President Bola Tinubu has formally transmitted the 2025 Appropriation Bill of Rivers State to the National Assembly for approval, citing the ongoing emergency rule in the state and the absence of a functioning House of Assembly.

  The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, read the President’s letter during plenary on Wednesday .  The letter, which accompanied the budget proposal, emphasised the need for the National Assembly’s intervention, following the Supreme Court’s recent affirmation of the state’s 2025 budget notification.

    “Rivers State is currently under emergency rule proclaimed and duly gazetted in March 2025. Regulation 4, Subsection 2(f) of the Emergency Rule requires authorisation for expenditure from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in the absence of a functioning state Assembly,” the President’s letter explained.

  The proposed Rivers State 2025 budget totals N1.481 trillion, with a significant focus on infrastructure, healthcare, education, and agriculture.
A breakdown of the budget proposal indicates that N324 billion is earmarked for infrastructure, covering both ongoing and new projects, N166 billion is allocated to the health sector, including N5 billion for free treatment of malaria and other common ailments, N75.6 billion is set aside for education and N31.4 billion is proposed for agricultural development.

   According to the letter, the spending plan is designed to stimulate the state’s economy and generate approximately 6,000 jobs, particularly through investments in agriculture and infrastructure.

    “The National Assembly is expected to act on behalf of the state Assembly in this instance. I trust the Senate will accord this bill expedited and favourable consideration,” the President wrote.

    Akpabio referred the document to the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Emergency Rule in Rivers State, mandating it to review and report back to the Senate as soon as possible.

    The move marked a significant constitutional exercise, with the federal legislature stepping in to approve a sub-national budget under emergency rule, a rare but legal provision under Nigeria’s democratic framework.

HOWEVER, keen political observers in the state and residents have questioned the legitimacy and appropriateness of the budget approval request.  
Speaking with The Guardian on this, a Human Rights and Public Interest Lawyer, Courage Nsirimovu, said that the presentation of the budget to the Senate is not only illegal but in bad faith.  

  According to Nsirimovu, the President’s usurpation of the powers of the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, is so painful and terroristic in the face of very weak institutions like the judiciary, which he said, should be the hope of the people to address the ills of the President.

  Nsirimovu noted that the President’s action amounts to gross misconduct, stating that the irony of the situation is that the National Assembly has also lost its legitimacy in the eyes of the people because one would have expected them to caution or check the excesses of the President by denying his demands. 

MEANWHILE, a suit filed by Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Samuel Amatonjie, challenging the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State has been transferred from the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court to Abuja.

  The suit, which names President Bola Tinubu, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Nigerian Senate, and the House of Representatives, as well as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, as respondents, will now be heard in Abuja.

  According to a court official, not just Amatonjie’s suit had been transferred, but every other matter touching on the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State will be heard in Abuja. 

  The transfer is based on Order 49 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Law. However, Amatonjie expressed mixed feelings about the transfer, citing the peculiarity of the matter and the need for speedy hearing.