Fuel subsidy: Return to old regime will worsen economic crisis — Min of Information, Idris

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has warned that any attempt to restore fuel subsidy would reverse the economic gains recorded since the removal of the subsidy by the administration of President Bola Tinubu. Idris said the return of subsidy would recreate the fiscal pressures, distortions, fuel scarcity and incentives for arbitrage that made the policy unsustainable. The minister stated this in an article titled “Restoring Fuel Subsidy Will Reverse Nigeria’s Economic Gains,” in which he defended the Federal Government’s economic reforms and urged Nigerians to consider the long-term benefits of the policies.

He recalled that Nigeria spent about $10 billion on fuel subsidies in 2022, at a time when the country was grappling with declining oil production and weak revenues. According to him, the World Bank had warned that the subsidy was consuming resources that could otherwise have been channelled into education, healthcare, infrastructure and social protection. Idris cited the Federal Government’s “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented,” presented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Taiwo Oyedele, which showed that subsidy savings mobilised N15.8 trillion for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.

He said N5.43 trillion of the amount accrued to the Federal Government, while states received N6.52 trillion and local governments N3.88 trillion. The minister, however, clarified that the N15.8 trillion did not represent money sitting in a separate government account, but resources released within the Federation’s wider fiscal system and made available to the three tiers of government. Idris said the additional resources had strengthened the capacity of states and local governments to meet salary and pension obligations and invest in primary healthcare, education, roads and other essential services.

He added that the broader fiscal space created by the reforms had supported federal investments in strategic infrastructure, noting that the Reform Scorecard recorded about N6.47 trillion in additional expenditure on transport, housing, agriculture, security and other projects. Among the projects, he listed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway and Trans-Sahara Superhighway. The minister also said the reforms had expanded governmen…

By Mohammed Idris 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.