FG Denies ₦8tn Off-Budget Spending Claim, Says IMF Comments Misrepresented

 

Taiwo Oyedele
(Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy)

The Federal Government on Sunday denied spending about ₦8 trillion outside the approved national budget, calling reports of the alleged off-budget expenditure a misrepresentation of comments by the 

Taiwo Oyedele

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele issued the denial in a statement, saying the government does not run a "shadow budget" or spend public funds outside the constitutional and statutory framework governing public finance.

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"These are recognised features of public financial management and should not be misconstrued as expenditures outside the budget," Oyedele said, referring to multi-year capital projects that span several budget cycles under approved rollover provisions.

Oyedele cited sections 80-83 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution, saying all federal spending is backed by Appropriation Acts, Supplementary Appropriation Acts or other authorisations passed by the National Assembly.

He said statutory transfers, first-line charges and intervention mechanisms covering development commissions, revenue-collection agencies, the Federal Capital Territory, security and disaster response, and debt service are established by law and subject to audit and oversight, even where their reporting treatment differs from the annual Appropriation Act.

"To be meaningful, assertions of this magnitude must be supported by verifiable facts rather than conjecture," he said, challenging critics to name specific unauthorised projects.

The minister also rejected claims the disclosure signaled a wider fiscal deficit.

 "Whether a capital project is financed through annual appropriations, supplementary appropriations, statutory transfers, approved intervention mechanisms or other lawful financing arrangements does not, by itself, increase the fiscal deficit," he said, adding that the IMF's concern centered on reporting timing and presentation, not the legality of spending.

The controversy began after IMF Resident Representative Christian Ebeke said Nigeria failed to record public spending equal to about two per cent of GDP — roughly ₦8.83 trillion — in recent budgets, a gap the Fund said understated the country's real financing needs.

The IMF noted the government had already begun revising budget laws to close the reporting gap.

The disclosure drew swift criticism from opposition figures.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called on the EFCC, ICPC, the National Assembly and the Auditor-General to investigate the alleged spending.

Former Anambra governor Peter Obi described it as evidence of "grand corruption" and demanded greater accountability.

Oyedele recalled that President Bola Tinubu urged lawmakers in December to end overlapping budgets in favor of a single, harmonised framework, and said recent reforms to revenue administration and treasury management have been acknowledged by the IMF, ratings agencies and investors.

"Mischaracterizing technical observations as evidence of unlawful expenditure neither advances informed public discourse nor strengthens democratic accountability," he said