Abuja, NIGERIA — Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has raised an alarm over World Bank reports indicating that N34.44 trillion in Federation Revenue failed to reach the Federation Account over the last three years.
In a statement released on Saturday, April 18, 2026, Obi noted that while Nigeria’s total revenue surged to N84 trillion during the period, approximately 41 percent of the funds were diverted before being officially accounted for.
Okay News reports that Obi described the situation as evidence of institutionalised corruption on a massive scale, comparing the missing funds to the N34 trillion combined capital project budget for the 2024 and 2025 appropriation bills.
Obi criticized what he termed a “lethal paradox,” where the nation earns higher revenues while having fewer resources to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure. He stated that systemic deductions allowed government agencies to capture more resources than entire Nigerian states or critical federal ministries beginning in 2025.
The former Anambra State governor compared the current discrepancy to the 1994 Okigbo Panel report, which highlighted $12.4 billion in unaccounted funds from the Gulf War oil windfall. Obi expressed concern over the “disquietening silence” regarding the current revenue leakages, which he claimed explain why nations with fewer resources are currently outperforming Nigeria in development indices.
Obi called for transparent leadership and disciplined management to redirect hijacked resources back to the public. He emphasized that the country must fix its broken system to strengthen schools and build resilient healthcare infrastructure.
The World Bank figures cited by Obi remain the latest verifiable data on Nigerian fiscal leakages as of April 2026.
