By Tekena Amieyeofori
Nigeria’s main opposition leaders, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, have both called for an urgent probe into an IMF report indicating that roughly N8.83 trillion in government spending was executed outside the approved 2025 budget.
In separate statements, the opposition leaders described the alleged off-budget outlay as a serious threat to fiscal openness and accountability, and urged the Federal Government to give a full account of the funds.
Referencing the IMF’s Article IV consultation released on July 1, 2026, Atiku claimed the undocumented spending equaled about two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and represented “the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history.”
According to him, “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. It is a parallel fiscal universe, one governed by executive whim.”
Atiku further alleged that the reported off-budget spending, combined with what he called the illegal deduction of N800 billion from allocations meant for states, pointed to “a massive, multi-source political war chest being assembled 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,” Atiku said.
He urged the National Assembly to quickly open investigative hearings on the IMF findings and called on the Auditor-General of the Federation to carry out an independent audit of all suspected off-budget spending and make the results public.
Atiku also asked the Federal Government to publish details of every project, contractor, procurement process and official linked to the spending, refund the N800 billion allegedly withheld from states, and mandate anti-graft agencies to conduct independent investigations.
Peter Obi, on his part, said the IMF report showed “grand corruption,” noting that the N8.83 trillion far exceeded the combined 2025 federal budgetary allocations for education and health.
“The IMF now reveals that about N8.83 trillion in expenditure undertaken in 2025 is not reflected in the budget. This expenditure is not budgeted and is therefore not under legislative oversight or administrative scrutiny. This is horrible,” Obi stated.
He added that the amount accounted for more than 35 per cent of Nigeria’s 2025 capital budget and, if properly used, could have overhauled education and healthcare while generating jobs through industrial growth.
“This is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern of grand corruption that has become part of this administration,” Obi said.
The former Anambra governor argued that the reported spending reflected deep systemic failures in public finance management, insisting that “the APC government is grossly corrupt, incompetent, and insensitive.”
Obi restated his earlier demand for President Bola Tinubu to step down, saying “the collapse of elementary forms of due process under Tinubu and the increased evidence of rampant looting of Nigerian public finances reinforce the need for greater accountability.”