Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of using the 2026 federal budget to hide trillions of naira in unaccountable spending.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), pointed to a sharp rise in the Service-Wide Vote (SWV), a discretionary budget line that covers spending not tied to any single ministry.
According to a statement signed by his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, on Monday, the SWV jumped from ₦638 billion in 2025 to ₦12.8 trillion this year, a rise of nearly 1,918%.
Atiku called it one of the starkest examples of fiscal opacity in Nigeria’s democratic era.
The figure is tied to just 10 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), which together account for 84% of the entire budget.
Atiku, a former vice president of Nigeria, is a longtime opposition figure who has run for president several times and now leads the ADC’s 2027 campaign.
Where Is The Money Going?
Atiku zeroed in on the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, where he said ₦2.19 trillion of the SWV is listed as personnel costs.
That figure dwarfs the ₦54.8 billion allocated for salaries at the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“Who exactly are the workers earning ₦2.19 trillion? Where are they? What offices do they occupy? What agencies do they belong to?” he asked, describing the figures as budgetary absurdity rather than legitimate planning.
He argued that the sums hidden under the SWV now exceed the combined allocations for education, defence and agriculture.
Atiku suggested a political motive behind the concealment, saying Nigerians would be justified in suspecting the money is being positioned to fund the ruling party’s campaign machinery and Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027 unless the administration accounts for it in full.
He described the entire budget as emblematic of a credibility problem, arguing that a government asking citizens to endure hardship cannot shield trillions of naira behind vague headings without losing public trust.
Atiku Calls For National Assembly Probe
Atiku charged the National Assembly to launch a line-by-line probe of the Service-Wide Vote, especially the ₦2.19 trillion personnel allocation.
He called for full disclosure of who benefits from the funds and under what legal authority.
“It is time to open the books, expose the truth and restore integrity to Nigeria’s budgeting process,” he said.
The Service-Wide Vote is meant to cover contingency and cross-cutting government expenses that do not fit neatly into a single ministry’s budget, but critics have long argued it leaves room for spending with little oversight.
The ADC has positioned itself as the leading opposition platform ahead of the 2027 general election, and this is not the first time the party has questioned the Tinubu administration’s fiscal transparency.
The presidency had not issued a public response to the allegations as of the time of this report.
