Stakeholders want increased allocation to Agriculture in Nasarawa’s 2026 budget

Stakeholders from Nasarawa North Senatorial Zone have advocated for increased allocation to the agricultural sector in the State’s 2026 budget in order to ensure food security.

They made the appeal at the 2025 Citizens’ Budget Townhall Consultation, on Friday in Akwanga, organised by the State Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, for stakeholders from Nasarawa North Senatorial Zone.

The zone comprised of Akwanga, Nassarawa Eggon and Wamba Local Government Areas.

Mr Daniel Alanji, representing Civil Societies Organisations from Akwanga, said that the state should consider allocating at least, 30 per cent of the state budget to agriculture in 2026.

According to him, this will ensure food security with ripple effect on the general peace and security in the state.

Alanji maintained that criminality and insecurity could largely be attributed to hunger and poverty, hence the need for government to give priority attention to agriculture.

Mr Charles Francis, also from Akwanga, corroborated Alanji’s position on the need for the state government to prioritise agriculture given its potential to transform the economy of the state and the wellbeing of the citizens.

He emphasised the need to have a digitised system, with a comprehensive data base of genuine farmers in order avert the hijack of government agricultural interventions by politicians.

Also, Halima Goza, representing Small-scale Women Farmers of Nigeria (SWOFON) and Godwin Dugga, a former youth leader, both from Nassarawa Eggon LGA, appealed for more government investment in agriculture.

They duo also stressed the need for the state government to provide subsidised farm inputs to farmers early, especially for wet season farmer.

Declaring the event open, Hajiya Munira Abdullahi, the State’s Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Planning, said the citizens’ townhall consultation was a symbol of the state government’s unwavering commitment to inclusive governance, transparency, and participatory budgeting.

The Commissioner was represented by the Mr Polinus Wahe, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.

She said that the theme for the 2025 engagement, “Fostering Collaboration on Resource Allocation – Key to Participation in Governance'”, spoke directly to the core of the state’s vision of ensuring that every citizen, regardless of background or status, had a say in how government resources are allocated.

According to her, since inception of citizen budget engagement in Nasarawa, the State has made progress in ensuring that budgeting is no longer a top-down affair.

“Budgeting in Nasarawa State is now a people-centrered process where your voices, your needs, and your aspirations inform and shape government planning and implementation,” she added.

The commissioner, therefore, urged the participants to speak freely and articulate the needs of the people they represent, saying that all their submissions would be reviewed and considered in the 2026 budget.

“Our goal remains to build a budget that truly reflects the priorities of the people,” she said.

Also speaking, Mr Peter Akolo – Ataka, Director, Budget in the ministry said that participants at the townhall consultation were drawn from the informal sector from Nasarwa North Senatorial zone.

He said the participants included representatives of youth groups, women organisations, faith-based organisations, people with disabilities, farmers associations, traders associations, Civil Society Organisations and the media.

Akolo-Ataka said that as part of efforts to ensure a robust engagement, the ministry provided an abridge version of the 2025 budget – both in English and an Hausa translation for better understanding by the participants.

He assured the participants that their inputs would be reflected in the 2026 budget and implemented within the limit of available resources.