The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it spent N11.2 trillion in 2025 to protect oil assets on behalf of the federal government.

The cost is reflected in the company’s 2025 audited financial report, seen by TheCable on Wednesday, as “other receivables from federation” relating to “advance payments to the federation and costs incurred to secure the country’s oil and gas assets”.

Receivables are amounts owed to a company by customers or the government for goods or services delivered on credit.

This, the NNPC said, is under an approved framework “between the federal government and the group”.

This means that the federal government is expected to refund the NNPC the money the oil firm spent protecting oil assets.

According to the document, the framework allows the NNPC to incur security costs to protect the country’s oil and gas assets and recover the expenses to the federation as energy security costs.

The NNPC also said no “energy security expense”, commonly known as petrol subsidy, “was recognised” during the year, compared with N7.13 trillion incurred in the previous year.

The report, however, showed that the company incurred a defrayed energy security cost of N8.9 trillion, which was carried over from 2024.

“Following a reconciliation exercise with relevant government agencies, the Energy Security cost receivables was netted off against royalties, tax, and dividends due as at December 2024. The reconciliation exercise was recorded in September 2025,” NNPC added.

According to the report, the oil company generated N34.52 trillion in revenue from “contracts with customers” in 2025, covering crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas, power, and services.

The NNPC reported a N25.39 trillion in revenue from crude oil sale in 2025, down from N29.2 trillion recorded from the revenue stream in 2024.

The oil firm also earned N2.1 trillion from petroleum product sale, compared with N9.68 trillion in 2024.

The NNPC said revenue from petroleum products came from the sale of petrol, dual-purpose kerosene (DPK), automotive gasoline oil (AGO), naphtha, lubricants, and other related products.

The report also showed that natural gas revenue rose to N6.15 trillion in 2025, from N5.2 trillion in the preceding year.

Power revenue from the sale of electricity to the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) increased to N11.8 billion in 2025, from the N9.4 million recorded during the previous year.

Revenue from services, including seismic and time-based contracts, marine operations, engineering services and gas transmission tariffs, fell to N729.33 billion during the review period, from N980.45 billion in the previous year.

The report further showed that the NNPC paid N499 billion in gas flare penalties and fees in 2025.

According to the company, gas flare fees relate to statutory flare charges based on limits approved by the NUPRC in line with section 104 of the PIA, while gas flare penalties are charges for flares above regulatory limits.

Amnesty International has rejected the Nigerian Police Force’s claim that five men arrested in Maiduguri while wearing “Tinubu Must Go” T-shirts were in possession of drugs, describing the explanation as an attempt to justify what it called their unlawful detention.

Recall that after the nationwide outrage which trailed their arrests, the Borno State Police Command denied that the motive of arrest was political.

In a statement on Wednesday, Nahum Daso Kenneth , Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said, “The Command wishes to categorically state that the Nigeria Police Force is a professional, non-partisan institution and does not discriminate against persons on the basis of political affiliation or viewpoint.”

The police alleged that they conspired to print and wear T-shirts bearing the inscription “Tinubu Must Go” with the intention of causing a breach of public peace around the West End Roundabout area of the city.

The police subsequently defended the arrests, saying the suspects were also in possession of drugs.

But in a statement, Amnesty dismissed the drug allegation and accused the police of introducing a new narrative in an attempt to justify the continued detention of the men.

The rights organisation demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the five men — Baba Aji Gremami, Mustapha Abba Yemen, Abacha Mohammed Ali, Adam Umar Gubio and Abdulhamid Mohammed — insisting that expressing a dissenting political opinion is not a criminal offence.

The organisation said the Borno State Police Command must end what it described as “bizarre and desperate attempts” to justify the arrests.

It said linking the five men to drugs and other crimes was a “familiar playbook” aimed at justifying political repression and undermining democratic freedoms.

“Earlier, police accused the five men for alleged inciting disturbance, breach of public peace, and thuggery, and now linking them to drugs manifests a desperate attempt to punish them for their peaceful political activities,” Amnesty said.

The organisation argued that, in the absence of a recognisable criminal offence arising from the men’s political expression, the new drug allegation appeared to be an additional attempt to build a case against them.

Amnesty maintained that citizens in Borno State and across Nigeria have the right to support or oppose political parties and candidates without fear of arrest or reprisal.

It said freedom of political expression was not constitutionally reserved for supporters of any particular political party.

“The five men must be released immediately and unconditionally. Holding and expressing dissenting political opinion is not a crime,” the organisation said.

Amnesty also called on the Nigeria Police and the Borno State Government to end what it described as arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition members and supporters.

It warned that continued arrests over peaceful political expression could further restrict civic space and freedom of expression in the state.

The men were reportedly arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Maiduguri, where they pleaded not guilty

. Their lawyers subsequently applied for bail, with the court expected to rule on the application on October 6, while the substantive case was adjourned to October 26.

The police allegations and Amnesty’s characterisation of the arrests remain contested, with the police maintaining that the suspects committed offences beyond merely wearing the T-shirts.

The Jigawa State High Court No. 11, sitting in Ringim, has sentenced a 50-year-old man, Abubakar Biniya, to 10 years’ imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old girl.

Justice Muhammad El-Usman handed down the judgment yesterday,after finding Biniya, of Galadanchi Quarters, Ringim Local Government Area, guilty of the offence.

According to a statement issued by the Director of Information and Protocol of the Jigawa State High Court, Abbas Rufa’i Wangara, the convict committed the offence in January 2024 at Galadanchi Quarters, Ringim.

The prosecution, led by the Ministry of Justice, called six witnesses and tendered five exhibits, including a medical report, in support of the case.

Biniya testified in his defence but did not call any other witness.

The court, while sentencing him, considered his plea for leniency and the fact that he was a first-time offender.

In addition to the 10-year custodial sentence, the court ordered the convict to pay N500,000 in compensation to the victim.

The court also ordered that his name be published in the Jigawa State Sexual Offenders Register maintained by the Ministry of Justice.

It further directed that the convict be publicly shamed through radio announcements, pursuant to Section 3(2), (4) and (5) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law No. 02 of 2021.

The court gave the parties three months within which to appeal the judgment.