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Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the allegation that Nigeria omitted public spending worth 2 percent of gross domestic production (GDP) from recent budgets.
Christian Ebeke, the resident representative of International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Nigeria, made the allegation on Wednesday, adding that the discrepancy means Nigeria’s fiscal deficit appears smaller than the government’s actual borrowing needs.
Ebeke said the discrepancy means Nigeria’s fiscal deficit appears smaller than the government’s actual borrowing needs because some capital expenditure was excluded from budget documents and implementation reports.
In a statement on Saturday, Atiku said with Nigeria’s economy currently valued at approximately N441.5 trillion, the 2 percent discrepancy translates to N8.8 trillion in public funds spent without legislative approval, audit, or public accountability.
He alleged that the Bola Tinubu administration is replicating the “Lagos playbook” at the national level.
“The IMF’s latest Article IV consultation, articulated by its resident representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, confirmed that this staggering discrepancy arises from large-scale government projects executed entirely off-budget,” Atiku said.
“Let us be absolutely clear about what this means: The Tinubu administration is awarding multi-trillion naira contracts, moving massive public capital, and commissioning infrastructure projects entirely beyond the reach of the Auditor-General, the nation’s procurement laws, and the legitimate oversight of the National Assembly. It is a parallel fiscal universe, one governed by executive whim.”
‘N800BN RAIDED FROM STATE ALLOCATIONS’
The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections also alleged that N800 billion had been deducted from the statutory allocations of state governments under the aegis of the Progressives Governors Forum.
He claimed that the combined sum of the N800 billion deduction and the N8.8 trillion unrecorded expenditure is being assembled as a “political war chest ahead of the 2027 general elections”.
“When a government operates a secret treasury of this scale at precisely the moment it needs to purchase electoral outcomes, the conclusion is not difficult to reach,” he said.
Atiku argued that while the administration has subjected Nigerians to unprecedented economic austerity through the unmapped removal of petrol subsidy and serial devaluation of the naira, it maintained access to a massive shadow treasury.
“The IMF has now exposed that narrative as a big fat lie. While the poor were told to bleed, the government maintained access to a N8.8 trillion shadow treasury,” he added.
He noted that the N8.8 trillion — equivalent to about $5.5 billion — could have funded the $10 billion economic stimulus package he proposed during his 2023 campaign to stabilise the exchange rate and lower interest rates for businesses.
ATIKU ASKS N’ASSEMBLY, AGF TO PROBE OFF-BUDGET EXPENDITURES
The former vice-president called on the national assembly to immediately convene emergency investigative hearings into the IMF’s findings, describing the situation as a “constitutional emergency”.
He demanded that the auditor-general of the federation (AGF) conduct an independent audit of all off-budget expenditures.
Atiku also demanded the immediate restoration of the N800 billion allegedly deducted from state allocations, alongside a transparent public accounting of every naira spent outside the official budget.
