President Bola Tinubu ruled out any return to the fuel subsidy regime during Nigeria’s 66th Independence Day address on Thursday. He spoke as the country marked the anniversary and defended the economic reforms introduced after he took office in 2023.
Tinubu stated that the reforms confronted longstanding weaknesses rather than creating them. He said the side effects were real yet warned against abandoning the measures.
“Now, as certain influential but regressive voices would have us abandon the treatment and return ourselves to the abuse of addictive subsidies, we must resist their siren song,” he declared. “We must remember why we began this journey and how far we have already come.”
Meanwhile, Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume echoed the position a day earlier at the 66th Independence Anniversary Lecture in Abuja.
Akume said the administration would not reverse the petrol subsidy removal. “We will not return to the ruinous petroleum subsidy regime of the past,” he stated. He explained that the government took the decision in 2023 along with foreign exchange unification and fiscal reforms to prevent economic collapse.
Akume noted that Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 4.2 percent in the first half of 2026, according to World Bank figures, up from 3.9 percent a year earlier.
Tinubu further pointed to progress under the National Affordable CNG Transit Programme. He said more than 120,000 vehicles had been converted, supported by over 400 conversion centres and 90 refuelling stations. The President stressed that Nigeria could not control global energy markets but could reduce exposure as a gas-rich nation.
He directed efforts to deliver lower transport fares from October 1 through cheaper alternatives rather than restored subsidies.
Earlier in September, Tinubu had rejected similar calls linked to opposition figures. He described the former subsidy system as one that consumed trillions of naira and left the economy vulnerable to international oil price movements.
