Nigeria’s former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has described the 2026 Federal Budget as the most brazen assault on transparency and fiscal responsibility in nation’s democratic history, following what he described as shocking revelations surrounding unprecedented allocations concealed under the Service-Wide Vote (SWV).
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the discovery that 84 per cent of the entire 2026 budget is concentrated in just 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with an astounding ₦12.8 trillion warehoused under the Service-Wide Vote in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, exposes what appears to be a deliberate architecture for opaque and unaccountable spending.
The ADC presidential hopeful noted that while the Service-Wide Vote stood at ₦638 billion in the 2025 budget, it has ballooned to ₦12.8 trillion in the 2026 Appropriation Act—an astonishing increase of approximately 1,918 per cent in just one year.
“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.
“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”, the statement partly reads.
Atiku further queried how the Federal Ministry of Finance, the nation’s principal treasury institution, has a personnel allocation of only ₦54.8 billion, while the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning is carrying an eye-watering ₦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 observed that while the combined allocations to education, defence and agriculture fall below the amount hidden under the Service-Wide Vote, trillions of naira have been parked under vague and discretionary headings with no clearly defined obligations.
He warned that such unprecedented concentrations of unmarked funds inevitably raise serious questions about their intended use and demand the highest level of public scrutiny.
“The 2026 Appropriation Act is fast becoming a document that reeks of fiscal manipulation. At a time when Nigerians are being asked to endure hardship, government cannot simultaneously hide trillions behind budgetary euphemisms and expect public trust. Every unexplained trillion is a trillion diverted from classrooms, hospitals, security, food production and economic growth.”
However, Atiku called on the National Assembly to rise above partisan considerations and immediately commence a comprehensive, line-by-line investigation into every allocation under the Service-Wide Vote, particularly the ₦2.19 trillion personnel provision.
He said Parliament must insist on full disclosure of the beneficiaries, legal basis and spending framework for every kobo appropriated under the heading.
“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”.
