Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that the current administration under President Bola Tinubu is facilitating deep-seated institutional corruption. This claim follows an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report indicating that Nigeria excluded public spending totaling two percent of its Gross Domestic Product from official budget records.
Represented by his aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku argued that this revelation, combined with the recent scandal involving the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), suggests a trend of misusing state bodies for secret financial activities. He stressed that without identifying who misappropriated these funds, the government’s transparency claims remain insincere.
Atiku highlighted the constitutional mandate that all government spending must be appropriated by the National Assembly. He characterized the missing two percent of GDP as a major legal and moral failure. Furthermore, he noted the disparity between the underfunded healthcare sector and the significant allocation once directed toward the now-disavowed PFIPC. He urged the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to provide clarity on how this fictitious agency gained official status.
The former Vice President called for an independent, public investigation into accusations of kickback demands involving the Office of the Chief of Staff. He demanded that institutions like the EFCC, the ICPC, and the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees audit the government’s financial activities to uncover the truth behind these allegations.
