By Gloria Fraser
“We believe that democracy must be felt in the pocket.” — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Democracy Day Address, June 12, 2026»
THE ECONOMIC HARVEST
Economic reform is like clearing an overgrown farm. The first season can be painful: old structures are uprooted, the ground is disturbed and the harvest is not immediate. But when sacrifice is demanded, citizens have a legitimate question: what did the reform eventually produce?
Few reforms have tested Nigerians more severely than petrol-subsidy removal. Petrol, transportation and production costs rose sharply, feeding into household expenses and business costs.
Three years later, the debate has therefore moved beyond whether reform was necessary to the accountability question Nigerians have repeatedly asked:
HOW WERE THE SUBSIDY SAVINGS USED?
N15.8 TRILLION — UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBER
Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele acknowledged the legitimacy of that question:
“I’ve heard this question so many times, and guess what? It’s a valid question.”»
Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy reform was estimated to have mobilised approximately N15.8 trillion in additional resources for the Federation.
This was not N15.8 trillion deposited into a special Federal Government account. Approximately N5.43 trillion accrued to the Federal Government, N6.52 trillion to states and N3.88 trillion to local governments.
Almost N10.4 trillion—about two-thirds—therefore went to states and local governments. Accountability for the reform dividend belongs to all three tiers of government.
FOLLOWING THE FEDERAL SHARE
The Federal Government’s N5.43 trillion formed part of a wider financing picture. Government recorded approximately N3.12 trillion in additional independent revenue and N11.85 trillion in incremental borrowing, bringing incremental federal resources to roughly N20.4 trillion.
Additional federal expenditure pressures were estimated at N30.64 trillion. This should not be read as expenditure financed solely from subsidy savings; it represents broader spending pressures confronting the Federal Government during the reform period.
Major components included N9.39 trillion for wage adjustments, minimum-wage increases and allowances; N9.37 trillion in increased external-debt servicing costs; N6.47 trillion for strategic infrastructure; and N3.14 trillion in additional electricity-subsidy costs.
The figures tell a more complicated story than a giant subsidy-savings account. Reform created fiscal space, but that space entered a budget already carrying substantial wage, debt, infrastructure and social obligations.
FROM SUBSIDY SAVINGS TO RESULTS
The numbers become meaningful only when they translate into visible outcomes.
The reform period has coincided with several measurable interventions. NELFUND student-loan disbursements exceeded N303 billion by August 2026, widening access to tertiary education. Nearly 3,000 primary healthcare centres were reported revitalised under the IMPACT programme, strengthening frontline healthcare across the six geopolitical zones. The Federal Government also reported more than 10,000 housing units across 14 states and the FCT under Renewed Hope Housing and FHA programmes.
Beyond these examples, approximately N9.39 trillion in additional expenditure went to wage adjustments, the new minimum wage and allowances, while N6.47 trillion was identified for strategic infrastructure. Social transfers reportedly reached more than 10 million households.
Infrastructure spending is also visible in major corridors, including the Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano Road, Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway, East–West Road and continuing access-road works connecting the Second Niger Bridge, alongside numerous federal road rehabilitation projects nationwide.
These outcomes cannot each be attributed naira-for-naira to a separate subsidy-savings account. Rather, they provide examples of how the wider fiscal space created by reform, increased revenues and government financing has been translated into public expenditure and development interventions.
Oyedele has cautioned that presenting the reform scorecard was “not to declare victory.” That distinction is important. Results are emerging, but hardship has not disappeared.
The African Development Bank, referring to Nigeria’s fuel-subsidy and foreign-exchange reforms, observed:
“These bold and often difficult decisions represent essential groundwork for unlocking investment and restoring fiscal space.”
Restoring fiscal space is only half the journey. The other half is converting it into measurable improvements in Nigerians’ lives.
THE OTHER N10.4 TRILLION
The accountability trail cannot stop at Abuja.
States received approximately N6.52 trillion and local governments N3.88 trillion from the estimated subsidy-related fiscal space. Increased Federation revenues strengthened the resources available across these tiers for salaries, pensions, infrastructure and essential public services.
But greater resources require greater accountability. The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association has called on states and local governments to account for the approximately N10.4 trillion received.
Federal transparency cannot answer a federation-wide question. Every tier that received additional resources must account for the development those resources produced.
REFORM EXPERIENCES FROM OTHER NATIONS
Indonesia: Fuel-subsidy reforms were accompanied by targeted cash transfers and expanded social assistance for vulnerable households, while resources were redirected towards development priorities.
India: Cooking-gas subsidy reforms increasingly used direct transfers linked to bank accounts and identification systems, improving targeting while reducing reliance on blanket price support.
Dominican Republic: Energy-subsidy reform evolved towards targeted household transfers, directing assistance towards eligible families rather than relying principally on generalised price support.
Across these experiences, fiscal reform was strengthened when transparent accounting, targeted protection and visible benefits accompanied citizens’ sacrifice.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Labour and opposition voices argue that the hardship from subsidy removal was immediate while improvements in household welfare have taken longer to materialise. The Nigeria Labour Congress has particularly highlighted weakened purchasing power and continuing pressure on workers.
The fiscal record nevertheless shows that the reform dividend did not simply disappear. Resources were distributed among all three tiers of government and absorbed into wages, debt obligations, strategic infrastructure, electricity support and social interventions, with visible examples including student financing, primary healthcare investment, housing and major road projects.
These results do not erase continuing cost-of-living pressures. They change the accountability question from simply asking whether anything was done to asking: Were the additional resources used transparently, efficiently and with sufficient measurable impact on citizens?
THREE PROVERBS FOR THE RESET
Yoruba: “Bí a bá gé igi ní igbó, a ó rí ibi tí ó ubú sí.”
When a tree is felled in the forest, we should know where it landed. Public resources should leave a visible trail.
Hausa: “Ruwa baya tsami banza.”
Water does not turn sour without a cause. Every fiscal outcome has an explanation that should be open to scrutiny.
Igbo: “Aka nri kwoo aka ekpe, aka ekpe akwoo aka nri.”
When the right hand washes the left and the left washes the right, both become clean. Reform and accountability must reinforce each other.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“A necessary reform earns public trust only when sacrifice is shared, savings are visible and promised relief becomes lived experience.”
— Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, MFR»
THE NATIONAL PATRIOTS’ POSITION
The National Patriots recognises the fiscal case for ending a petrol-subsidy regime that had become increasingly difficult to sustain and commends the emerging evidence of increased investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare, wages and social intervention.
The next stage should be institutionalised transparency.
The National Patriots proposes an Annual Subsidy Reform Fiscal Statement, written in accessible language and showing resources released by reform, distribution among the three tiers of government, major expenditure categories, projects delivered, beneficiaries reached and measurable outcomes.
States and local governments should publish corresponding accounts of their increased revenues.
Social protection must also progress from temporary relief towards sustainable empowerment through food production, affordable transportation, skills, small businesses and productive employment.
FINAL WORD
Nigeria has paid a high price for economic reform.
The justification cannot end with a spreadsheet showing trillions saved, distributed or spent. The story must continue to students financed, vulnerable households supported, healthcare strengthened, roads built, workers paid, businesses sustained and homes provided.
Where results are visible, they should be acknowledged. Where they remain inadequate, accountability must follow.
The road from subsidy removal to prosperity passes through transparency, accountability and delivery.
The reform dividend becomes real only when Nigerians can see it, trace it and feel it.
CHAPTER IN FOCUS
The N15.8 trillion attributed to subsidy-related fiscal space was distributed across the Federation rather than accumulated as a single Federal Government cash reserve. Documented outcomes during the reform period include expanded student financing, healthcare investment, housing, infrastructure, wage adjustments and social protection. The continuing test is whether these gains become sufficiently broad, transparent and measurable to improve everyday life.
Principal Sources: Federal Ministry of Finance; State House; Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation; Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; Federal Ministry of Education; African Development Bank; World Bank; Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association.
•Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, MFR
President, The National Patriots