Atiku Demands Probe Of FAAC Allocations Amid Fresh Petrol Hike

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for a comprehensive investigation into Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenues and deductions, amid the latest increase in petrol prices across Nigeria.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), also criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the rising cost of petrol, saying Nigerians are being subjected to unprecedented economic hardship despite the country’s crude oil earnings.

He made his position known in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

Atiku noted that crude oil was trading at about $102.52 per barrel while petrol prices had risen to as much as N1,470 per litre.

He contrasted the situation with 2008, when crude oil reportedly reached about $147 per barrel, yet petrol sold for N65 per litre under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

“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,” Atiku said.

He argued that the disparity demonstrated the extent to which the current economic policies had failed to protect Nigerians from rising living costs.

The former vice president accused the Tinubu administration of operating what he described as an opaque system involving FAAC deductions, oil revenues, parallel funding arrangements and alleged off-book transactions.

He demanded a full reconciliation of Federation Account revenues from 2023 to date, including gross collections, deductions made before distribution, the legal basis for each deduction, receiving accounts and ultimate beneficiaries.

Atiku cited June 2025 FAAC figures, which he said showed gross Federation Account revenue of N4.232tn, while N1.818tn was eventually distributed.

According to him, substantial amounts were classified under cost of collection, transfers, interventions, refunds and savings, raising questions that required independent scrutiny.

“Nigerians deserve accounts they can interrogate, not accounting labels designed to discourage questions,” he said.

Atiku also questioned the whereabouts of the savings from the removal of petrol subsidy, recalling that Nigerians had been told the policy would free funds for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other critical sectors.

He said nearly three and a half years after the subsidy removal, the government had yet to provide satisfactory answers on how the savings and additional revenues had been utilised.

“After all the pain imposed on Nigerians, they have a right to ask: where are the subsidy savings and where is the money?” he asked.

The ADC candidate further demanded disclosure of financial transactions surrounding the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, OML 143, oil production revenues and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s international liquefied natural gas trading operations.

He also called for clarification of allegations concerning offshore corporate structures, unofficial crude lifting, maritime surveillance contracts and other alleged off-book revenue flows.

Atiku said the allegations should be subjected to forensic scrutiny rather than political exchanges.

“These allegations are too serious to be answered with press statements and political insults. Every barrel can be measured, every cargo identified and every legitimate payment traced,” he said.

He urged the government to publish relevant records and allow independent forensic auditors to examine the accounts.

Atiku also rejected the use of international market conditions as a blanket justification for the latest petrol price increase, arguing that Nigerians’ incomes remained disproportionately low.

He compared Nigeria’s minimum wage of N70,000 per month with the United States federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, while noting that petrol prices in the US were roughly $1.14 per litre based on the figure he cited.

“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.

The former vice president maintained that the government could not continue to demand sacrifices from citizens without providing full accountability over oil revenues, FAAC deductions and subsidy savings.

“After all the oil, all the revenue, all the deductions and all the hardship, petrol is now N1,470 per litre. The question Tinubu must answer is simple: where are the savings, where are the revenues, and who is taking Nigeria’s money?” Atiku said.