Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Bola Tinubu to provide a detailed explanation for the ₦12.8tn allocated to the Service-Wide Vote in the 2026 Appropriation Act, describing the provision as a threat to transparency and fiscal accountability.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Monday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, alleged that the allocation represented one of the most questionable aspects of the 2026 Federal Budget and called for full public disclosure of how the funds would be utilised.
He claimed that about 84 per cent of the entire 2026 budget was concentrated in 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning reportedly holding ₦12.8tn under the Service-Wide Vote.
The former vice president noted that the provision had risen sharply from ₦638bn in the 2025 budget to ₦12.8tn in the current fiscal year, describing the increase as unprecedented.
According to him, no government committed to accountability should expect Nigerians to accept such a significant increase in the Service-Wide Vote without clearly identifying the agencies responsible for spending the funds, the projects to be executed and the legal basis for the expenditure.
Atiku warned that failure by the Federal Government to provide satisfactory explanations could fuel public suspicion over the intended use of the funds, alleging that the allocation could be interpreted as a political slush fund unless adequate transparency was provided.
He also questioned the personnel allocation under the budget, noting that while the Federal Ministry of Finance was allocated ₦54.8bn for personnel costs, the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning reportedly had a personnel provision of ₦2.19tn under the Service-Wide Vote.
The ADC presidential candidate queried the identity of the workers captured under the provision and called for the publication of the payroll, insisting that Nigerians deserved to know who the beneficiaries were.
Atiku further argued that the amount allocated to the Service-Wide Vote exceeded the combined allocations to critical sectors such as education, defence and agriculture, describing the development as inconsistent with the country's development priorities.
He said the budget was raising serious concerns over fiscal transparency at a time many Nigerians were grappling with economic hardship, stressing that public confidence in government spending depended on openness and accountability.
The former vice president urged the National Assembly to conduct a comprehensive investigation into all allocations captured under the Service-Wide Vote, particularly the ₦2.19tn earmarked for personnel.
He called on lawmakers to demand full disclosure of the beneficiaries, legal justification and spending framework for every allocation under the budgetary provision, insisting that Nigerians had a right to know how public funds would be managed.
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