Abuja, Nigeria – Paul Ibe, spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed claims that Atiku intended to sell the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to personal associates, describing the comment as “a joke taken too far.”
Ibe made the clarification on Sunday during an interview with Trust TV, while discussing opposition politics and the readiness of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 general election.
“Let me correct you please. That interview was a banter between His Excellency Atiku Abubakar and the reporter, and he made that joke, and that was mischief taken too far about selling it to his friends,” Ibe said. “That should not be the takeaway from that interview. The takeaway should be that all those moribund assets should be disposed of.”
He argued that successive governments have wasted resources maintaining non-performing assets in the oil sector and insisted that privatisation remains a more sustainable option.
“This administration has initiated a process to sell some of these assets. None of the refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Warri, all over the place, are working, yet people are being paid salaries for doing nothing,” Ibe said. “Why must we hold on to those assets? Government has no business doing business. Government should create an enabling environment for business.”
The clarification follows Atiku’s controversial remarks during a Lagos business forum in the lead-up to the 2019 presidential election. At the time, he stated his commitment to privatising the NNPC, even asserting, “I am committed to privatising NNPC, I said it. I swear. Even if they are going to kill me, I will do it.”
He had also sparked debate when he said he would enrich friends rather than family members, adding: “Are my friends not entitled to be enriched? As long as there is no element of corruption there.”
Following public criticism, Atiku later reiterated that any sale of the national oil company would benefit Nigerians and not his personal associates, stressing that the NNPC would be sold “to Nigerians for the development of the country.”
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