THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has cautioned against calls for the restoration of petrol subsidy, warning that a return to the old regime would undermine Nigeria’s improving fiscal position, weaken investor confidence and reverse gains recorded from the economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
News Point Nigeria reports that President Bola Tinubu declared an end to the petrol subsidy regime upon assuming office in May 2023, a decision that has remained one of the most consequential and controversial components of his administration’s economic reform programme.
Referring to an Op-Ed published on Monday, August 24, 2026, in some national dailies and titled, “Restoring Fuel Subsidy Will Reverse Nigeria’s Economic Gains,” Idris outlined the fiscal benefits of subsidy removal, the economic risks that had been averted and the difficult trade-offs that would confront the country should petrol subsidy be reintroduced.
“Restoring subsidy would almost instantly return Nigeria to the economic conditions of 2022, recreating the same fiscal pressures, distortions, scarcity and incentives for arbitrage that made the old system unsustainable,” Idris said.
The Minister said proponents of subsidy restoration must confront what he described as its real opportunity costs, particularly the competing demands on government resources at a time when Nigeria is seeking to strengthen its fiscal position and finance critical sectors of the economy.
“Do we restore petrol subsidy, or sustain student loans and consumer credit for young Nigerians? Do we restore subsidy, or preserve higher allocations to states and local governments? Do we restore subsidy, or continue funding roads, rail, power and security? Do we restore subsidy, or strengthen the fiscal capacity required to expand healthcare, education and social protection for vulnerable Nigerians?” he asked.
Idris recalled that in 2022, amid declining oil production and weak revenues, Nigeria spent about $10 billion on fuel subsidies, while the World Bank warned that the subsidy was consuming resources that could otherwise have supported education, healthcare, infrastructure and social protection.
Citing the Federal Government’s recently presented “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented,” the Minister said the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed that savings from subsidy removal mobilised ₦15.8 trillion in resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
He explained that approximately ₦5.43 trillion accrued to the Federal Government, ₦6.52 trillion to states and ₦3.88 trillion to local governments, while clarifying that the ₦15.8 trillion was not a separate pool of cash but represented resources released within the wider fiscal system of the Federation.
According to Idris, the increased fiscal space has strengthened the capacity of states and local governments to meet salary and pension obligations and invest in essential services, while also supporting major Federal Government investments in infrastructure, security, agriculture and human capital development.
He said the Reform Scorecard recorded approximately ₦6.47 trillion in additional expenditure on strategic infrastructure, alongside more than ₦400 billion committed to major social investment initiatives, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund, MREIF and CREDICORP.
In contrast, he said social transfers had reached more than 10 million Nigerian households, highlighting what he described as some of the social and economic benefits made possible by the fiscal space created through the reforms.
Idris, however, noted that Nigeria was already carrying an electricity subsidy estimated at ₦3.14 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025, warning that reintroducing petrol subsidy would impose another substantial burden on public finances.
He added that the Organised Private Sector and the wider economic community had also cautioned against reversing the reform, stressing that the consequences of returning to the old subsidy regime could extend beyond government finances to the broader economy.
“Nigeria cannot build tomorrow’s economy by returning to yesterday’s unsustainable subsidy regime. We have moved beyond that model,” he said.
The Minister urged Nigerians to view the reforms within the context of the country’s long-term economic stability and the need to build a stronger, more productive and sustainable economy, rather than return to a subsidy system he described as financially unsustainable.