Atiku Raises Alarm Over IMF Report on N8.8Trn Off Budget Expenditure

Pat Stevens/

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised the alarm over an International Monetary Fund report indicating that public expenditure equivalent to about two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product was not captured in recent official budgets, describing the development as a constitutional and fiscal emergency that requires immediate investigation.

In a statement posted on his X account on Saturday, Atiku said the IMF’s findings pointed to what he described as “the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history” and called on the National Assembly, anti corruption agencies and other democratic institutions to urgently investigate the matter.

The IMF, in its latest Article IV consultation on Nigeria published on July 1, said public expenditure amounting to about two per cent of GDP had not been reflected in recent budget documents, largely because of major government projects executed outside the formal budget framework.

The Fund said the omission created a gap between Nigeria’s reported fiscal deficit and its actual financing needs, while urging stronger fiscal transparency and more comprehensive budget reporting.

Reuters quoted the IMF’s Resident Representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, as saying the discrepancy arose from large scale off budget projects.

Using Nigeria’s estimated GDP of about N441.5 trillion, Atiku said the omitted expenditure amounted to approximately N8.8 trillion.

He alleged that the spending represented “public funds spent entirely outside the statutory framework of Nigeria’s official budget documents, unaccounted for, unaudited, and hidden from the Nigerian people.”

According to him, the reported off budget expenditure suggested that major government projects were being executed outside the constitutional oversight of the National Assembly and the Auditor General of the Federation.

“The Tinubu administration is awarding multi trillion naira contracts, moving massive public capital, and commissioning infrastructure projects entirely beyond the reach of the Auditor General, the nation’s procurement laws, and the legitimate oversight of the National Assembly,” Atiku alleged.

“It is a parallel fiscal universe, one governed by executive whim, shielded from the constitutional accountability that the Nigerian people are owed.”

The former vice president further alleged that the reported off budget expenditure, together with what he described as the unlawful deduction of N800 billion from statutory allocations due to state governments, pointed to the creation of “a massive, multi source political war chest” ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“When a government operates a secret treasury of this scale at precisely the moment it needs to purchase electoral outcomes, the conclusion is not difficult to reach,” he claimed.

“The Tinubu administration is not reforming Nigeria’s economy. It is financing its own political survival with money that belongs to the Nigerian people.”

Atiku also linked the IMF report to the recent controversy surrounding the N1.3 billion budgetary allocation for the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, an agency the Federal Government subsequently acknowledged did not exist.

He argued that both developments reflected what he described as a broader pattern of fiscal opacity.

The former vice president also criticised the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidy, exchange rate reforms and high interest rates, arguing that Nigerians had endured severe economic hardship while, according to him, huge public expenditure remained outside the official budget process.

“The IMF has now exposed that narrative as a big fat lie,” he alleged.

“While the poor were told to bleed, the government maintained access to a 8.8 trillion shadow treasury, entirely outside public view, entirely beyond legislative oversight.”

He called on the National Assembly to immediately convene emergency investigative hearings on the IMF findings and urged the Auditor General of the Federation to conduct an independent audit of all off budget expenditure referenced in the IMF’s Article IV consultation.

Atiku also demanded that the Federal Government publish details of all expenditure incurred outside the official budget, identify the projects, contractors and officials responsible for approving them, restore the alleged Nn800 billion deducted from state government allocations, and direct anti corruption agencies to investigate both issues.

“A government that governs in secret spends in secret. A government that spends in secret does not govern, it plunders,” he said.

The IMF, however, noted that Nigerian authorities had begun revising budget legislation and reporting practices to ensure previously unrecorded expenditure is fully reflected in future fiscal documents, as part of broader efforts to improve transparency and strengthen public financial management.

As of the time of filing this report, the Presidency had not responded to Atiku’s allegations.