Atiku Abubakar, former vice president and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has called for a forensic investigation into the 2026 Appropriation Act following a BusinessDay Investigative report that identified at least N210.23 billion in overlapping allocations and duplicated functions across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The former vice president urged the National Assembly to identify and expose officials responsible for the allocations, arguing that the findings raised fresh concerns about transparency, accountability, and fiscal discipline in public spending.
The call followed BusinessDay Investigations’ report titled ‘How Nigeria’s 2026 budget buried N210bn in overlapping allocations’, which examined the 2,604-page Appropriation Act and uncovered multiple cases where similar programmes, projects, and government functions appeared under separate budget provisions.
BusinessDay Investigation found that some offices received funding through multiple allocations, flagship government programmes appeared under different spending channels, and several projects were fragmented into multiple budget lines carrying similar descriptions.
Atiku, who reacted to the findings in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the reported duplications undermined the federal government’s claims that ongoing economic reforms were restoring fiscal stability.
