Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has questioned the reported ₦17.5 trillion spent by Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in a single year on pipeline security under Bola Tinubu’s administration.
According to Atiku, the massive expenditure was described as “one of the most brazen financial scandals in our nation’s history.” The amount was compared to the roughly ₦18 trillion spent over twelve years on the national fuel-subsidy programme — a programme that had cushioned millions of Nigerians, stabilized transport costs, and helped keep food prices manageable.
It was argued that while citizens were asked to “tighten their belts” and endure hardship with subsidy removal, public funds were being redirected into opaque pipeline-security contracts awarded to private firms allegedly linked to political associates.
Records reportedly showed that ₦7.13 trillion was allocated to “energy-security costs to maintain stable petrol prices,” with a further ₦8.67 trillion labeled “under-recovery.”
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Numerous questions have been raised: Who were the beneficiaries of these contracts? What justifies a nearly 39 percent rise in “energy-cost” between 2024 and 2025? Why is pipeline security now costing nearly as much as a decade-long subsidy programme? And where are the audit reports, parliamentary oversight findings, or any cost-validation documents?
Atiku insists that the ₦17.5 trillion spending must be subjected to a full independent forensic audit. He has demanded that the list of contract-awarded companies, contract scopes and durations be published, further disbursement be halted, and the government must account for the expenditure.
He warned that until transparency is assured, Nigerians should not be asked to accept further economic sacrifice under what he called “public expenditure disguised as crony enrichment.”