Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu regarding the 2026 federal budget, alleging that trillions of naira are being hidden through opaque spending. He highlighted a massive increase in the Service-Wide Vote (SWV), which rose from N638 billion in 2025 to N12.8 trillion in 2026—a 1,918 percent hike that he labels as a major case of fiscal lack of transparency.
According to a statement from his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, this expenditure is concentrated within 10 government entities that represent 84 percent of the total budget. Atiku specifically questioned the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning’s inclusion of N2.19 trillion for personnel costs, noting this figure significantly exceeds the salary allocation for the Finance Ministry. He demanded to know the identity of these alleged workers and the justification for such a massive sum.
The former Vice President contended that these hidden funds surpass the total budgets for agriculture, education, and national defense combined. He suggested that the administration might be reserving these funds to support political activities, including the 2027 re-election efforts of the ruling party. Atiku urged the National Assembly to conduct a thorough investigation into these allocations and hold the government accountable to the public.
