N12.8 Trillion Service-Wide Vote: Again, Atiku Blasts APC, Tinubu, “Nigerians Deserve to Know”
- Atiku Abubakar's media office accused the APC of avoiding key questions about a ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote in the 2026 Appropriation Act
- The office said the allocation grew from ₦638.34 billion in 2024 to ₦12.8 trillion in 2026, a rise of about 1,918 per cent in two years
- Atiku's team called on the Tinubu administration to name every project, beneficiary, and implementing agency tied to the allocation
The media office of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has fired back at the All Progressives Congress (APC), demanding a full, itemised breakdown of the ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote (SWV) contained in Nigeria's 2026 Appropriation Act.
In a statement cited by Legit.ng on Wednesday, July 21, signed by Olusola Sanni, Strategic Media Associate to Atiku Abubakar, on July 22, 2026, the team said the APC's National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, responded to their earlier concerns with insults rather than answers, which it described as a sign of a guilty conscience.
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The core figures behind the dispute
At the centre of the row is the size of the Service-Wide Vote, a budgetary provision typically used to cover government-wide expenditures and contingencies. According to the statement, the allocation stood at ₦638.34 billion in 2024 and has since climbed to over ₦12.8 trillion in 2026, a jump of roughly 1,918 per cent in under two years.
Atiku's media office argued that no reasonable explanation for unforeseen expenditure could justify a rise of that scale, especially when the figure now rivals the combined budgets of defence, education, healthcare and works. The team also pointed out that portions of the allocation are tied to projects that are vaguely described or carry no description at all.
"A contingency fund without specificity, accountability or transparency ceases to be a contingency provision and becomes precisely what Nigerians fear — a slush fund waiting to be abused," the statement read.
Demands directed at the Tinubu administration
Rather than accepting Morka's framing of the SWV as a routine budgetary tool, Atiku's team maintained that the sheer scale of the increase moves it beyond any standard justification.
The statement also referenced what it called a pattern of questionable budget entries under the current administration, citing duplicated provisions, vague religious project allocations, and unnamed palace renovation expenses as earlier examples that had damaged public confidence in the federal budget process.
The media office restated a demand that the Tinubu administration publish a comprehensive breakdown of the ₦12.8 trillion allocation, identifying every project, beneficiary, implementing agency and legal basis for each line item.
"Until that is done, Nigerians are entitled to conclude that the APC's anger stems not from the weakness of our questions, but from its inability to answer them," Sanni wrote in the statement.
Legit.ng has previously reported on controversies surrounding Nigeria's federal budget allocations and the growing scrutiny of expenditure lines under the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Source: Legit.ng
