Questions over how billions of naira tied to Nigeria’s oil and gas operations are accounted for have taken centre stage, following a call by African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar for greater disclosure of NNPCL’s financial records.

Atiku, through his campaign’s Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, is asking the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to explain the approximately 11.2 trillion naira recorded as other receivables from the Federation in its 2025 accounts. The demand focuses particularly on money associated with protecting oil and gas assets.

The call comes against the backdrop of continuing public scrutiny of NNPCL’s accounts. The company’s financial statements contain several categories of receivables, meaning the figures do not by themselves establish that money was stolen or missing. NNPCL’s earlier accounts have similarly recorded substantial sums owed by the Federation for expenses incurred on its behalf.

Atiku wants details of the transactions behind the latest figure, including the amounts spent on pipeline surveillance, the contractors or organisations paid, the services provided and the results achieved. He argues that such information is necessary, particularly at a time when insecurity continues to affect communities, schools and major highways.

The demand also comes amid wider scrutiny of NNPCL’s financial records. The Senate Public Accounts Committee has previously examined much larger unreconciled entries in the company’s audited accounts, stressing that those figures represented financial items requiring explanation rather than automatically establishing missing or stolen funds.

For the petroleum industry, the issue is significant because payments connected to oil production, energy security and asset protection ultimately affect the resources available to the Federation. NNPCL’s 2025 results show the company recorded a profit after tax of 7.2 trillion naira, alongside revenue of 34.5 trillion naira.

The latest demand therefore places the emphasis on documentation rather than political claims: what the 11.2 trillion naira represents, why the Federation owes it, how the underlying expenses were incurred and whether the supporting records can be independently examined. Those answers could help Nigerians better understand how public resources tied to the country’s most important revenue sector are being managed.