You are adopting sham subsidy regime to fund your 2027 ambitions — Atiku alleges

…Urges FG to approve Shell/Renaissance, Mobil/Seplat deal

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has accused the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration of adopting a sham subsidy regime to fund his 2027 Presidential ambition.

In a statement on Sunday, the former VP slammed the Bola Tinubu administration for implementing a sham subsidy regime as revealed in the financial statement recently released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).

“Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, visited Qatar, visited France where he told lies about removing petrol subsidies. Obviously, this is not a man who is serious about attracting FDI. More worrisome is that he is not even brave enough to admit that subsidy is being paid. The NNPC Ltd admits that N7.8 trillion is owed to the national oil company by the Nigerian government.

“IMF estimates that subsidy payments this year will constitute 3 percent of GDP, which is about $7.5 billion. This will be about N11.8 trillion. Yet, the petrol scarcity continues to linger while the Tinubu administration continues to frustrate the Dangote Refinery and even its own NNPC Ltd facilities. Obviously, the subsidy regime has become an even wider conduit pipe through which monies for funding the 2027 election will come from,” Atiku said.

Atiku also urged the Federal Government to explain why Oando Plc owned by the President’s nephew, got an accelerated approval to buy the onshore assets of AGIP and ENI while other transactions such as the Shell/Renaissance deal and the Mobil/Seplat continue to suffer delays.

The former Vice President doubled down on his allegation that Oando was being given undue and preferential treatment in the oil and gas sector to the detriment of more competent investors.               

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election also knocked the House of Representatives for failing to take proper action on the NNPC Ltd which has now gone ahead to “mortgage the country’s national oil assets to vested interests.”

Atiku said, “Within just eight months, the Nigerian Upstream Production Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) approved a deal which saw the divestment of ENI/AGIP onshore assets to Oando. Within that same period, Nigeria controversially withdrew all litigation against Shell/ENI in the OPL 245 scandal in what has been described as a quid pro quo.

“However, the attempt by SEPLAT to buy Mobil’s onshore assets has continued to stall for the last three years even as the consent letter remains on Tinubu’s table. The deal between Renaissance and Shell continues to stall. In fact, the only deal that has fully scaled through so far is the one involving Oando. We now know why it got accelerated approval.

“Ideally, democracy ought to be the government of the people, for the people, and by the people. But democracy in Nigeria has become the government of Tinubu, by Tinubu, and for Tinubu and his family members.”

Atiku added, “In July 2023, the House of Representatives, following the adoption of a motion moved by Miriam Onuoha directed NNPC Ltd to suspend the acquisition of OVH assets pending an investigation by its committee.”

“The House ad-hoc committee requested the NNPC Ltd to furnish it with information about registration documents/history from CAC for OVH, Nueoil, and NNPC Retail Limited (NRL), Board Resolution of NNPC Ltd on purchase of OVH, Audited Financial Statement and Management Accounts from 2015 to date of OVH, Nueoil, NRL and NNPC Ltd and the payroll from 2015 to date for NRL and OVH; Board Resolution of NRL/CHQ for movement of head office to Lagos and evidence of Tax Payments for NRL and OVH from 2015 to date.

“The NNPC ignored all these and went ahead to transfer its ownership and properties in its retail arm to OVH, thereby mortgaging the future of Nigerians.”