By Omeiza Ajayi
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of mortgaging Nigeria’s crude oil earnings through undisclosed financing arrangements, demanding full disclosure of the terms involved.
His Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said in a statement on Monday that the Presidency’s own defence of its economic record had inadvertently confirmed the concern, rather than dispelled it.
“In attempting to rebut our position, the Presidency inadvertently strengthened it. It admitted that despite higher international crude oil prices, Nigerians cannot fully benefit because substantial volumes of the nation’s crude have already been committed under crude-backed financing arrangements,” the statement read.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, described the admission as an indictment rather than a defence, arguing that if the nation’s future oil earnings had already been encumbered, the administration had merely replaced one fiscal burden with another.
