Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Federal Government of concealing ₦12.8 trillion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, alleging that the funds were hidden under the Service Wide Vote (SWV) in what he described as a serious threat to transparency and fiscal accountability.
Atiku, who was the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, made the allegation in a statement issued on Monday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
According to the former vice president, 84 per cent of the 2026 budget is concentrated in just 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with the controversial ₦12.8 trillion reportedly domiciled under the Service Wide Vote managed by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
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He argued that the allocation represents an extraordinary jump from the ₦638 billion appropriated for the Service Wide Vote in the 2025 budget.
Atiku questioned the rationale behind the increase, saying the Tinubu administration owed Nigerians a detailed explanation.
“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,” he said.
He warned that failure by the government to provide full details of the allocation would fuel suspicions that the funds were being reserved for political purposes ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Should the Tinubu administration fail to come clean on this unprecedented ₦12.8 trillion Service Wide Vote, Nigerians would be justified in suspecting that these enormous sums are being stashed away to bankroll the APC’s political machinery and President Tinubu’s re election bid in 2027. A government with nothing to hide does not conceal trillions behind opaque budgetary headings,” Atiku stated.
The former vice president also raised concerns over what he described as glaring discrepancies in personnel allocations between the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
According to him, while the Ministry of Finance was allocated ₦54.8 billion for personnel costs, the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning has a ₦2.19 trillion personnel provision under the Service Wide Vote.
He questioned the identity of the workers captured under the allocation.
“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.
Atiku further argued that the amount set aside for the Service Wide Vote exceeds the combined allocations to critical sectors such as education, defence and agriculture, warning that concentrating such enormous funds under broad budgetary provisions undermines accountability.
He described the 2026 budget as one that “reeks of fiscal manipulation,” insisting that Nigerians cannot be asked to endure economic hardship while trillions of naira remain unexplained.
“Every unexplained trillion is a trillion diverted from classrooms, hospitals, security, food production and economic growth,” he added.
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The former vice president called on the National Assembly to launch a comprehensive investigation into all allocations under the Service Wide Vote, particularly the ₦2.19 trillion personnel provision, and compel the executive to disclose the beneficiaries, legal basis and spending framework for the funds.
He maintained that the government had a duty to account for every naira appropriated in the budget.
“A government that cannot explain where trillions of naira are going has forfeited the moral authority to demand sacrifice from its citizens. It is time to open the books, expose the truth and restore integrity to Nigeria’s budgeting process. The Nigerian people deserve nothing less,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, the Federal Government had not issued any official response to Atiku’s allegations.
