Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has demanded that the Federal Government account for Nigeria’s oil revenues and savings from petrol subsidy removal as pump prices climbed to as high as N1,470 per litre.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Monday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, also called for a comprehensive reconciliation of Federation Account revenues from 2023 to date, amid rising crude oil prices and renewed pressure on domestic petrol prices.
Checks showed that several filling stations in Abuja increased their pump prices to between N1,395 and N1,450 per litre.
In Lagos, some filling stations adjusted prices to N1,400 per litre, while a station in Ibadan sold petrol at N1,370 per litre.
The latest increases followed heightened tensions in the Middle East and a surge in international crude oil prices.
‘Where are the subsidy savings?’
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, said Nigerians were told that the removal of petrol subsidy would free resources for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other essential services.
He, however, questioned the management of the revenues generated by the oil sector and the savings allegedly made from subsidy removal.
“Petrol at N1,470 per litre is not merely a figure at the filling station. It enters the price of transportation, food, school runs, farming, manufacturing and virtually everything Nigerians buy.
“Every increase at the pump travels directly into the household budget,” he said.
Atiku added, “After all the pain imposed on Nigerians, they have a right to ask: where are the subsidy savings and where is the money?”
The former vice-president demanded the disclosure of gross oil collections, deductions made before distribution, the statutory authority for each deduction, the accounts into which the funds were paid and their ultimate beneficiaries.
“Nigerians deserve accounts they can interrogate, not accounting labels designed to discourage questions,” he said.
Atiku cited June 2025 Federation Account figures, when gross revenue was reported at N4.232tn, while N1.818tn was eventually distributed.
He said the significant amounts categorised as cost of collection, transfers, interventions, refunds and savings required greater scrutiny.
The former vice-president also demanded disclosure of transactions involving the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, OML 143, oil production revenues and NNPC’s international LNG trading operations.
He called for transparency over offshore corporate structures and allegations concerning unofficial crude lifting, maritime surveillance contracts and other possible off-book revenue flows.
“These allegations are too serious to be answered with press statements and political insults,” Atiku said.
“Every barrel can be measured, every cargo identified and every legitimate payment traced.
“If everything is in order, publish the records and allow independent forensic auditors to reconcile them. If the allegations are false, the records will clear the government.”
‘Tinubu has brought Nigerians close to US fuel prices’
Atiku also rejected attempts by the Federal Government to attribute the rising domestic petrol prices solely to movements in the international oil market.
“With crude oil around $102.52 per barrel, Nigerians are paying as much as N1,470 per litre.
“In 2008, when crude oil reached about $147 per barrel, petrol sold at N65 per litre under the Yar’Adua administration,” he said.
He argued that the current petrol prices were particularly burdensome given the wide disparity between Nigerian and American incomes.
“At about $4.31 per gallon, U.S. petrol is roughly $1.14 per litre. Yet while the U.S. federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, Nigeria’s minimum wage is only N70,000 per month,” Atiku said.
He said the development had brought Nigerians closer to American fuel prices while leaving them with substantially lower incomes.
“Tinubu has brought Nigerians close to American fuel prices while leaving them with Nigerian poverty wages. That is the true cost of his subsidy-removal policy,” he said.
Atiku said the Federal Government could no longer demand sacrifices from Nigerians without providing adequate information on public finances.
“After all the oil, all the revenue, all the deductions and all the hardship, petrol is now N1,470 per litre,” he said.
“The question Tinubu must answer is simple: where are the savings, where are the revenues, and who is taking Nigeria’s money?”
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