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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

Atiku Abubakar challenges Tinubu govt over IMF’s ‘missing 2% GDP’, demands probe

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar challenged the Tinubu administration to account for public spending omitted from Nigeria's budgets, as flagged by the IMF.
  • Abubakar described the omission of public spending equivalent to 2% of GDP as evidence of

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Bola Tinubu administration of institutional corruption, demanding an explanation for public spending equivalent to 2% of Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product that was omitted from recent budget documentation. The International Monetary Fund flagged this omission, raising serious constitutional and accountability concerns.

If, as the IMF has revealed, expenditure amounting to two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP was omitted from the budget process, then Nigerians are entitled to one simple question: Who stole the missing two per cent of our GDP?

— Atiku AbubakarReacting to the IMF's disclosure about omitted public spending.

In a statement, Abubakar argued that the revelation is not merely an accounting discrepancy but a "constitutional, legal and moral scandal." He questioned who authorized, approved, spent, and benefited from the missing funds, emphasizing that money does not simply disappear from a national budget. "Nigerians deserve to know who those people are," he stated.

This is no longer an accounting discrepancy but a constitutional, legal and moral scandal.

— Atiku AbubakarDescribing the significance of the omitted public spending.

The former vice president linked this issue to a controversy surrounding an alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which the Presidency has denied establishing. Abubakar highlighted the disparity between the Federal Ministry of Health reportedly receiving only ₦36 million despite a ₦218 billion allocation, while the alleged agency received about ₦1.3 billion. "This is not fiscal management; it is institutionalised corruption," he asserted, pointing to warped priorities.

Money does not simply disappear from a national budget. Somebody authorised it. Somebody approved it. Somebody spent it. Somebody benefited from it. Nigerians deserve to know who those people are.

— Atiku AbubakarDemanding accountability for the missing funds.

Abubakar also called on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to clarify how the alleged agency gained official recognition within government processes. He stressed the duty of candor owed to Nigerians and demanded transparency regarding the directives under which government institutions accorded the agency official status. The former vice president referenced claims made by Adeniyi Adeyemi, a principal figure linked to the controversy, regarding the alleged agency's operations.

Nothing better illustrates the warped priorities of this administration than a government that starves hospitals and healthcare programmes of funds while ghost agencies somehow find billions waiting for them. This is not fiscal management; it is institutionalised corruption.

— Atiku AbubakarCriticizing the administration's spending priorities.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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