Atiku links ghost agency scandal to IMF’s missing 2% GDP disclosure

By Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA

Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has said the International Monetary Fund, IMF’s disclosure that Nigeria omitted public expenditure equivalent to two per cent of its Gross Domestic Product GDP from recent budgets has exposed what appears to be a deeply entrenched system of institutional corruption under the President Bola Tinubu administration.

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In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the IMF’s disclosure, coming on the heels of the scandal surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council PFIPC, paints the picture of a government where public institutions are increasingly being converted into instruments for opaque financial dealings.

He maintained that until the question of who stole the missing two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP is honestly answered, every claim of transparency by the administration will ring hollow.

“The Constitution is not a book of suggestions. Section 80 is unequivocal: no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly. Budgetary appropriation is not a ceremonial exercise; it is the legal authority upon which every kobo of public expenditure rests. 

“If, as the IMF has revealed, expenditure amounting to two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP was omitted from the budget process, then Nigerians are entitled to one simple question: Who stole the missing two per cent of our GDP? This is no longer an accounting discrepancy. It is a constitutional, legal and moral scandal. Money does not simply disappear from a national budget. Somebody authorised it. Somebody approved it. Somebody spent it. Somebody benefited from it. Nigerians deserve to know who those people are”, he declared. 

Atiku said the revelation reinforces growing concerns that the PFIPC affair was not an isolated incident but part of a wider pattern of institutional capture and abuse of public finance.

He said; “The discovery that a fictitious agency found its way into official government processes and budgetary allocations should alarm every patriotic Nigerian. Now, the IMF tells us that expenditure equivalent to two per cent of our GDP was kept outside the budget. These are not disconnected events. Together, they point to a dangerous culture of institutional corruption,” he said.

He noted that while the Federal Ministry of Health reportedly received only ₦36 million in releases for critical health interventions despite a budgetary appropriation of over ₦218 billion, the PFIPC, which the Presidency now claims never existed, was reportedly allocated about ₦1.3 billion.

“Nothing better illustrates the warped priorities of this administration than a government that starves hospitals and healthcare programmes of funds while ghost agencies somehow find billions waiting for them. This is not fiscal management; it is institutionalised corruption. 

“The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation does not receive, acknowledge, process official correspondence or allocate office accommodation to any agency without the requisite approvals from the Presidency. Those now attempting to distance themselves from the scandal should stop insulting the intelligence of Nigerians,” he said.

He called on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to explain how the agency was recognised. “He must come clean. The country deserves to know who authorised the recognition of the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and under whose directive government institutions accorded it official status,” he said.

Atiku also referenced allegations by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the principal actor in the scandal, that the dispute escalated after he refused a demand for a 48 per cent kickback from the Office of the Chief of Staff on the agency’s proposed ₦27.3 billion take-off grant.

According to him, rhese are grave allegations that cannot be dismissed with press releases or propaganda. “They demand an immediate, transparent and independent investigation. If the allegations are false, let the government prove them through an open investigation. If they are true, then every official connected with this scandal, regardless of rank or office, must be removed immediately and handed over to the appropriate security agencies for prosecution,” he said.

The Waziri Adamawa insisted the matter transcends politics, saying it borders on whether Nigeria is still governed by law or by the discretion of a privileged few.

He called on the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Public Accounts Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC to establish the truth.

“No administration should assume that because it controls the instruments of power, it also controls the truth. The books must be opened. Every naira must be traced. Every expenditure must be justified. Every official found culpable must be held accountable,” he said, adding that the Tinubu administration’s promise of Renewed Hope has instead delivered “renewed secrecy, renewed impunity and renewed fiscal abuse.”