Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate and former vice president of Nigeria, has challenged the Tinubu administration over the scale of oil-sector spending, arguing that funds linked to the industry now far exceed the country’s defence and security budget.
In a statement issued on Sunday through his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku focused on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s reported expenditure. He questioned why N11.2 trillion allocated to NNPCL security-related activities was more than three times the N3.1 trillion provided for defence in Nigeria’s 2025 budget.
Atiku called for a full breakdown of the N11.2 trillion recorded in NNPCL’s 2025 financial accounts. He said the federal government should immediately disclose how the money assigned to pipeline monitoring and protection was spent, including the recipients, the work commissioned and the results achieved.
He pointed to the accounts’ recording of roughly N11.2 trillion in other receivables from the Federation, saying the figure did not make clear what portion went toward pipeline surveillance. Atiku said Nigerians needed answers on the payments, the beneficiaries, the services delivered and the evidence that those services produced results.
Although the amounts appear under separate accounting classifications, Atiku said their relative size revealed a significant imbalance in the government’s priorities. In his assessment, oil-related commitments under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have overshadowed the resources assigned to protecting the country, a situation he described as a serious indictment of the administration’s spending choices.
