By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, is set to present the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the Anambra State House of Assembly for consideration, marking it one of the earliest major engagements of his second term barely three weeks after his re-election. The development signals the Soludo Administration’s readiness to push forward its next-phase governance agenda without delay.
The Speaker of the 8th Assembly, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Nkem Udeze, PhD, announced the scheduled budget presentation during plenary on Tuesday, November 20, after formally acknowledging the Governor’s request to lay the 2026 estimates before lawmakers, in accordance with Section 121(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the Speaker, the new fiscal proposal, which will be presented to the House on Tuesday November 25, 2025, will be critical to the continuation and completion of ongoing infrastructure projects, expansion of community access roads, deepening of security interventions, and sustaining the broader governance reforms introduced under the Soludo administration.
Shortly after the announcement, the House dissolved into the Committee of the Whole to consider the report of the Joint Committee on Lands and Judiciary on the Anambra State Real Estate Agents and Developers Regulatory Agency Bill, 2025. Some clauses in the bill were suspended to allow further consultations before continuation on the next adjourned date.
Before rising, the Speaker also revisited the suspension of the lawmaker representing Ayamelum Constituency, Hon. Bernard Udemezue, who was sanctioned on August 25, 2025, for misconduct described as “inciting comments capable of disturbing public peace and bringing disrespect and obvious ridicule” to the Assembly across various social media platforms. His failure to honour committee invitations was likewise cited as unbecoming and a breach of legislative ethics.
Rt. Hon. Udeze has now mandated the House Committee on Rules, Business, Ethics and Privileges to review the suspension and determine whether the lawmaker has fulfilled the necessary conditions for the sanction to be lifted.
With the budget presentation only days away, the Assembly is expected to enter a busy legislative period as scrutiny of the 2026 fiscal proposal begins in earnest.
