Atiku Demands Probe of Almajiri Commission Budget
A fresh political storm has gathered around the 2026 budget after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar accused President Bola Tinubu of presiding over what he called a deliberate pattern of budget manipulation, following disclosures that an education agency created to rescue millions of out-of-school children was loaded with billions of naira for road construction it has no legal power to execute.
Speaking on Tuesday through a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate said the revelations, taken alongside the controversy over the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, exposed a governing culture where public money is quietly rerouted through agencies that attract little scrutiny.
The trigger was a Daily Trust special report showing that the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education earmarked about N8.4bn for road projects in Ogun, Ekiti and Katsina states. Records of the 2026 Appropriation Act indicate the commission received N22.82bn in total, made up of N21.68bn for capital spending and N1.14bn for recurrent costs. Beyond roads, the agency also budgeted for ambulances, dental equipment and solar street lights, none of which fall within its statutory remit.
“Since when did the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education become a road construction agency?” Atiku asked. He argued that diverting resources from an education body at a time when official estimates put the number of out-of-school children at more than 20 million amounted to “not merely a distortion of priorities but a cruel betrayal of the very children the Commission was created to serve.”
The commission itself was set up by an Act signed into law on May 27, 2023, under the Federal Ministry of Education, with a mandate covering the integration of Qur’anic and formal education, teacher training, school feeding and scholarships. It is on that legal footing that critics have questioned road and health contracts appearing in its books.
Atiku described the pattern as a familiar one, alleging that the administration’s “henchmen have once again resorted to the now familiar tactic of hiding questionable projects in backwater agencies where public scrutiny is minimal and where funds can be more easily diverted.” He added: “This is the height of irresponsibility. It is the height of impunity. Indeed, it is the height of evil.”
He tied the matter to allegations by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-styled Director-General of the PFIPC, who has claimed senior officials demanded billions of naira from him. Atiku questioned why Adeyemi had not been arraigned since being invited for questioning late last year, why he was reportedly still operating from the Federal Secretariat, and how he allegedly visited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission leadership while under investigation. He compared the episode to the Abdulrasheed Maina pension affair, where arrests and prosecution followed quickly.
For Atiku, responsibility rests at the top. “The budget is his budget. The Appropriation Act bears his signature. The agencies involved operate under his administration,” he said, framing the situation as either complicity or “an absentee presidency.” He called on the National Assembly to explain how the appropriations cleared legislative scrutiny and urged “a full, transparent and independent investigation.”
The Presidency has firmly rejected the PFIPC claims. In a statement by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, it described Adeyemi as an impostor who forged appointment letters bearing falsified signatures of the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to run what it called a fictitious council.
The Almajiri commission has also responded. In a statement by its spokesperson, it said the disputed items were not conceived by the agency but were National Assembly constituency projects assigned to it for implementation, insisting that reforming Almajiri education remains its foremost priority. Under Nigeria’s budgeting framework, lawmakers routinely nominate constituency projects that are later handed to ministries, departments and agencies for execution, a practice fiscal accountability groups have long flagged as prone to mandate distortion.