Nigeria’s Federal Government rejects claims that it spent about ₦8 trillion outside the 2026 budget. Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele says the allegation is based on a misinterpretation of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2026 Article IV Consultation report. Multiple outlets report that the IMF pointed to discrepancies in Nigeria’s fiscal reporting and said roughly two per cent of GDP in spending was not captured in official budgets. Oyedele argues that Nigeria does not run a “shadow budget” and that public spending is carried out through constitutional and statutory processes. He says lawful components include approved appropriations, supplementary budgets, statutory transfers, debt service, and interventions, as well as multi-year capital projects and approved rollovers, which should not be treated as off-budget spending. The outlets also note that opposition figures cited the IMF report to accuse the Tinubu administration of corruption and called for investigations. The government’s position, as presented across the articles, is that the IMF’s observations focus on improving fiscal reporting practices rather than questioning the legality of government expenditure.