RESTORING FUEL SUBSIDY WILL REVERSE NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC GAINS

The Nigerian government's decision to reform and remove the petrol subsidy has yielded significant economic gains, as evidenced by the administration's financial scorecard. In 2022, when Nigeria struggled with low oil production and weak revenues, the country spent approximately $10 billion on fuel subsidies. The World Bank cautioned that the subsidy was consuming resources that could otherwise be invested in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social protection.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration inherited this system and opted to change it, resulting in massive fiscal space mobilization. This space has been allocated to various sectors, including strategic infrastructure, human capital, social support, and wage adjustments. Notably, over 10 million households have benefited from social transfers.

The reform has also led to increased investor confidence, making Nigeria's stock market the world's best performer in 2026, and boosting oil production to surpass its OPEC quota. Additionally, the reforms have allowed Nigeria to avert economic harm that would have occurred under the old subsidy regime. Had the regime persisted, petrol scarcity and inflated black market prices would have occurred, leading to a doubling of legacy Ways and Means financing to ₦60 trillion.

The administration maintains that the response to the hardship associated with reform should be to accelerate the benefits rather than dismantling the progress made.