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Nigeria has been thrown into a fresh storm of national outrage following the revelation that NNPC Ltd.’s audited financial statements reportedly show a staggering ₦17.5 trillion spent in a single year on pipeline protection, energy-security costs and under-recovery. The sheer scale of the figure has triggered deep concern and anger across the country, especially as it stands in harsh contrast to the daily realities faced by millions of Nigerians living in fear, poverty and uncertainty.

The reported ₦17.5 trillion exceeds the entire national security budget of ₦3.25 trillion allocated to Defence, the Police, the Office of the National Security Adviser and other intelligence services. Yet, even with that enormous expenditure on pipeline protection, insecurity continues to worsen nationwide. Kidnappings are on the rise, terror attacks continue to multiply, farmers are abandoning their lands for fear of violence, millions of children remain out of school, food insecurity is deepening, and citizens are being forced to buy petrol at between ₦1,000 and ₦1,200 per litre.

The development has raised a fundamental moral question that is now echoing across the nation: how can Nigeria justify spending trillions of naira to protect pipelines while millions of her citizens remain unprotected, uneducated and hungry?

It is against this troubling backdrop that Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi, Apostle and Nation Builder, has submitted a Public Petition and Citizens’ Advisory Note to the National Assembly through Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In his submission, he issued a strong and direct call on lawmakers to immediately re-prioritise the 2026 national budget around what he described as the SEA framework — Security, Education and Agriculture.

According to Akinyemi, the first step must be an immediate and transparent investigation into the reported ₦17.5 trillion pipeline expenditure.

He has called for all similar opaque budget lines in the 2026 Appropriation Bill to be frozen until a comprehensive parliamentary probe is conducted and every kobo is properly accounted for.

He insists that the era of hiding monumental waste and corruption under vague security-related expenditures must come to an end if the nation is to regain the trust of its people.

Central to his petition is the demand that the 2026 budget must significantly prioritise Security, Education and Agriculture. He stressed that no budget can honestly describe itself as pro-people if it does not deliberately and substantially invest in these three life-sustaining sectors. In the area of security, he advocated greater investment in modern equipment, intelligence gathering, improved mobility and better welfare for operatives, not just increased personnel costs. On education, he called for the allocation to be raised to at least 12 percent in 2026, with a clear roadmap to achieve between 15 and 20 percent by the year 2030. For agriculture, he urged the government to begin a determined movement towards the Maputo Declaration benchmark of 10 percent, starting with a minimum allocation of 7 percent in the 2026 budget.

Akinyemi also emphasised the need to “protect the protectors,” calling for enhanced salaries, proper insurance cover and reliable post-service support for members of the armed forces, police, intelligence agencies and civil defence personnel, whom he described as the nation’s front-line defenders. He argued that a country that neglects those who risk their lives daily for its safety cannot expect true peace and stability.

Another major pillar of his demands is a National Out-of-School Children Rescue Plan. He called for an urgent, coordinated commitment to bring at least five million children back into classrooms between 2026 and 2028, through strong partnerships involving communities, religious institutions, state governments and civil society organisations.

He pointed out that allowing millions of children to remain outside the education system is not only a moral failure but also a long-term security and economic disaster waiting to happen.

He further stressed that food security must be treated as national security. In his view, hunger is one of the greatest threats to peace and stability, and no nation can survive when a large proportion of its population cannot afford to eat.

To address this, he called for the strengthening of the Bank of Agriculture, greater support for agro-industrial processing zones, and the intentional linking of youth empowerment programmes to farming and full participation in the food production and supply value chain.

In addition, Akinyemi demanded that at least 50 percent of the net subsidy savings in 2026 should be legally ring-fenced and dedicated to programmes related to Security, Education and Agriculture, with quarterly public reporting to ensure transparency and accountability.

He maintained that the money saved from subsidy removal must not disappear into another maze of questionable expenditures but should be directly invested in the survival and future of the Nigerian people.

He warned that Nigeria cannot survive or prosper while insecurity overwhelms communities, over 20 million children roam the streets instead of sitting in classrooms, food scarcity pushes more than 35 million Nigerians towards hunger, and trillions of naira continue to vanish into obscure and unaccounted “pipeline protection” expenses.

According to him, SEA — Security, Education and Agriculture — is not a slogan but a survival blueprint for the nation.

Directing his message to the National Assembly, Akinyemi stated that the 2026 budget must answer three simple but powerful questions. First, are Nigerians safer than they were before? Second, are more children in school and truly learning? Third, are Nigerians able to feed themselves with dignity? He made it clear that if the answer to these questions is “No,” then the budget, regardless of its size or sophistication, must be regarded as a failure.

He challenged lawmakers to rise to the occasion, stop shielding scandals, and start intentionally funding classrooms, farms and security architecture that truly protects human lives rather than just physical assets.

According to him, this is the moment for the National Assembly to demonstrate real leadership, restore public confidence and re-establish the value of human life over pipeline profits.

He concluded with a powerful charge to the nation, expressing the hope that 2026 would be remembered as the year Nigeria finally reordered her priorities, reclaimed her conscience and began a new journey towards safety, learning, food sufficiency and a truly sustainable future.

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