Subsidy Removal Saved Nigeria ₦15.8trn in 30 Months — Oyedele

Subsidy Removal Saved Nigeria ₦15.8trn in 30 Months — Oyedele

By Kabir Abdulsalam

The Federal Government says the removal of fuel subsidy generated ₦15.8 trillion in savings for Nigeria between June 2023 and December 2025, with ₦5.4 trillion accruing to the Federal Government and ₦10.4 trillion shared among states and local governments.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while presenting the government’s “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Cost and Harms Prevented.”

Oyedele said the figure represented resources mobilised through subsidy savings during the period, adding that the funds had helped create fiscal space for government at a time when the country was grappling with significant economic pressures.

He said the government was not presenting the scorecard as a declaration of victory, but as an account of the costs, benefits and potential damage avoided through the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

According to him, the reforms, particularly the removal of the fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market, came with significant short-term costs.

“Prices rose. The naira adjusted sharply. Households and businesses felt it, and many still do,” he said.

However, the minister argued that maintaining the old system would have imposed even greater economic costs on the country.

Oyedele said the Federal Government also generated ₦3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, principally through remittances from government-owned entities, while ₦11.9 trillion came from incremental borrowing.

He explained that borrowing would have been significantly higher and more destabilising without the fiscal space created…