24 billion was allocated to capital projects and N682 million to overhead costs. The minister said that N12.62 billion was appropriated for capital expenditure, with N11.23 billion utilised, leaving a balance of N1.39 billion by year-end. He said that the ministry recorded an overall budget performance of 19.39 per cent in 2024, despite funding and implementation challenges. For 2025, he disclosed that N1.522 billion was allocated to personnel costs and fully released, while N978 million in overhead funds were utilised, with only N568 million. Doro said that N30 billion was appropriated for capital projects in 2025, but only N2.265 billion was released, covering 15 out of 60 projects. The minister explained that the 2026 budget proposal aligned with the federal directive to roll over the 2025 budget to 2026. He said that the ministry’s total proposal stood at N43.52 billion, including N1.399 billion earmarked for capital expenditure. Doro reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to transparency, prudent spending and effective supervision of agencies implementing national social protection and poverty reduction programmes. In his remarks, Sen. Sharafadeen Alli, representing the committee chairman, Sen. Idiat Adebule, assured the Senate’s support to secure adequate funding for the ministry. Vanguard News