Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for an immediate investigation into what he described as alleged off-budget public expenditure amounting to about ₦8.8 trillion, following findings contained in the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) Article IV consultation on Nigeria.
In a statement posted on his verified Facebook page on Saturday, Atiku said a Reuters report published on July 1, 2026, quoting the IMF, indicated that public expenditures equivalent to about 2 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were not captured in recent official budgets.
According to him, the alleged omission translates to approximately ₦8.8 trillion, which he claimed was spent outside Nigeria’s statutory budgetary framework.
The former presidential candidate described the development as “the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history,” urging Nigerians, the media, civil society organisations, the National Assembly and other democratic institutions to demand accountability.
Atiku alleged that the unrecorded expenditures arose from large-scale government projects executed outside the official budget, arguing that such spending bypassed legislative oversight, procurement regulations and scrutiny by the Auditor-General.
