By: Tijani Salako.
Nigeria’s petrol subsidy removal and related economic reforms unlocked N15.8 trillion in additional resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has disclosed.
This was disclosed during the presentation of the Federal Government’s Reforms Scorecard, following President Bola Tinubu’s directive to Oyedele to give Nigerians an account of the numbers, choices, progress and remaining work arising from the reforms.
The Presidency, in a statement accompanying the scorecard, said the reform journey, which began in 2023, involved difficult decisions but maintained that the measures were aimed at building an economy that works better for Nigerians and a stronger country for future generations.
Oyedele, while presenting the scorecard, said the removal of the petrol subsidy was necessary to reduce fiscal pressure on government and redirect public resources towards other national priorities. He said the broader reforms, including the foreign exchange reform, helped increase revenue available to the Federation.
He disclosed that subsidy savings mobilised N15.8 trillion in resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
According to him, the resources were reflected through higher revenue collections and were not paid into the Federation Account as a separate credit under the description “subsidy savings.” He explained that the exchange-rate reform also increased the naira value of dollar-denominated revenues, including customs collections and petroleum profit tax.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised the sum of N15.8 trillion in resources for the Federation.
“Many people will say, where is the subsidy savings? As a matter of fact, there wasn’t any alert to the Federation Account with the description ‘subsidy savings’,” Oyedele said.
The minister explained that the Federal Government received N5.4 trillion of the N15.8 trillion, while N10.4 trillion was shared among state and local governments through the Federation Account.
He said the government’s overall financial position during the period also reflected increased independent revenue and borrowing to finance public expenditure. The Federal Government’s incremental independent revenue amounted to N3.1 trillion, principally from remittances by government-owned entities.
Oyedele further disclosed that the Federal Government’s total incremental resources from subsidy savings, independent revenue and additional borrowing amounted to N20.4 trillion during the period, while incremental borrowing accounted for N11.9 trillion.
He said the additional borrowing would have been substantially higher without the fiscal space created by the reforms, while the government’s incremental expenditure during the period stood at N30.64 trillion.
