Atiku slams NEC’s $4.5bn NNPC loan refinancing, says Tinubu Is ‘weapon fashioned against Nigeria’

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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the National Economic Council’s (NEC) approval of a $4.5 billion refinancing of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s oil-backed loan, accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of mortgaging Nigeria’s future through excessive borrowing.

In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) described the approval as further evidence of what he called the government’s dependence on debt to sustain its fiscal policies.

According to Atiku, every new oil-backed borrowing pushes Nigeria deeper into a cycle where future national wealth is sacrificed to fund present-day policy failures.

He recalled that only days earlier, the Presidency had responded to his claim of an unexplained ₦17 trillion crude oil windfall by arguing that Nigeria could not fully benefit from rising global crude oil prices because future earnings had already been committed to servicing existing oil-backed foreign loans.

“That explanation should have embarrassed any responsible government. Instead, this administration has chosen to double down on the very scandal it sought to justify by approving yet another $4.5 billion refinancing. Rather than breaking free from the chains of oil-backed indebtedness, it is tightening them,” Atiku said.

The former vice president questioned the rationale behind the fresh refinancing despite the administration’s revenue-boosting measures, accusing the government of turning Nigeria into a nation permanently dependent on borrowing at the expense of future generations.

He argued that while Nigerians have endured significant economic hardship, the expected benefits of the government’s policies have remained elusive.

“President Tinubu promised renewed hope. What Nigerians have received is renewed debt, renewed hardship and renewed uncertainty. Under his watch, debt has become policy, borrowing has become governance, and mortgaging the future has become the defining philosophy of his administration,” he stated.

Atiku also called on the Federal Government to immediately publish the full details of the refinancing arrangement, including its terms, repayment obligations and the volume of crude oil committed under the agreement.

He insisted that Nigerians deserve full transparency and a government committed to protecting, rather than mortgaging, the country’s future.

“Nigeria deserves leadership that preserves national assets, not one that continually pledges them to finance an endless cycle of waste, opacity and fiscal irresponsibility,” he added.