Atiku demands federal government explanation for alleged unaccounted 2% of national GDP flagged by IMF, calls for investigation

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged the Bola Tinubu administration to provide a detailed account of public expenditures that were omitted from Nigeria's recent budgets, as highlighted by the International Monetary Fund, describing the situation as a clear case of "institutional corruption" at the highest levels of government.

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The International Monetary Fund's revelation that Nigeria excluded public spending equivalent to two per cent of its Gross Domestic Product from recent budget documentation has sparked serious constitutional and accountability concerns, according to Atiku, who is also the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate.

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In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku argued that the omission of two per cent of Nigeria's GDP from the budget process cannot be dismissed as a mere accounting error, and instead, raises questions about the whereabouts of the missing funds.

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Atiku posed a direct question to the government, asking "Who stole the missing two per cent of our GDP?" and emphasized that the issue is no longer an accounting discrepancy, but a constitutional, legal, and moral scandal that demands immediate attention.

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He stated that money does not simply disappear from a national budget, and that somebody must have authorized, approved, and spent the missing funds, benefiting from them in the process, and that Nigerians deserve to know the identities of those individuals.

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The ADC chieftain linked the IMF disclosure to the recent controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which the Presidency has denied establishing, and argued that both incidents point to a broader pattern of abuse of public institutions.

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Atiku cited the example of the Federal Ministry of Health, which reportedly received only ₦36 million in releases despite a budgetary allocation of more than ₦218 billion, while the controversial agency allegedly received about ₦1.3 billion, illustrating the administration's warped priorities.

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He described the situation as "institutionalised corruption," where hospitals and healthcare programmes are starved of funds, while ghost agencies somehow receive billions of naira, and called on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to explain how the alleged agency gained official recognition within government processes.

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Atiku demanded that Senator Akume come clean and provide Nigerians with information on who authorized the recognition of the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and under whose directive government institutions accorded it official status.

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He also referenced allegations made by Adeniyi Adeyemi, the principal figure linked to the controversy, who reportedly claimed that the dispute began after he refused a demand for a 48 per cent kickback from the Office of the Chief of Staff over a proposed ₦27.3 billion take-off grant for the agency.

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Atiku called the allegation too serious to ignore and demanded an independent investigation, stating that if the allegations are false, the government should prove them through an open investigation, and if they are true, every official connected to the scandal must be removed and handed over to the appropriate security agencies for prosecution.

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The controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council comes at a time when Nigerians are grappling with the effects of fuel subsidy removal, rising electricity tariffs, high inflation, multiple taxes, and increasing public debt, making it ironic and cruel that citizens are being asked to make sacrifices while the government cannot transparently explain where enormous public resources have gone.

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Atiku urged the National Assembly, the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Public Accounts Committees of both chambers, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the matter, as it transcends partisan politics and strikes at the heart of constitutional governance and public accountability.

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He emphasized that every naira must be traced, every expenditure must be justified, and every official found culpable must be held accountable, and that until the government provides a satisfactory explanation for the alleged off-budget spending, every claim of transparency by the administration will ring hollow.

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The International Monetary Fund's recent assessment of Nigeria's public finances raised concerns over significant fiscal reporting gaps, stating that government expenditure equivalent to about two per cent of GDP was not captured in the country's budget framework, and recommended stronger fiscal transparency, improved budget reporting, and tighter public financial management to enhance accountability.