FORMER Vice President, Mr Atiku Abubakar, says the administration of President Bola Tinubu has spent a staggering N17.5 trillion on questionable pipeline security within just 12 months.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Sunday, Mr Abubakar described the reported expenditure by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as “one of the most brazen financial scandals in our nation’s history,” noting that the amount exceeds what Nigeria spent on fuel subsidy over a 12-year period.
According to Mr Abubakar, popularly known as Atiku, who is a opposition leader in the newly-formed African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nigeria spent about N18 trillion on fuel subsidy across 12 years – a programme he said directly cushioned millions of citizens, stabilised transportation costs, and helped keep food prices in check.
He argued that under Tinubu, the country has now spent nearly the same amount in a single year on opaque pipeline security contracts allegedly awarded to private firms linked to associates of the president.
“Indeed, the action of the President is akin to robbing Peter (Nigerians) to pay Paul (cronies). This is not governance. This is grand larceny dressed as public expenditure,” he wrote.
Atiku, who came behind Mr Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election under the auspices of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), recalled that Tinubu justified the removal of fuel subsidy by claiming the country could no longer afford it. He said Nigerians were urged to tighten their belts, endure hardship and make sacrifices — only for the government to reportedly “channel trillions into opaque security contracts with politically connected beneficiaries.”
He noted that in some parts of the country, petrol now sells for over N1,000 per litre. Yet, records published by the NNPCL indicate that the administration has spent N7.13 trillion as energy security cost to keep petrol prices stable, and another N8.67 trillion on ‘under-recovery.’
Atiku described the two terms — energy security cost and under-recovery — as ‘balablu nomenclatures’ invented by the administration to mask the continued payment of petrol subsidy.
He said the expenditure raises fundamental questions of public trust and national integrity, demanding that the federal government disclose the companies involved and justify the 38.7 percent rise in energy security cost from N6.25 trillion in 2024 to N8.67 trillion in 2025.
He further queried why pipeline security has suddenly become more expensive than a decade-long subsidy programme that served over 200 million Nigerians, and asked: “Where are the audit reports, parliamentary oversight findings, and cost-validation documents?”
According to him, no government overseeing this “level of fiscal recklessness” has the moral right to demand sacrifice from its citizens, who continue to face soaring inflation, high fuel prices, a collapsing naira, and widespread hunger.
“This scandal confirms what Nigerians already know: the Tinubu administration did not end subsidy — it merely redirected public wealth from the entire nation to a privileged cartel anchored around the Presidency,” he said.
Atiku called on the government to publish the full list of companies awarded the contracts, disclose the scope and duration of each contract, and subject the entire N17.5 trillion expenditure to an independent forensic audit. He also demanded an immediate halt to further disbursements pending full accountability.
“Nigerians deserve transparency, not deceit. They deserve leadership, not cronyism. And they deserve a government that places national interest above private enrichment,” he wrote.
He added that the N17.5 trillion pipeline-security expenditure is not merely a financial anomaly but a moral indictment on the “Tinubu administration and a clarion call for full accountability.”
Petrol subsidy
President Tinubu announced on his inaguration day on May 29, 2023, that “subsidy is gone.” ushering in a period of deregulation in the downstream petroleum sector. Since then, petrol prices have been left to market forces, determined by demand and supply. The coming of Dangote Petroleum Refinery coincides with the period of petrol subsidy removal, with the refinery substantially reducing petrol imports into the nation and also exporting.
READ ALSO: Confirmed: Tinubu spends N5.4trn on petrol subsidy in 2024 amid lies, denials by ministers
An example of this is the reduction of petrol imports from Malta, where Nigeria imported much of its fuel in 2023. Data from TradeMap shows that Nigeria’s imports of petroleum products from Malta fell to approximately $818 million in 2024, down from over $2.1 billion in 2023.
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has begun expanding his refinery in Lagos from 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd, targeting to establish the largest refinery in the world ever built at a single site in 2028.
Speaking about his expansion plan recently, President of Dangote Group said the expansion reflects his group’s belief in Africa’s potential and its commitment to building energy independence for the continent.
“We are expanding the Dangote Refinery from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day. When completed, this will be the largest refinery ever built at a single site, surpassing India’s Jamnagar refinery,” he said.
Energy analysts are wondering if the government is helping to subsidise petrol from Dangote Petroleum Refinery or subsidising imports. One expert, however, dismissed Mr Atiku’s submission as ‘nonsensical.’
