Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised alarm over what he describes as a massive breakdown in fiscal transparency within Nigeria’s 2026 federal budget, accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of burying trillions of naira in unaccountable spending under a discretionary budget line known as the Service-Wide Vote.
According to a statement issued Monday by his spokesman Phrank Shaibu, the ADC presidential candidate pointed to a staggering jump in the SWV, rising from N638 billion in 2025 to N12.8 trillion this year, an increase of nearly 1,918 percent that he characterized as one of the clearest examples of budgetary opacity Nigeria’s democracy has witnessed. He noted that this figure is concentrated within just 10 ministries, departments and agencies, which together account for 84 percent of the entire national budget.
Atiku directed particular scrutiny toward the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, where N2.19 trillion of the SWV appears listed as personnel costs, a figure that dwarfs the N54.8 billion allocated for salaries at the Federal Ministry of Finance. He questioned who exactly these workers earning such a staggering sum could be, asking pointedly where they are located, what offices they occupy and which agencies actually employ them. For Atiku, the numbers represent nothing short of budgetary absurdity rather than any legitimate planning exercise.
He pushed the critique further, noting that the money concealed within the SWV now surpasses the combined budgets for education, defence and agriculture, three sectors he considers foundational to national development. That comparison led him to suggest a political motive behind the opacity, warning that Nigerians would have every reason to suspect the funds are being quietly positioned to bankroll the ruling party’s campaign machinery ahead of Tinubu’s expected 2027 re-election bid, unless the administration provides a full and transparent accounting of where the money is going.
Framing the issue as part of a broader credibility crisis, Atiku argued that a government asking ordinary Nigerians to endure economic hardship cannot simultaneously hide trillions of naira behind vague budget headings without eroding whatever public trust remains. He called on the National Assembly to conduct a thorough, line-by-line investigation into the Service-Wide Vote, with particular attention to the N2.19 trillion personnel allocation, demanding full disclosure of who stands to benefit and under what legal authority such spending has been approved.
Closing his statement with a direct appeal, Atiku insisted that the moment has come to open the books, expose the truth behind the figures, and restore a measure of integrity to how Nigeria’s budget process operates.
