The 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar has raised red flag over what he described as excessive domestic borrowing despite rising oil revenues by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.
The former Vice President particularly questioned why the Tinubu government continues to accumulate debt while benefiting from crude oil prices far above the 2026 budget benchmark.
The ADC Presidential candidate particularly questioned the whereabouts of the estimated oil windfall and called on the government to provide a transparent account of the proceeds from excess crude sales.
Atiku noted that previous administrations maintained fiscal buffers such as the Sovereign Wealth Fund to manage excess oil earnings, stressing that Nigerians are now being kept in the dark over how such revenues are utilised.
These were contained in a statement on Sunday, July 26, 2026, by Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku, in which he described the Tinubu administration’s economic management as contradictory, opaque and lacking fiscal discipline.
The statement noted that the Tinubu-led Government raised about ₦5 trillion from the domestic bond market in the first half of 2026, representing nearly 80 per cent of the amount borrowed during the same period in 2025.
Atiku stressed that such a borrowing pattern would only be justifiable if government revenues had declined significantly, arguing that the reverse was the case due to higher international crude oil prices.
The former Vice President emphasised that while the 2026 Appropriation Act benchmarked crude oil at $64.84 per barrel, Brent crude averaged about $92 per barrel between March 1 and July 14, with Nigerian crude typically selling at a premium.
Atiku noted that the difference in oil prices, based on average production of 1.5 million barrels per day, translated into an additional $42.7 million in daily revenue, amounting to about $5.76 billion or approximately ₦7.98 trillion over 135 days.
The former Vice President further argued that despite the reported oil windfall and the removal of fuel subsidy, millions of Nigerians continue to face severe economic hardship, with infrastructure and public services yet to reflect the promised benefits of increased government revenue.
Atiku assured that an ADC-led administration would operate a rules-based fiscal framework, publish regular reports on excess crude earnings, reduce the cost of governance, and ensure that borrowing is limited to productive investments while strengthening transparency and accountability in public finance.
