By Obinna Uballa
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of overseeing what he described as one of the most alarming financial scandals in Nigeria’s history, following revelations that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) spent N17.5 trillion in one year on pipeline and energy security.
In a statement issued Sunday by his media office, the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate argued that the spending is nearly equal to the N18 trillion Nigeria expended on fuel subsidies over a twelve-year period.
“At no time in our history has such an outrageous sum been poured into a single opaque line item,” Atiku said. “Nigeria spent roughly N18 trillion on fuel subsidy over twelve years – a programme that directly cushioned transportation costs, moderated food prices, and protected millions of households. Yet this administration has channelled almost the same amount in just one year into dubious pipeline security deals awarded to cronies.”
He described the development as “robbing Nigerians to pay the President’s associates,” alleging that the massive outlay amounted to “grand larceny disguised as public expenditure.”
Atiku criticised what he called the Tinubu government’s “duplicity” in removing fuel subsidy while allegedly introducing new categories of spending that function like subsidies. According to him, despite the government’s insistence that subsidy ended in May 2023, NNPCL’s own figures show that N7.13 trillion was spent on “energy-security cost to keep petrol prices stable”, while another N8.67 trillion was tagged as “under-recovery.”
“These two balablu nomenclatures – energy-cost and under-recovery – are nothing but a clever rebranding of fuel subsidy,” he stated. “Nigerians are paying over ₦1,000 for a litre of PMS in some areas, yet the government is secretly maintaining subsidy, only now it benefits a privileged few instead of the public.”
The former Vice President raised questions on transparency, demanding full disclosure of the companies that received the contracts, the scope of the jobs executed, and the justification for a 38.7 per cent projected rise in so-called energy-costs from 2024 to 2025.
“Why should pipeline security in one year cost more than a nationwide fuel subsidy programme that served 200 million people over more than a decade?” he queried.
Atiku argued that no government with such “fiscal recklessness” has the moral authority to ask citizens to endure hardship while inflation, hunger, and rising fuel prices persist.
He insisted that the N17.5 trillion figure confirmed Nigerians’ fears that the government “did not end subsidy but simply redirected public funds to a cartel aligned with the Presidency.”
The former Vice President called for the immediate publication of all firms involved, the suspension of further payments, and a full-scale independent forensic audit of the expenditure.
“Nigerians deserve honesty, not deception. They deserve governance driven by national interest, not patronage networks,” Atiku said, adding that the spending represents “a moral indictment of the Tinubu administration and a call for complete accountability.”
