Atiku Demands NNPC Receivables Breakdown in Nigeria
NIGERIA · OIL AND POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, holds its oil and gas stakes through NNPC Ltd, the national oil company.
- —What happened On Sunday 4 October, presidential challenger Atiku Abubakar asked NNPC to itemise N11.2 trillion (US$8.4 billion) it says the state owes it.
- —What the figure is The NNPC receivable sits in the company’s 2025 accounts as money owed to NNPC by the Nigerian state.
- —The wider question Atiku also asked whether firms holding big federal contracts are helping fund President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign.
- —The catch The N11.2 trillion (US$8.4 billion) is a balance NNPC says the state owes it; the accounts do not show what was paid to contractors.
- —Still open Atiku offered no evidence linking contract payments to Tinubu’s campaign, and the accounts do not split security costs from advances.
Nigerian opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar wants a detailed breakdown of NNPC receivables worth N11.2 trillion (US$8.4 billion). NNPC Ltd, the national oil company, books the sum in its 2025 accounts as money owed to it by the Nigerian state.
Atiku, a former vice-president, made the demand in a campaign statement on Sunday 4 October. He also asked whether companies holding large federal contracts are helping to fund President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Who Atiku Is and What NNPC Does
Atiku Abubakar was Nigeria’s vice-president from 1999 to 2007 under President Olusegun Obasanjo. He lost the 2023 presidential election to Tinubu as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In 2025 he moved to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and he is now its candidate for the 2027 presidential race. Tinubu, of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), is seeking a second term.
NNPC Ltd is Nigeria’s national oil company. Since the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021, it runs commercially and holds the state’s oil and gas stakes.
Its accounts call the Nigerian state “the Federation”. Amounts here are converted at about 1,331 naira to the US dollar on 5 October 2026.
What the NNPC Receivable Actually Is
Note 24.2 of NNPC’s 2025 financial statements lists N11.2 trillion (US$8.4 billion) as “other receivables from Federation” for the group. A receivable is money a company expects to collect from someone else.
The note says this NNPC receivable covers advance payments to the government and the cost of protecting oil and gas assets. Under a framework agreed between the government and NNPC, the company can pay for that security and charge it to the state.
The figure is the balance on 31 December 2025, an amount NNPC says the state owes it. The accounts do not say how much of it is security costs and how much is advances.
A year earlier, receivables from the Federation stood at N17.5 trillion (US$13.2 billion). That total combined N8.67 trillion (US$6.5 billion) in energy-security costs with N8.84 trillion (US$6.6 billion) in other receivables.
The older N8.67 trillion (US$6.5 billion) balance was netted against royalties, taxes and dividends due to the Federation.
That reconciliation was completed in September 2025. In plain terms, the claim was netted against sums due to the state rather than settled in cash.
What Atiku Is Asking For
Atiku wants NNPC to say how much of the sum relates to protecting oil and gas infrastructure. He also wants to know what was paid, who received it and what services were delivered.
“Nigerians cannot tell from these totals what was spent on pipeline surveillance,” he said. The statement was issued by Phrank Shaibu, strategic communication director of Atiku’s ADC campaign council.
Atiku also set the NNPC receivable against roughly N3.1 trillion (US$2.3 billion) allocated to the Ministry of Defence in 2025. He acknowledged that the two figures belong to different accounting categories.
The Campaign Funding Question
Atiku pointed to Tantita Security Services, which the federal government engages for oil pipeline surveillance in the Niger Delta. Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, is associated with the firm.
Ekpemupolo also founded and sponsors the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, which campaigns for Tinubu’s re-election. On Saturday 3 October the group donated 25 campaign vehicles, generators and electronic speakers in Taraba State.
“Tantita holds a pipeline security contract while its founder sends campaign vehicles out to seek another term for the President,” Atiku said. He presented no evidence that payments under Tantita’s contract funded the movement.
He also questioned the award of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to Hitech Construction Company, owned by the Chagoury family. He asked the government to publish the firms invited, the bids, their evaluation and the final contract.
The statement offered no evidence that Hitech or the Chagoury family financed Tinubu’s re-election activities.
What NNPC and the Government Have Said
In April, NNPC said its pipeline-security programme helped lift crude output to an average of 1.71 million barrels a day in 2025. That compared with 960,000 barrels a day in 2022.
Also in April, more than 300 federal lawmakers backed keeping Tantita on pipeline surveillance after a National Assembly roundtable on pipeline security.
When NNPC presented its 2025 results, Group Chief Executive Bayo Ojulari credited community surveillance and the armed forces. “Most of those pipelines have retained 100 per cent availability,” he said, according to Punch.
On the highway, the federal government has said it used restricted bidding. NNPC and the Presidency had not publicly responded to Atiku’s statement by Monday 5 October.
What It Means for US Readers
For investors in Nigerian bonds or oil partnerships, the NNPC receivable shows how closely the company’s books and state finances overlap. The earlier N8.67 trillion (US$6.5 billion) security balance was settled by offset, not in cash.
The breakdown Atiku seeks is not in the published accounts, so any detail NNPC releases would be new information. For policy watchers, oil money and contract awards are now campaign issues before the 2027 vote.
What Is Not Known
The accounts do not split the N11.2 trillion (US$8.4 billion) between security spending and advances. Nor do they name the companies paid for pipeline protection or what each received.
There is no public evidence that money from Tantita’s contract or from Hitech reached Tinubu’s campaign. It is also unclear whether NNPC will publish the detail, and how the current NNPC receivable will be settled.
More: Nigeria news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
What is the NNPC receivable Atiku is asking about?
It is money NNPC Ltd records as owed to it by the Nigerian government: N11.2 trillion (US$8.4 billion) on 31 December 2025. The accounts say it covers advance payments to the government and the cost of protecting oil and gas assets.
Who is Atiku Abubakar?
He was Nigeria’s vice-president from 1999 to 2007 and is the African Democratic Congress candidate for the 2027 presidential election. He lost the 2023 election to Bola Tinubu as the Peoples Democratic Party candidate.
Was the money paid to pipeline-security contractors?
Not as such: the NNPC receivable is a debt the government owes the company. The accounts do not say how much of it relates to security work.
Is there evidence that contractors funded Tinubu’s campaign?
Atiku asked the question but presented no evidence. He cited Tantita’s pipeline contract and the coastal highway award to Hitech Construction.
How was the earlier energy-security claim settled?
NNPC’s accounts say the N8.67 trillion (US$6.5 billion) energy-security balance was offset against royalties, taxes and dividends owed to the state. That reconciliation ended in September 2025.
Sources: Premium Times, 5 October 2026; NNPC Ltd 2025 Annual Financial Report (Note 24.2), September 2026; Vanguard, 4 October 2026; Vanguard (Taraba), 3 October 2026; Punch, 2 October 2026; Punch (Taraba), 3 October 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief