Tinubu Lacks Powers to Cancel NNPC Debts Owed to Federation Account — ADC

The African Democratic Congress has raised strong objections to President Bola Tinubu’s approval of the cancellation of what it described as legacy debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to the Federation Account, warning that the move undermines constitutional provisions on revenue sharing.

In a statement issued on Saturday via X by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said it was “deeply alarmed” by the presidential directive, which approved the removal of long-standing NNPC liabilities from the Federation Account books.

According to the party, official documents presented to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) showed that about $1.42 billion and N5.57 trillion in legacy debts were written off following a reconciliation exercise with regulators.

The ADC noted that the debts covered obligations from production sharing contracts, domestic supply obligations, royalty receivables and other outstanding balances accumulated up to December 31, 2024.

The party expressed concern that “nearly 96 percent of the dollar denominated legacy obligations and 88 percent of the naira denominated legacy balances were written off by executive directive,” stressing that the action was taken “without legislative or parliamentary approval or clear constitutional authority.”

Rejecting the justification offered for the move, the ADC argued that “this purported justification of reconciliation cannot lawfully override the constitutional requirements for revenue sharing,” adding that the write-off effectively reduced funds meant to be shared by states and local governments.

Citing Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, the party said all revenues due to the Federation must be paid into the Federation Account and shared among the three tiers of government.

It insisted that “the Federation Account is not subject to executive discretion,” and that no president has the unilateral power to cancel revenues constitutionally due to states and local councils.

The ADC accused the president of repeated constitutional violations and expressed concern over what it described as the silence or inaction of the National Assembly.

“We have said it before, and we will say it again, President Tinubu has repeatedly violated the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the statement said, warning that such actions could ordinarily justify impeachment proceedings.

The party maintained that Nigeria must remain a nation governed by law, not by executive discretion, stressing that “the Federation Account belongs to all tiers of government, and cannot be subject to the discretion of the Federal Executive or the President.”