Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused Tinubu’s administration of squandering N17.5 trillion on questionable pipeline security in 12 months.

Atiku, writing on his X handle on Sunday, noted that the homogeneous pipeline security expenditure is “more than 12 years of fuel subsidy”.

According to the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), “The report that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) spent a humongous N17.5 trillion in just 12 months on “securing fuel pipelines and others’ stands as one of the most brazen financial scandals in our nation’s history.”

Atiku recalls that “Nigeria spent roughly N18 trillion on fuel subsidy over a period of twelve years — a national programme that directly cushioned millions of Nigerians, stabilised the transport sector, and helped keep food prices manageable.”

He declared that under President Bola Tinubu, the country has now expended nearly the same amount in a single year on same subsidy and opaque pipeline security contracts awarded to private firms tied to associates and cronies of the President.

"Indeed, the action of the President is akin to robbing Peter (Nigerians) to pay Paul (cronies),” Atiku said. “This is not governance. This is grand larceny dressed as public expenditure.”

Atiku, who is now a Chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stated that the Tinubu administration justified the removal of fuel subsidy by claiming the country could no longer afford it.

According to him “Nigerians were told to tighten their belts, endure hardship, and “make sacrifices.

“However, the same administration has now channelled N17.5 trillion — an amount that could transform Nigeria’s power sector, rebuild our refineries, or fund universal healthcare — into opaque security contracts whose beneficiaries are conveniently linked to those in power.

“In some places in the country, a litre of PMS goes for over N1,000 and the justification for this by the Tinubu administration is the wholesome removal of subsidy, yet according to the records provided by the NNPCL, this same administration has spentN7.13tn on what it calls, “energy-security cost to keep petrol prices stable”; another N8.67tn on what it calls “under-recovery.

“These two balablu nomenclatures: energy-cost and under-recovery are a new coinage of the Tinubu administration to deceive Nigerians on the government’s fraudulent claim that it was no longer paying subsidies on petroleum products.”

Atiku noted that the expenditure raises fundamental questions of public trust and national integrity.

He, therefore, asked the Tinubu’s administration to tell Nigerians “Who are the companies paid under these contracts?” and “What specifically justifies a 38.7 percent rise in the amount of energy cost from N6.25tn in 2024 to N8.67tn in 2025?”

He also questioned why the “pipeline security is now more expensive than a decade-long subsidy that served over 200 million Nigerians?

“Where are the audit reports, parliamentary oversight findings, and cost-validation documents?”

According to him “No administration that presides over this level of fiscal recklessness has the moral authority to demand sacrifice from its people” adding that “the Nigerian public cannot continue to suffer crushing inflation, punitive fuel prices, an unending collapse of the naira, and widespread hunger — only for a select circle of political allies to pocket trillions under the guise of “pipeline security.”

“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 further requested the federal government to “Publish the full list of companies awarded these contracts; disclose the scope, deliverables, and duration of each contract; and subject the entire N17.5 trillion expenditure to an independent forensic audit;

Others include an immediate halt of further disbursement until accountability is established; and “an explanation of “how this expenditure aligns with national priorities at a time of unprecedented economic strangulation.”

He said: “Nigerians deserve transparency, not deceit. They deserve leadership, not cronyism. And they deserve a government that places national interest above private enrichment.

“This N17.5 trillion pipeline-security expenditure is not merely a financial anomaly — it is a moral indictment on the Tinubu administration and a clarion call for full accountability.” (BusinessDay)