Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has demanded to know the whereabouts of an estimated $10 billion Nigeria was expected to save from ending petrol subsidy payments under President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Falana said the anticipated windfall from subsidy removal never materialised as meaningful savings, blaming the naira’s devaluation and other economic policies pursued by the Federal Government.
He also disputed the significance of Tinubu’s May 29, 2023 declaration that fuel subsidy had ended, arguing the subsidy regime was already effectively dead before that speech. According to Falana, the 2023 Appropriation Act contained no allocation for subsidy payments, meaning no funds had been budgeted to sustain it that year. He said this made the President’s announcement little more than a confirmation of an arrangement already in force, rather than a new policy decision.
“The $10 billion that would have been spent on the importation of fuel, where is it?” Falana asked.
He insisted that whatever savings the subsidy removal generated had been wiped out by the sharp fall in the naira’s value. Combined with what he called the government’s neoliberal economic policies, Falana argued, the currency’s depreciation had swallowed the financial gains Nigerians were promised.
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His remarks add to an ongoing debate over the true economic impact of the subsidy removal, including its effect on pump prices, government revenue, and household purchasing power.
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