FAAC tables sent N350bn to the sovereign wealth fund NSIA in four months; the 2026 budget plans no NSIA transfer, after N386.57bn in 2025

In four monthly sharing rounds between May and August 2026, the Accountant-General's Federation Account tables set aside N350 billion for the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority before the Federal Government, the 36 states and the 774 councils shared what was left. The line reads "Transfer to NSIA": N50 billion in each of May, June and July, and N200 billion in August. The Federal Government's own budget documents for 2026 plan no transfer to the Authority at all. The Budget Office's medium-term framework puts the 2026 figure at nothing, and the 2026 Appropriation Act has no such line. A year earlier, the same documents carried N386,570,896,585 as the "FGN Share of Oil Price Royalty Transferred to NSIA".

The figures come from Table I, on page 1 of the monthly FAAC disbursement reports published by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, which carry a signature line for Taiwo Oyedele as Minister of Finance. The line first appears in the table for April 2026 revenue, shared in May 2026. Row 11 reads "Transfer to NSIA", N50,000,000,000.00, in the statutory column, between the Military Intervention Fund and the 0.5 per cent deduction for the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Vero Record read Table I of every report from January 2024 to April 2026, 28 tables in all, and none of them carries a transfer to the Authority.

The line stays at N50,000,000,000.00 in the table for May revenue, shared in June, and in the table for June revenue, shared in July, both times as row 11. In the table for July revenue, shared in August, row 11 reads N200,000,000,000.00, four times the earlier amount. The tables give no reason for the increase. Added together, 50 + 50 + 50 + 200 = N350 billion. Over the same four rounds the 36 states received N1,650,631,086,283.49 in statutory allocations, so the transfers to the Authority equal 21.20 per cent of what all the states received from the statutory pool. They are 2.78 per cent of the N12.59 trillion in the four tables' statutory columns.

The budget record points the other way. Table 6.4 of the 2026 to 2028 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, published by the Budget Office in December 2025, lists the Federal Government's expenditure line by line. Capital item i, "FGN Share of Oil Price Royalty Transferred to NSIA", is N386,570,896,585 under "2025 NASS Approval" and a dash under "2026 Budget Proposal", 2027 and 2028. The Appropriation Act, 2025 (Repeal and Enactment) Bill, as published by the Budget Office, carries the same N386,570,896,585 twice: once as revenue, head 25 "Share of Oil Price Royalty", and once as spending, capital item 266. In 2025 the money for the Authority passed through the Federal Government's own budget, in as revenue and out as spending, in the same amount.

The signed 2026 Act keeps the revenue line and drops the spending line. Its schedule, on page ix, lists head 26, "Share of Oil Price Royalty", at N75,086,015,556 among the Federal Government's revenues; the four heads in that part add to 1,899,517,808,898 + 0 + 22,679,465,942 + 75,086,015,556 = N1,997,283,290,396, the total the Act prints. In the capital list on pages xxiii and xxiv, item 262, the recapitalisation of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, is followed directly by item 263, GIFMIS capital. In the 2025 bill the transfer to the Authority sat between those two lines. In the 2,604 pages of the Act's detailed estimates, the letters NSIA appear once, in a teaching-hospital project.

On the budget's own terms, then, the Federal Government planned to keep N75.09 billion of oil price royalty in 2026 as its own revenue and to send nothing to the Authority. The sharing tables show N350 billion sent to the Authority from the shared pool in four months. That is 4.66 times the oil price royalty the Act expects for the whole year, and 90.54 per cent of the N386.57 billion provided for 2025. The tables do not say that the N350 billion is oil price royalty, or name any revenue it came from, so the comparison is one of scale and of route, not a claim that the two are the same money.

The route matters because of who pays. In 2025 the transfer was voted as part of the Federal Government's own budget. A sum taken before sharing reduces what all three tiers receive. On the formula the same tables apply to the statutory pool, 52.68 per cent to the Federal Government, 26.72 per cent to the states and 20.60 per cent to the councils, N350 billion would have meant N184.38 billion for the Federal Government, N93.52 billion for the states and N72.10 billion for the councils. That is an illustration of size only: it ignores derivation, and the tables do not say which revenue the transfers were drawn from.

The record also supports the government on several points. The Authority is not the Federal Government's alone: its website says it is owned by the Federal Government (46.2 per cent), the states (35.1 per cent), the local governments (18.2 per cent) and the Federal Capital Territory (0.5 per cent), and that it is funded mainly from surplus income from crude oil sales. A contribution taken from the shared pool before sharing is consistent with that ownership in a way a payment from the Federal Government's budget alone would not be. Deductions from the Federation Account are not normally voted line by line in the Appropriation Act, so the Act's silence does not show that no authority exists. The transfers are printed openly in the same tables as every other deduction, and the tables add up: the August statutory column re-adds exactly to N4,359,038,182,739.25, and May's to within one kobo of N2,128,095,393,631.97.

What the documents do not establish is what the N350 billion is: oil price royalty, a contribution by the three tiers as owners of the Authority, a repayment, or something else. They do not say which of the Authority's funds received it, what FAAC decision or instrument authorised it, why August's transfer was four times the earlier ones, or whether state finance commissioners agreed. Nor do they show whether the N386.57 billion provided for 2025 was paid. The table for August 2026 revenue, shared in September, was not on the Accountant-General's FAAC report page when Vero Record checked on 8 November 2026, so it is not known whether the transfers continued. Nothing in these records suggests that any of the money was misused, and none is alleged.

We invite a response from the Federal Ministry of Finance and its minister, Taiwo Oyedele, whose name appears on the tables; from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, which prepares them; from the Budget Office of the Federation; and from the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, on what the transfers are for, which fund holds them and which decision authorised them. Any reply will be added to this report.

What this rests on

Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, FAAC Disbursement reports, Table I, p.1: May 2026 (April 2026 revenue) row 11 'Transfer to NSIA' 50,000,000,000.00, states' statutory 294,661,599,530.57, statutory total 2,128,095,393,631.97 (the statutory entries re-add to 2,128,095,393,631.98, one kobo rounding); June 2026 (May 2026 revenue) row 11 50,000,000,000.00, states 380,309,384,896.66, total 2,651,718,906,323.51; July 2026 (June 2026 revenue) row 11 50,000,000,000.00, states 430,809,642,294.63, total 3,450,950,588,357.11; August 2026 (July 2026 revenue) row 11 200,000,000,000.00, states 544,850,459,561.63, total 4,359,038,182,739.25 (the statutory entries re-add exactly). Transfers 50 + 50 + 50 + 200 = N350bn; August 200 / 50 = 4 times. States 294,661,599,530.57 + 380,309,384,896.66 + 430,809,642,294.63 + 544,850,459,561.63 = 1,650,631,086,283.49; 350 / 1,650.63 = 21.20 per cent. Statutory totals 2,128,095,393,631.97 + 2,651,718,906,323.51 + 3,450,950,588,357.11 + 4,359,038,182,739.25 = 12,589,803,071,051.84; 350 / 12,589.80 = 2.78 per cent. Page 1 of the 28 reports from January 2024 to April 2026 searched for 'NSIA', 'Sovereign', 'Wealth Fund' and 'Stabilisation Fund': no match; first match May 2026. Budget Office, 2026-2028 MTEF/FSP, Table 6.4 (printed p.33): 'FGN Share of Oil Price Royalty Transferred to NSIA' 386,570,896,585 (2025 NASS Approval), '-' for 2026 Budget Proposal, 2027 and 2028. Appropriation Act, 2025 (Repeal and Enactment) Bill: revenue head 25 'Share of Oil Price Royalty' 386,570,896,585; capital item 266 'FGN Share of Oil Price Royalty Transferred to NSIA' 386,570,896,585, between item 265 (MOFI recapitalisation) and item 267 (GIFMIS capital). 2026 Appropriation Act schedule p.ix, Part I (Others): 1,899,517,808,898 + 0 + 22,679,465,942 + 75,086,015,556 = 1,997,283,290,396, the printed total; pp.xxiii to xxiv: item 262 MOFI recapitalisation N20,000,000,000 followed by item 263 GIFMIS capital N15,258,825,876, no NSIA line; full-text search of the 2,604 detailed pages finds 'NSIA' once, in a teaching-hospital project line. Comparisons: 350 / 75.086015556 = 4.66 times; 350 / 386.570896585 = 90.54 per cent. Formula illustration on N350bn: 52.68 per cent = N184.38bn, 26.72 per cent = N93.52bn, 20.60 per cent = N72.10bn (sum N350.00bn). NSIA ownership per nsia.com.ng: 46.2 + 35.1 + 18.2 + 0.5 = 100 per cent.

What this does not establish

What the N350 billion is (oil price royalty, a contribution by the three tiers as owners of the Authority, a repayment of an earlier drawing, or something else); which of the Authority's three funds received it; what law, FAAC decision or other instrument authorised the transfers; why the August transfer was N200 billion against N50 billion in each of the three earlier months; whether state finance commissioners agreed to them; and whether the N386.57 billion provided for 2025 was actually paid to the Authority. The tables do not say which revenue the transfers were drawn from, so the formula split is an illustration only. The September 2026 table was not on the Accountant-General's FAAC report page on 8 November 2026. The Appropriation Act's silence does not by itself show an absence of legal authority, because deductions from the Federation Account are not normally voted in it. The 2025 figures come from the Budget Office's published re-enactment bill and its medium-term framework, not from a signed copy of the re-enacted Act. Nothing in the records indicates misuse of funds, and none is alleged. The ministry, the Accountant-General, the Budget Office and the Authority were not contacted before publication.