The Federal Government has denied claims that it spent more than N8 trillion outside the approved budget, calling the allegation false and a wrong reading of the IMF’s 2026 Article IV Consultation Report.
The response came as Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Peter Obi, renewed his call for President Bola Tinubu to resign over what he described as growing corruption under the administration.
Speaking in Lagos, IMF Resident Representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, said: “So far, we think there are about two per cent of GDP of expenditure that were not reported, that should be reported and should be recorded, so that this statistical discrepancy will disappear.”
Reacting, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the Federal Government does not run a “shadow budget” or spend public funds outside the law.
He said: “The federal government has noted recent public commentary alleging that approximately two per cent of GDP amounting to over ¦ 8 trillion was spent outside the approved budget based on references to the IMF Representative in Nigeria and the Fund’s 2026 Article IV Consultation Report.
“These claims are incorrect and risk misleading the public regarding the government’s financial management.”
Oyedele said Sections 80 to 83 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution require public funds to be spent only under laws passed by the National Assembly. He added that spending goes through Appropriation Acts, Supplementary Appropriation Acts and other legal approvals, while multi-year projects, statutory transfers, debt servicing and other authorised payments are all part of Nigeria’s legal public finance system.
“It is inaccurate to suggest that trillions of naira have been secretly spent outside legislative approval. Such allegations should have identified the specific projects purportedly executed without appropriation or legal authority and present credible evidence in support of the claim,” he said.
He also said the IMF report focused on improving fiscal reporting, not questioning the legality of government spending, and stressed that Tinubu had already proposed a single, harmonised budget framework.
Meanwhile, Obi insisted the IMF report exposed “grand corruption” and repeated his demand that Tinubu resign.
In a post on X, he said: “The recent report from the IMF consultation further raises concerns about the scale of grand corruption under the Tinubu government. The IMF now reveals that about N8.83 trillion in expenditure undertaken in 2025 is not reflected in the budget.
‘’This expenditure is not budgeted and is, therefore, outside legislative oversight or administrative scrutiny.”
