Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to publicly account for what he described as approximately ₦30 trillion in Federation Account revenues, deductions, savings and transfers that remain without adequate public explanation. The demand, signed by Atiku's Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, and dated August 19, 2026, followed the release of July 2026 Federation Account figures. Atiku said he had previously identified roughly ₦28 trillion requiring explanation up to June 2026, and that the July data had pushed the cumulative figure closer to ₦30 trillion.
Atiku Demands Transparency on Nearly ₦30 Trillion Federation Account Funds
"The question President Tinubu must answer remains painfully simple: Where is the money?" Atiku said. For July 2026, gross statutory revenue reached ₦4.359 trillion, while the Federation Account Allocation Committee approved a total distribution of ₦3.007 trillion to the Federal Government, 36 states and 774 local government councils. Atiku, in a statement sighted by Legit.ng on Wednesday, August 19, pointed to a consistent pattern across multiple months.
In January 2024, ₦2.068 trillion was reported as available revenue, but only ₦1.149 trillion was distributed. In June 2025, ₦4.232 trillion was available while ₦1.818 trillion was shared. By June 2026, available revenue stood at ₦4.501 trillion, yet only ₦2.551 trillion reached the three tiers of government. "These are not accounting footnotes. This is the wealth of the Nigerian people. The accounts are in the custody of the government, not the opposition. Therefore, the burden is on President Tinubu and his administration to tell Nigerians what happened to their money," Atiku said.
July 2026 Figures Add to a Pattern of Unexplained Deductions
Atiku also demanded transparency on the fiscal gains arising from the removal of petrol and energy subsidies, which the Tinubu administration carried out shortly after taking office in June 2023. He argued that Nigerians were promised those reforms would free up resources for development, but that the proceeds have not been visibly reinvested. "President Tinubu did not ask Nigerians to endure the agony of subsidy removal so that the proceeds could become unexplained stashed funds beyond public scrutiny," he said.
He listed inter-state rail connectivity, university capacity expansion, primary healthcare and public transportation as areas where subsidy savings should have been deployed. Instead, he said, Nigerians are paying more for petrol, electricity and food while the government celebrates record revenues. Atiku also highlighted what he called a contradiction at the heart of the administration's fiscal record: claiming enormous savings while simultaneously expanding the country's debt. "If these trillions genuinely exist as savings, where are they and why is Nigeria borrowing so aggressively?" he asked.
Where Is the Subsidy-Removal Windfall?
He called on the Tinubu administration to publish a month-by-month, beneficiary-by-beneficiary reconciliation of all Federation revenues from June 2023 to date, covering the cost of collection, transfers, savings, refunds and every other deduction made before distribution. "Transparency is not achieved by attaching convenient accounting labels to trillions of naira. It is achieved by opening the books," Atiku said.
Previously, Legit.ng reported that the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, challenged President Bola Tinubu to stop deflecting blame onto past administrations. The former vice president said Tinubu should instead explain what happened to the billions of naira channelled into Nigeria's refineries during his own tenure.
