Just In: Atiku Slams Tinubu Over 2026 Budget, Raises Fresh Questions
- Atiku Abubakar described the 2026 Federal Budget as the most brazen assault on transparency in Nigeria's democratic history
- The Service-Wide Vote in the 2026 Appropriation Act ballooned from ₦638 billion to ₦12.8 trillion, a near 1,918% rise in one year
- Atiku demanded the National Assembly launch a line-by-line investigation into the allocations and asked who the workers earning ₦2.19 trillion in personnel costs are
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched a blistering attack on the 2026 Federal Budget, describing it as the most blatant violation of fiscal transparency in Nigeria's democratic history and demanding urgent answers over a staggering surge in the Service-Wide Vote (SWV).
In a statement cited by Legit.ng on Monday, July 20, and released by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the concentration of 84 per cent of the entire 2026 budget within just 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and the warehousing of ₦12.8 trillion under the Service-Wide Vote in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, amounts to a deliberate framework for unaccountable public spending.
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Service-wide vote: From ₦638bn to ₦12.8 trillion
The former presidential candidate noted that the same provision stood at ₦638 billion in the 2025 budget, making the jump to ₦12.8 trillion an increase of approximately 1,918 per cent within a single budget cycle.
"President Tinubu owes Nigerians a detailed explanation. No responsible government can expect citizens to accept a nineteen-fold increase in a notoriously opaque budgetary provision without disclosing exactly who will spend the money, what it will be spent on, and under what legal authority," Atiku said.
He went further to raise suspicions about the political motivations behind the allocation, warning that failure to account for the funds would leave Nigerians justified in concluding that the money is being positioned to fund the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu's anticipated 2027 re-election campaign.
Payroll questions and the ₦2.19 trillion personnel provision
Atiku also drew attention to a striking disparity: the Federal Ministry of Finance carries a personnel allocation of only ₦54.8 billion, while the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning holds a ₦2.19 trillion personnel provision under the Service-Wide Vote.
"Who exactly are the workers earning ₦2.19 trillion? Where are they? What offices do they occupy? What agencies do they belong to? This is not budgeting; it is budgetary absurdity. Nigerians deserve to see the payroll," he said.
He added that the combined allocations to education, defence and agriculture fall below what has been placed under the Service-Wide Vote, a comparison he described as evidence of misplaced priorities at a time Nigerians are already enduring severe economic hardship.
"The 2026 Appropriation Act is fast becoming a document that reeks of fiscal manipulation. Every unexplained trillion is a trillion diverted from classrooms, hospitals, security, food production and economic growth," Atiku stated.
Call for National Assembly probe
Atiku called on the National Assembly to set aside partisan interests and immediately begin a comprehensive, line-by-line review of every allocation under the Service-Wide Vote, particularly the ₦2.19 trillion personnel figure, including full disclosure of beneficiaries, legal basis and spending frameworks.
"A government that cannot explain where trillions of naira are going has forfeited the moral authority to demand sacrifice from its citizens," he concluded.
Atiku raises fresh scandal
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has labelled the Tinubu administration one of the most fiscally reckless governments in Nigeria's democratic history, citing the discovery of more than ₦210 billion in duplicated and overlapping allocations within the 2026 Federal Budget alongside the country's weak performance across nearly 90% of recognised global prosperity indicators. This is the latest scandal Atiku has raised against the Tinubu administration. He recently queried Tinubu on the revelation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the country omitted public expenditure that was equivalent to 2% of Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from recent budgets, which exposed the deception in Tinubu's government. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/politics/1720082-breaking-atiku-reveals-fresh-scandal-tinubus-administration/
Source: Legit.ng
