By David Lawani, Abuja
The Federal Government has dismissed allegations that it operated an ₦8.8 trillion “shadow budget”, insisting that no public funds were spent outside constitutionally approved appropriations and describing reports to the contrary as “inaccurate, misleading and based on conjecture.”
The rebuttal followed allegations by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who cited the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s 2026 Article IV Consultation Report to claim that public expenditure equivalent to about two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), estimated at ₦8.8 trillion, was incurred outside the country’s official budgetary framework.
Atiku had urged the National Assembly, anti-corruption agencies and the Auditor-General of the Federation to investigate what he described as off-budget spending, alleging that the Tinubu administration had executed multi-trillion-naira projects outside constitutional appropriation and legislative oversight.
Responding in a statement on Sunday, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the interpretation of the IMF report was erroneous and created a false impression that the Federal Government secretly spent trillions of naira without legal authorisation.
“The Federal Government does not operate a ‘shadow budget’ or expend public funds outside the constitutional and statutory framework established for public finance,” Oyedele stated.
The Minister explained that under Sections 80 to 83 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), public funds may be withdrawn and spent only in accordance with laws enacted by the National Assembly.
According to him, all federal expenditures are backed by duly enacted Appropriation Acts, Supplementary Appropriation Acts and other statutory authorisations approved by lawmakers, while multi-year capital projects are implemented under existing laws governing capital rollovers.
Oyedele argued that allegations of trillions of naira being secretly spent outside legislative approval should be supported by verifiable evidence rather than speculation.
“Such allegations should identify the specific projects purportedly executed without appropriation or legal authority and present credible evidence in support of the claim. Assertions of this magnitude must be supported by verifiable facts rather than conjecture,” he said.
The Minister further clarified that Nigeria’s fiscal framework contains several categories of lawful expenditures outside the annual Appropriation Act but expressly authorised by Acts of the National Assembly.
He listed these as statutory allocations to development commissions and other agencies established by law; the cost of revenue collection; separate budgets for the Federal Capital Territory and certain agencies; approved intervention programmes for security, infrastructure, and disaster response; and debt service obligations.
According to the ministry, these expenditures are neither secret nor illegal; they are disclosed in fiscal reports and remain subject to legislative oversight, audit, and accountability mechanisms.
“Their treatment for reporting purposes may differ from their presentation in the annual Appropriation Act under international reporting standards. Such classification differences should not be misrepresented as evidence of unlawful expenditure,” the statement added.
The government also rejected claims that the reported amount constituted an increase in Nigeria’s fiscal deficit, explaining that fiscal deficits are determined by the relationship between total revenues and total expenditures, regardless of the financing mechanism used for approved projects.
It maintained that the IMF’s observations focused primarily on improving the comprehensiveness, timing and presentation of Nigeria’s fiscal reporting rather than questioning the legality of government spending.
The ministry recalled that while presenting the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly on December 19, 2025, President Bola Tinubu had called for the harmonisation of multiple and overlapping budgets into a single, cohesive fiscal framework as part of ongoing public financial management reforms.
Oyedele said the administration remained committed to prudent fiscal management, transparency and accountability through reforms aimed at strengthening treasury management, digitalising government financial processes, improving revenue administration and enhancing budget credibility.
He noted that the reforms had received positive recognition from the IMF, international credit rating agencies, investors and other multilateral institutions.
“Public debate is both welcome and essential in a democratic society. However, it should be based on facts and an accurate understanding of Nigeria’s constitutional and fiscal framework.
“Mischaracterising technical observations as evidence of unlawful expenditure neither advances informed public discourse nor strengthens democratic accountability,” the Minister said.
The controversy erupted after Atiku interpreted the IMF’s latest Article IV Consultation Report as evidence that about ₦8.8 trillion in public expenditure had escaped the country’s statutory budget process.
He described the alleged discrepancy as “the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history” and demanded a wide-ranging probe into the management of public finances.
The former vice president also linked the issue to the recent controversy over the reported ₦1.3 billion allocation to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 budget and alleged that off-budget spending could be used to finance political activities ahead of the 2027 general election.
However, the Federal Government insisted that the IMF report neither accused it of illegal spending nor questioned the legality of expenditures, maintaining that the issues raised relate to fiscal reporting methodology rather than any breach of Nigeria’s constitutional appropriation process
