Senate President Godswill Akpabio has charged lawmakers to remain committed to protecting public funds, saying the National Assembly has a responsibility to guard the public purse on behalf of Nigerians.

Akpabio spoke on Monday at the 2026 Capacity-Building Workshop organised by the Senate Press Corps, where he also urged journalists covering the Senate to improve their knowledge of the Constitution and the rules guiding the legislature.

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The Senate President was represented at the event by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu.

The workshop, themed “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions,” focused on legislative oversight, media reporting, transparency and accountability in the budget process.

Akpabio said the theme of the workshop was central to the principles of representative government, stressing that lawmakers and journalists have complementary responsibilities in ensuring accountability.

“Parliament must guard the public purse, the press must illuminate the public record, and both must answer to the Nigerian people from whom all public authority comes,” he said.

He urged parliamentary reporters to be thorough and accurate in their coverage, particularly given the pressure to publish quickly and the intense scrutiny surrounding public institutions.

According to him, journalists should provide Nigerians with verified information that enables them to understand the challenges facing the country.

“Nigeria needs reporting strong enough to withstand scrutiny. We face real hardships and disagreements, and the public deserves facts that help us confront them,” Akpabio said.

The Senate President also encouraged journalists to expose wrongdoing but cautioned against presenting unverified allegations or conjecture as established facts.

“Exposing failure can be an act of service to the Nation. So can resisting the temptation to present conjecture as fact. Patriotism asks us both to tell the truth about our country and to care what happens to it,” he said.

The workshop brought together stakeholders involved in Nigeria’s budget and legislative accountability processes, including the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; BudgIT Director, Oluseun Onigbinde; Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani; and Publisher of Eagle Times Newspaper, Ikechukwu Chukwunyere.

The speakers addressed issues surrounding the budget process, legislative oversight, media reporting and accountability in the management of public resources.