Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Federal Government of disguising economic decline with rising naira figures, describing the published increase in allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) as a “monetary illusion.”

Atiku Abubakar said the figures lose their significance when measured against the depreciation of the naira, inflation, declining purchasing power and the mounting liabilities of state governments.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said Nigerians should not be deceived by the trillions of naira announced at FAAC meetings when the currency in which the allocations are denominated has lost substantial value.

He said FAAC distributions rose from approximately N7.85 trillion in 2019, worth about $25.6 billion at the prevailing exchange rate, to about N21.9 trillion in 2025, whose dollar value he put at roughly $14.6 billion.

According to Atiku, while FAAC allocations increased almost threefold in naira terms, their dollar value fell by more than 40 per cent.

“That is not an economic miracle. That is money illusion. 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,” he said.

Atiku said the decline in purchasing power was more evident in the real income of Nigerian workers, using the minimum wage as an example.

He noted that N30,000, the minimum wage in 2019, was worth about $83 at the time. By May 2023, he said, the same amount was worth about $65, while the current N70,000 minimum wage is worth approximately $53 at an exchange rate of N1,320 to the dollar.

“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,” he said.

According to him, workers may earn more naira but still afford less food, transportation, electricity, medicine and housing than they did previously.

He argued that the real measure of the economy should not be the size of FAAC allocations but what the funds can purchase and the obligations they can meet.

“If FAAC is truly booming, then where is the boom? 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 asked.

He also questioned why state governments remained heavily indebted despite what he described as unprecedented revenue allocations.

Atiku cited a September 2026 report based on Debt Management Office data, which showed that 12 states whose governors are approaching the end of their tenures have a combined debt burden of approximately N5.3 trillion.

The debt, he said, comprised N2.16 trillion in domestic obligations and about $2.33 billion in foreign debt.

“You cannot boast endlessly about unprecedented FAAC allocations while states remain heavily indebted, pension and gratuity obligations persist, contractors chase payments and governments continue to carry enormous liabilities,” he said.

Atiku demanded greater scrutiny of government expenditure, including tax concessions, import waivers, revenue exemptions, duplicated and abandoned projects and other areas of potential waste.

He said fiscal discipline should not be imposed disproportionately on ordinary Nigerians while concessions and waste within government escape scrutiny.

“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.

The former vice president said Nigerians experience the economy through the prices they pay for food, transportation, school fees, medicine and other 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.

Atiku said increased revenue should be measured by its impact on citizens, including the debts settled, infrastructure delivered and improvements in living standards.

He said the central question was whether Nigerians were better off despite the increase in nominal government revenues.

“More naira is not automatically more prosperity. Bigger figures do not mean bigger value,” he said.

Atiku concluded that until the government explains what the increased revenue is worth, what it has delivered and what obligations it has settled, the FAAC figures should not be presented as evidence of economic prosperity.

“Until those questions are answered, this FAAC celebration remains exactly what the numbers show it to be: more naira on paper, less value in reality,” he said.