Atiku links ghost agency scandal to IMF's missing 2% GDP disclosure

Former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar has asserted that the International Monetary Fund's revelation of Nigeria omitting public expenditure equivalent to two percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exposes a deeply entrenched system of institutional corruption within President Bola Tinubu's administration.

“

The Constitution is not a book of suggestions. Section 80 is unequivocal: no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly. Budgetary appropriation is not a ceremonial exercise; it is the legal authority upon which every kobo of public expenditure rests.

Abubakar stated that this disclosure, coupled with the recent scandal surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), paints a picture of a government where public institutions are increasingly being transformed into tools for opaque financial transactions. He argued that without an honest answer regarding who is responsible for the missing two percent of Nigeria's GDP, any claims of transparency by the administration will lack credibility.

"The Constitution is not a book of suggestions," Abubakar declared in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu. "Section 80 is unequivocal: no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly. Budgetary appropriation is not a ceremonial exercise; it is the legal authority upon which every kobo of public expenditure rests."

“

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

He questioned the disappearance of funds from the national budget, emphasizing that "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." Abubakar further contended that the IMF's finding reinforces growing concerns that the PFIPC affair was not an isolated incident but part of a wider pattern of institutional capture and the abuse of public finance. He highlighted the disparity where the Ministry of Health received minimal funds for critical interventions while a "ghost agency" reportedly received substantial allocations, illustrating what he described as the administration's "warped priorities."

“

The discovery that a fictitious agency found its way into official government processes and budgetary allocations should alarm every patriotic Nigerian. Now, the IMF tells us that expenditure equivalent to two per cent of our GDP was kept outside the budget. These are not disconnected events. Together, they point to a dangerous culture of institutional corruption.