Claim: Parliament approves request to dedicate all oil revenues and mineral royalties to the Big Push programme
Source: Social media & news websites
Verdict: False
Researched by Nusrat Essah
Between July 30 and 31, 2025, multiple news portals (here, here, here) reported that Parliament had approved a request from the Finance and Roads Committee to dedicate all oil revenue and mineral royalties to the Big Push programme of President John Dramani Mahama.
A flyer shared by JoyNews on Facebook was captioned “Parliament approves request to dedicate all oil revenues and mineral royalties to the Big Push programme,” while the lede of the story also read: “Parliament has approved for government to allocate the entirety of Ghana’s oil revenues and mineral royalties towards the execution of the ambitious “Big Push” Programme.”
However, the accuracy of this claim was challenged by Policy Analyst and natural resource governance advocate, Dr Steve Manteaw, on Facebook, who reshared the JoyNews flyer and said; “This information is NOT ACCURATE. It is not ALL oil revenues that are being dedicated to the Big Push. It’s only the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), which the law allows us to spend through the budget.
RelatedNews
“The law, prior to the amendment, required that at least 70% of the ABFA was spent on capital projects. This legal requirement was breached by the previous government almost throughout its tenure.
“I’m happy the NDC wants to go beyond the 70% benchmark. Please, note that the Heritage Fund, the Stabilisation Fund, and the Sinking Fund are not affected by the amendments,” he added.
This report seeks to verify whether all oil revenue and mineral royalties are being dedicated to the Big Push.
Fact-Check
According to the Bank of Ghana’s report titled: ‘About The Ghana Petroleum Fund,’ the total oil revenue and mineral revenues that accrue to the government are distributed into three parts:
- The Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) – 9%
- The Ghana Stabilisation Fund (GSF) – 21% and,
- The Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) – 70%
The ABFA is the portion of the oil revenue allocated to the national budget for government expenditure. Meanwhile, GhanaFact reviewed the 2025 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review presented by the Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, on July 24, 2025, and found that he said;
“Mr. Speaker may recall Parliament approved that all oil revenues and mineral royalties accrued to the Budget be dedicated to the Big Push.”
The key phrase here is “accrued to the budget”, which does not mean all oil and mineral revenues generated by the state, but only a portion of total revenues that flow into the national budget (ABFA).
Also, during TV3’s Hot Issues programme on August 3, 2025, Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, clarified that the oil revenue under the ABFA is the portion dedicated to the Big Push Programme.
“The Finance Minister was clear that oil revenues are apportioned and is backed by law. The only portion that is being used for roads is the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA). The one that already comes to the budget for capital investment…
“In fact, some mineral revenues, as royalties, go to many things across the country. There’s no law that can allow the finance minister to seize all mineral royalties and oil revenue and channel it into one. All those exist; it is only the one that is under the budget line ABFA that is being used for roads,” he said. (37 mins: 29secs to 38 mins: 13 secs)
From the above, Parliament did not approve a request to dedicate all oil revenues and mineral royalties to the Big Push as widely reported; the allocation is limited to the portion of budgetary support through the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA).
Verdict
The claim is, therefore, False because not all the oil revenue and mineral royalties was dedicated to the Big Push programme.
