By Opeyemi Adelakun
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Federal Government and other tiers of government to explain why rising Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, revenues have not produced a corresponding improvement in Nigerians’ living conditions.
Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, made the argument in a statement issued on Wednesday by his media aide, Phrank Shaibu.
He described the increase in FAAC allocations as a “money illusion”, maintaining that higher naira figures have been significantly weakened by currency depreciation, inflation and declining purchasing power.
Data from Agora Policy cited by Atiku showed that gross FAAC revenue climbed from N4.43tn in the first half of 2021 to N18.72tn in H1 2026, an increase of about 323 per cent. Agora Policy’s own analysis confirms that gross FAAC revenue reached N18.72tn in the first six months of 2026.
The policy group also reported that N12.59tn of the H1 2026 gross revenue was available for distribution, while N6.13tn was deducted for savings, interventions, refunds, transfers and collection costs.
But Atiku said the headline figures alone could give a misleading impression of economic progress.
“The arithmetic is brutal. In 2019, FAAC distribution was approximately N7.85 trillion, worth about $25.6 billion at the prevailing exchange rate.
“By 2025, FAAC had risen on paper to approximately N21.9 trillion, yet its dollar value had fallen to roughly $14.6 billion.
“So while government parades almost three times as many naira, the underlying dollar value is more than 40 per cent lower,” he said.
He argued that the development demonstrated the difference between nominal growth and real economic value.
“That is not an economic miracle. That is money illusion,” he said.
“You cannot batter the currency, allow inflation to ravage purchasing power and then wave bigger naira figures before Nigerians as evidence that the country has become richer. Bigger numbers do not cancel smaller value.”
Atiku said the same pattern could be seen in workers’ earnings.
He compared the N30,000 minimum wage in 2019 with the current N70,000 minimum wage, saying the increase in the nominal figure had not translated into a corresponding increase in its dollar value.
According to him, N30,000 was worth approximately $83 in 2019 and about $65 by May 2023, while N70,000 was worth roughly $53 at an exchange rate of N1,320 to the dollar.
“Think about that: the number written on the worker’s payslip has risen from N30,000 to N70,000, but its dollar value has fallen from about $83 to about $53,” he said.
“That is Tinubu’s money illusion in its simplest form. The figure in your hand is bigger, but the value in your pocket is smaller.”
The former vice-president subsequently questioned the practical impact of rising FAAC revenues on households.
“If FAAC is truly booming, then where is the boom?” he asked.
“Where is it in the price of food? Where is it in transport? Where is it in electricity, healthcare, housing and jobs? Where is it in the purchasing power of salaries?”
Atiku also raised concerns about continued state indebtedness despite what he described as unprecedented allocations from the federation account.
He called for greater scrutiny of public expenditure, pointing to tax concessions, import waivers, revenue exemptions, duplicated projects and abandoned projects as areas requiring closer attention.
“You cannot defend concessions for the powerful, tolerate waste within government and then suddenly become an apostle of fiscal discipline when ordinary Nigerians ask for relief from unbearable living costs,” he said.
“Fiscal responsibility that operates only against the poor is not reform. It is cruelty dressed up in economic grammar.”
Atiku said ordinary Nigerians experience economic conditions through the cost of basic necessities rather than through government revenue figures.
“Nigerians do not eat FAAC figures. They do not pay school fees with percentages. They do not buy medicine with press conferences, and they do not enter buses with government charts,” he said.
“They live in the real economy, and the real economy is measured by what their money can buy.”
He maintained that higher FAAC allocations should therefore not be presented as proof of widespread prosperity while purchasing power remains under pressure and government liabilities continue to grow.
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