Restoring fuel subsidy will reverse Nigeria’s economic gains
The renewed call for the restoration of petrol subsidy under any guise demands a clear-eyed examination of what Nigeria has gained from reform and what the country would have to surrender by reversing course. The scale of the problem is important to remember. In 2022, when Nigeria was struggling with declining oil production and weak revenues, the country spent about $10 billion on fuel subsidies. The World Bank also warned that the subsidy was consuming resources that could otherwise have gone into education, healthcare, infrastructure and social protection. This is the system that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited and boldly decided to change. At the Federal Government’s recent presentation of “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented,” the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed that subsidy savings mobilised N15.8tn in resources for the Federation between June 202...
