Reversing petrol subsidy would worsen Nigeria's economy, says House Rep
Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, chairman of House Committee on National Planning and Economic Development, argues in Premium Times that reversing petrol subsidy removal under President Tinubu would be economically disastrous. He acknowledges the reform caused immediate social pain but contends it eliminated wasteful spending, improved fiscal space, reduced foreign exchange distortions, and gained international approval from WTO and credit-rating agencies.
The lawmaker warns that reinstating subsidies would restore Nigeria's fiscal burden, revive petrol smuggling and arbitrage through price differentials, and weaken incentives for domestic refining investment. More critically, it would only address surface-level petrol prices while ignoring structural economic weaknesses that reforms aim to fix. "It would simply return the government to financing the difference between regulated price and supply cost at the expense of competing national priorities," he states.
Isiaka points to existing mitigation programs as evidence the government is managing the transition: NELFUND for interest-free student loans, CREDICORP for consumer credit, MOFI Real Estate Fund for mortgages, cash transfers for vulnerable households, Bank of Industry SME support, TVET skills training, and CNG bus investments. He cites international examples where credible social protection (like Indonesia's cash transfers) made subsidy reforms durable. The responsibility now, he insists, is ensuring sacrificed resources yield greater productivity, stronger institutions, and broader opportunity for a more prosperous Nigeria.