Wednesday, August 5, 2026 -The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed grave concern over revelations from the 2026 Appropriation Act, independently analysed by Tracka, showing that the Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, Enugu State, was allocated a staggering N1.08 trillion to execute 2,791 capital projects across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Atiku said allocating such amount to a cooperative college
is not governance but more like a blueprint to defraud Nigerians.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on
Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku commended Tracka for exposing what
appears to be one of the most disturbing examples of budget distortion under
the Tinubu administration.
He said the revelations come at a time when the Presidency
is asking Nigerians to believe that painful reforms, higher taxes and
unprecedented borrowing are products of prudent economic management.
Atiku said: “Nothing exposes the hollowness of that claim
more than a budget that turns a federal cooperative college into one of
Nigeria’s largest project-implementing agencies.”
He said the revelations raise serious questions about the
credibility of the 2026 budget.
“It defies logic, public finance principles and the
institution’s statutory mandate that a college established to promote
cooperative education should suddenly become responsible for roads, drainage
systems, solar streetlights, markets, football pitches, dialysis centres,
ambulances, water schemes, recycling plants, empowerment programmes and
thousands of other projects scattered across the federation.
“Who decided that a cooperative college should become one of
Nigeria’s biggest ministries by stealth? Under what law was it transformed into
the implementing agency for 2,791 projects? Who nominated these projects, who
approved them, who will supervise them, and who will be held accountable?”
Atiku said the disclosures completely undermine the Tinubu
administration’s claim of fiscal discipline.
“This government operates a medieval financial system in
which the national treasury is treated as the personal purse of the
ruler—available to be spent, diverted or dispensed at will, with little regard
for transparency, accountability or the public interest. In a constitutional
democracy, however, the treasury belongs to the Nigerian people, not to the
President or his cronies.
“A government that says there is no money, removes fuel
subsidy, raises taxes, accumulates unprecedented debt and demands endless
sacrifices from Nigerians cannot simultaneously operate a budget that appears
designed to hide public spending behind institutions with neither the statutory
mandate nor the institutional capacity to execute projects of this magnitude.
“A government that plans to spend N1.08 trillion through a
cooperative college cannot claim to be fighting waste or promoting fiscal
discipline. It looks less like governance and more like a blueprint to defraud
Nigerians.”
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