The Federal Government has strongly contested allegations by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who asserted that authorities are deliberately withholding ₦250 billion in Nigeria LNG (NLNG) proceeds owed to each state until after the 2027 general elections.
Denouncing the claim as baseless, the Presidency maintained that the governor’s arithmetic defies basic financial reality. Makinde had voiced the grievance during a budget consultative session at the University of Ibadan, arguing that the withheld capital could have spurred his state’s economic development, before questioning whether partisan politics was being placed ahead of citizen welfare.
In its counterargument, the executive branch highlighted a glaring numerical discrepancy: distributing ₦250 billion across each of the 36 states would demand a cumulative disbursement of ₦9 trillion—a sum that excludes allocations for the 774 local governments, the Federal Capital Territory, and the central government itself.
Referencing the established revenue-sharing mechanism where subnational states receive 26.72% of distributable Federation Account funds, officials calculated that yielding a ₦9 trillion state payout would require an overall distributable pool topping ₦33.68 trillion. The Presidency stressed that NLNG’s actual earnings do not approach such astronomical levels.
Official records indicate that NLNG has paid approximately $21.5 billion in cumulative dividends over its 25-year history, with under $3 billion realized since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took office. The administration pointed out that the company has never generated a single dividend tranche anywhere near $25 billion, arguing that the Oyo governor’s claim lacks economic credibility.
Beyond the fiscal breakdown, the Presidency accused Makinde of distorting public finance to elevate his presidential profile, recalling his earlier characterization of regular federal allocations as “voodoo.” While acknowledging his constitutional right to pursue national office, the administration asserted that political aspirations should not rely on misleading rhetoric.
With trillions of naira at the center of the dispute, observers note that resolving the clash requires concrete documentation and clear accounting rather than partisan rhetoric.
