OYEDELE SAYS “HIDDEN SPENDING” REPORTS MISINTERPRET WORLD BANK UPDATE
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By: Fasasi Hammad
The Federal Ministry of Finance has rejected reports claiming that a large share of Nigeria’s revenue is unaccounted for or diverted, describing such assertions as a misreading of the World Bank’s recent Nigeria Development Update.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Minister of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, said suggestions of “hidden spending” or misappropriation stem from a misunderstanding of how the country’s fiscal system operates.
The ministry explained that deductions from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) had been wrongly interpreted as lost or wasted funds. Oyedele stressed that refunds and transfers to states and other levels of government are legitimate fiscal transactions, covering obligations such as statutory allocations and repayments, not leakages.
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It further clarified that these deductions account for lawful expenditures, including statutory transfers, security-related spending, savings and investments, collection costs, refunds to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as financial support and interventions for subnational governments.
The statement also criticised the use of outdated data in some analyses, noting that the World Bank report actually acknowledges ongoing reforms in public financial management. Among these is an Executive Order introduced in early 2026 to improve the remittance of petroleum revenues, which is expected to enhance transparency and increase distributable income by about 0.4 per cent of GDP each year.
According to the ministry, the report paints a generally positive economic outlook for Nigeria, with growth becoming more diversified, inflation easing gradually, and external reserves strengthening alongside a current account surplus. It added that debt indicators have improved, including a decline in the debt-to-GDP ratio.
The ministry maintained that the World Bank’s findings do not indicate a breakdown of Nigeria’s fiscal system but rather show that ongoing reforms are beginning to deliver results and should be sustained.
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