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The Federal Government has disclosed a breakdown of ₦15.8 trillion it says was saved from the removal of fuel subsidy, three years after the controversial reform was introduced.
According to Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, the savings were distributed across the three tiers of government, with the Federal Government receiving ₦5.43 trillion, states receiving ₦6.52 trillion, and local governments receiving ₦3.88 trillion.
The government maintains that the removal of the subsidy reduced pressure on public finances and helped prevent a deeper fiscal crisis, while the additional resources have expanded the capacity of the Federal Government and subnational governments to fund public programmes.
However, the disclosure has reignited debate over whether the financial gains from subsidy removal have translated into meaningful improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
Speaking on the development, public affairs analyst Dayo Akintoye described the government's disclosure as a welcome development, but said transparency must now be followed by accountability.
According to him, the subsidy regime had become increasingly unsustainable, with virtually all major presidential candidates during the 2023 election cycle promising to reform or remove it.
He said the newly released figure provides Nigerians with a benchmark for assessing what governments at the federal, state and local levels have done with the additional resources.
Akintoye noted that states have benefited from increased allocations, with some governments now better able to pay salaries, clear pension arrears and execute infrastructure projects.
However, he argued that these improvements have not yet matched the scale of the resources available.
“Now that money has been saved, it's gone into government coffers, it's now being redistributed as allocations to the federal government and the subnational.”
He said the critical question is no longer simply how much was saved, but what was done with the money.
Nigerians still facing high cost of living
Despite the government's emphasis on the fiscal benefits of subsidy removal, Nigerians continue to contend with high transportation, food, healthcare and education costs.
Akintoye therefore urged the government to provide a detailed account of how the subsidy savings have been deployed and how those expenditures have improved citizens' welfare.
He also questioned why it took almost three years for the government to provide Nigerians with a clear figure for the savings generated by the reform.
The analyst further raised questions about whether all mechanisms used to manage the post-subsidy petroleum sector, including crude-for-product arrangements and other forms of transactions, were fully captured in the ₦15.8 trillion figure.
Citizens urged to demand accountability
Akintoye said the disclosure should give citizens a basis for demanding greater accountability from government at all levels.
He called on Nigerians to demand budget-performance reports, attend public hearings and town-hall meetings, and question elected representatives over the utilisation of increased allocations.
He stressed that civic participation should not end with obtaining a Permanent Voter's Card and voting during elections.
According to him, citizens must remain engaged throughout the political cycle and demand explanations for how public resources are being spent.
The debate comes as the Federal Government announces several major projects at the National Hospital, Abuja, including the construction of an administrative and management block reportedly estimated at ₦18.74 billion, modular clinics and theatres estimated at ₦64.92 billion, a high-end wing estimated at ₦103 billion, and a Neuroscience Institute estimated at ₦69 billion.
The announcements have prompted questions over whether such projects were already captured in approved budgets and whether they can legitimately be described as direct beneficiaries of fuel-subsidy savings.
Akintoye said the government must provide clarity on the source of funding for the projects rather than simply presenting new expenditures alongside the subsidy-savings announcement.
Political implications ahead of 2027
With political activities for the 2027 general elections gaining momentum, the timing of the disclosure has also attracted political scrutiny.
Critics have questioned whether the announcement is partly aimed at demonstrating the benefits of the Tinubu administration's economic reforms ahead of the election.
For supporters of the reforms, however, the ₦15.8 trillion figure provides evidence that subsidy removal has strengthened government finances and created additional fiscal space.
The bigger challenge, analysts say, is convincing Nigerians that the benefits of that additional fiscal space are reaching households.
As Akintoye put it, transparency provides the number, but accountability requires governments to show Nigerians exactly what was done with it.
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