{"id":124125,"date":"2025-12-01T20:18:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=124125"},"modified":"2025-12-01T20:18:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:18:44","slug":"n17-5trn-pipeline-security-contracts-scandalous-atiku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/n17-5trn-pipeline-security-contracts-scandalous-atiku\/","title":{"rendered":"N17.5trn Pipeline Security Contracts Scandalous &#8211; Atiku"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"m#msg-f:1850277402904479641\" class=\"mail-message expanded\">\n<div id=\"m#msg-f:1850277402904479641-header\" class=\"mail-message-header spacer\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Myke Agunwa<\/div>\n<div id=\"m#msg-f:1850277402904479641-content\" class=\"mail-message-content collapsible zoom-normal mail-show-images \">\n<div class=\"clear\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described as scandalous and \u201cgrand larceny\u201d the spending of a staggering N17.5 trillion in a single year on an \u201copaque\u201d pipeline protection contracts awarded to private firms allegedly linked to presidential associates and cronies.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Recall that President Bola Tinubu abruptly ended Nigeria\u2019s decades-old petrol subsidy regime on 29 May 2023, after being sworn in as president. With subsidy costs projected to hit N11\u2013N12 trillion, Tinubu argued that the regime was unsustainable, riddled with corruption, disproportionately benefited smugglers and the wealthy, and consumed funds needed for infrastructure, health, and education, and debt servicing, thereby making its removal the only viable path to reset Nigeria\u2019s economy despite the inevitable sharp rise in petrol prices and cost-of-living pressures that followed.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">But in a statement on Sunday, Atiku through his media office, described the expenditure as \u201cone of the most brazen financial scandals in Nigeria\u2019s history\u201d and \u201cgrand larceny dressed as public expenditure.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Drawing a damning comparison, Atiku said that Nigeria spent approximately N18 trillion on fuel subsidies in 12 years (2009\u20132021), a program he said directly cushioned millions of citizens, stabilized transportation costs, and kept food inflation in check.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cYet, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the country has now expended nearly the same amount, N17.5 trillion, in a single year on the same subsidy and opaque pipeline security contracts awarded to private firms tied to associates and cronies of the President.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt is akin to robbing Peter (the Nigerian people) to pay Paul (presidential cronies). This is not governance. This is grand larceny,\u201d Atiku said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former Vice President added that Nigerians were told to \u201ctighten their belts\u201d and endure hardship after the sudden removal of fuel subsidies in May 2023, only for the government to quietly funnel an almost identical sum into shadowy security deals.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThat N17.5 trillion could have transformed Nigeria\u2019s power sector, rebuilt all four government-owned refineries, funded universal healthcare for every Nigerian, or built thousands of kilometres of modern railways. Instead, it has disappeared into contracts whose details are hidden from the public and whose beneficiaries are conveniently close to the corridors of power,\u201d Atiku lamented.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He demanded an immediate independent forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) accounts, full disclosure of the companies awarded the pipeline surveillance contracts, and the publication of performance reports justifying the expenditure.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAfter removing subsidy and inflicting untold hardship on citizens, the least this government owes Nigerians is transparency on how it is spending the so-called savings,\u201d Atiku said.<\/div>\n<div id=\"m_-8764457685221901219ymail_android_signature\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Myke Agunwa Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described as scandalous and \u201cgrand larceny\u201d the spending of a staggering N17.5 trillion in a single year on an \u201copaque\u201d pipeline&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N17.5trn Pipeline Security Contracts Scandalous - Atiku - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/n17-5trn-pipeline-security-contracts-scandalous-atiku\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N17.5trn Pipeline Security Contracts Scandalous - Atiku - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Myke Agunwa Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described as scandalous and \u201cgrand larceny\u201d the spending of a staggering N17.5 trillion in a single year on an \u201copaque\u201d pipeline&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/n17-5trn-pipeline-security-contracts-scandalous-atiku\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T19:18:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Atiku-2.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1020\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/n17-5trn-pipeline-security-contracts-scandalous-atiku\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/n17-5trn-pipeline-security-contracts-scandalous-atiku\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"N17.5trn Pipeline Security Contracts Scandalous &#8211; 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