Atiku Queries N5trn Domestic Borrowing Despite Oil Windfall

By Adedapo Adesanya

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s continued reliance on domestic borrowing, despite the windfall reportedly made when oil prices surged following the US-Iran war.

Mr Abubakar, in a statement issued on Monday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr Phrank Shaibu, described the federal government’s fiscal approach as inconsistent, lacking transparency and failing to demonstrate prudent financial management.

He questioned the rationale behind accumulating fresh debt despite what he described as a significant revenue boost from high global crude oil prices.

Mr Abubakar claimed that the Mr Tinubu-led administration has raised approximately N5 trillion from the domestic bond market during the first half of 2026, representing nearly 80 per cent of the amount borrowed within the same period in 2025.

This is even as he argued that such borrowing would ordinarily be justified only if government revenues had fallen sharply.

“The exact opposite is the case,” he said.

He noted that the 2026 national budget was based on a crude oil benchmark of $64.84 per barrel, while Brent crude averaged about $92 per barrel between March 1 and July 14. He added that Nigerian crude traditionally sells at a premium above Brent prices.

The former vice president said the difference between the budget benchmark and prevailing market prices translated into substantial additional revenue for the country.

“This naturally raises two unavoidable questions. First, why is a government enjoying such an extraordinary oil windfall borrowing at almost twice last year’s pace as though the nation were in financial distress? Second, where is the money?” he queried.

He estimated that the price differential generated an additional $27.15 per barrel, amounting to roughly $42.7 million in extra daily earnings based on an average production of 1.5 million barrels per day.

Over 135 days, Mr Abubakar said the excess revenue amounted to approximately $5.76 billion, equivalent to about N7.98 trillion.

He recalled that previous administrations maintained formal structures, including the Sovereign Wealth Fund and other fiscal buffers, to manage excess crude earnings and ensure accountability.

The ADC presidential candidate also expressed concern that despite increased oil revenues and the removal of fuel subsidy, many Nigerians continue to experience worsening economic hardship.

He cited recent United Nations findings indicating that nearly 80 per cent of Nigerians are unable to afford a decent daily meal, while infrastructure deficits persist despite government assurances that subsidy savings would be invested in critical sectors such as healthcare, education and road infrastructure.

The former VP said an ADC-led administration would adopt a rules-based fiscal framework to ensure transparency in the management of revenues earned above the budget oil benchmark.

He said surplus earnings would be channelled towards reducing public debt, strengthening fiscal reserves and financing investments in infrastructure, education, healthcare and agriculture.

“Nigerians deserve answers. They deserve accountability. Above all, they deserve a government that manages national wealth in the public interest, not one that presides over unprecedented opacity while asking future generations to repay debts incurred in the midst of plenty,” he said.

Mr Abubakar also argued that the Tinubu administration had recently embraced a power sector strategy he first advocated more than two decades ago.

He said comments by the Minister of Power acknowledging that Nigeria could no longer rely solely on large, centralised power plants amounted to an endorsement of his long-standing position on decentralised electricity generation.

“It should not take a government three years in office to discover what was obvious more than two decades ago,” Atiku said.

He criticised the administration for increasing electricity tariffs before implementing reforms capable of improving power supply.

“A government that thinks before it acts would have fixed the system before asking citizens to pay more. Unfortunately, this administration has done the exact opposite, raising tariffs first and only now beginning to think about the reforms required to justify those increases,” he said.

The politician recalled that while serving under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he consistently advocated decentralising electricity generation by harnessing multiple energy sources, including hydroelectric power, natural gas and solar energy.

“This has been my position for over two decades. When President Obasanjo established the Power Sector Reform Committee based primarily on gas-fired generation, I was appointed chairman.

“However, because I fundamentally disagreed with the policy direction, I declined to preside over the committee. I believed then, as I do now, that Nigeria’s electricity future lay in a diversified and decentralised energy mix, not an overdependence on a single source.”

“Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of ideas. It suffers from a shortage of leaders willing to act on the right ideas at the right time.

“It is never too late to embrace the right policy, but Nigerians should never have had to pay the price for a government that spent three years learning what should have guided its actions from day one,” he added.