The Senate, on Monday tasked the management of the North-Central Development Commission(NCDC), to give priority on investments in agriculture and security in implementation of its 2026 budget.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on NCDC, Senator Titus Zam, made the call, when management of NCDC appeared before the Committee to defend its 2026 budget estimates.
On commencement of the budget defence, the Committee had gone into a closed session to consider the budget of the Commission.
However, after the closed session, Zam said: “We have considered all the items on the estimates and found them very relevant and useful for the north-central region.
“As a committee overseeing this commission,we have requested them to prioritise their expenditures in line with their mandate so that people of north-central region will benefit from their services and have value for resources that are allocated to them.”
He noted that the specific development mandate of the Commission could not just be in vacuum, saying that it has to fill certain sectors of the economy.
He listed the sectors to include agriculture security,health education, other public infrastructure and also social services that are needed by the people.
“You know that north central is mostly agricultural and so agriculture must take a pride of place and it has been so embedded in their budge.
“They are also thinking about working with security experts and other stakeholders in the north-central region to see to it that they support security agencies to deliver on their mandate.
The lawmaker, however, said that the Committee was dissatisfied with implementation of capital component of 2025 budget.
Meanwhile, Zam noted that the lack of implementation of previous year’s budget was a national challenge as 2025 budget had implementation setbacks.
According to him, the Committee considered the total estimate of N140 billion for 2026 financial year of the Commission and gave approval for utilisation of the fund due to be appropriated for good of the region.
“This is the resolution of the Committee, we hereby approve the total figure of N140 billion for the 2026 financial year for the Commission,” he said.
