Atiku just exposed N8.8 trillion off-budget spending. Who is sleeping?

Yesterday, Atiku Abubakar asked the EFCC and ICPC to investigate the IMF's claim that Nigeria spent N8.8 trillion off-budget. This is not a small allegation. The IMF is an international body, they do not just throw figures around for fun. If this is true, it means the government has been spending money that the National Assembly never approved. That is a direct violation of the constitution and a massive breach of trust.

I have been a civil engineer in Ibadan for over twenty years. I have seen contracts awarded for roads that were never built, and money voted for projects that never saw the light of day. But N8.8 trillion? That is more than the entire capital budget of some states. This is not just corruption, this is institutionalised looting. The fact that nobody in government has come out to deny or explain this figure tells you everything you need to know.

Some people will say Atiku is just playing politics because he wants to be president again. But even if that is true, does it make the question less valid? The IMF does not have a political agenda in Nigeria. They track our spending. If they say we spent N8.8 trillion off-budget, somebody in Aso Rock should be sweating. The EFCC and ICPC have been quiet on this. Are they waiting for a directive from above? Let us be honest, if this was the opposition spending, they would have been arrested by now. Am I the only one that thinks this silence is deafening?