NANS rejects calls to restore Nigeria’s fuel subsidy

Nigeria’s student leaders are pushing back against politicians calling for a return to fuel subsidies, saying the debate should focus on what happened to the money saved after their removal.

Babatunde Akinteye, president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, made the appeal Tuesday in Akure at a youth summit sponsored by Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo. He said Nigerians should demand transparency and accountability in the use of subsidy savings rather than support a system that had operated for about four decades.

“We should monitor the money being saved from the removal of fuel subsidy and ensure it is channelled into projects and programmes that benefit all Nigerians instead of returning to a system where a few individuals cornered resources meant for the entire country,” Akinteye said.

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We should monitor the money being saved from the removal of fuel subsidy and ensure it is channelled into projects and programmes that benefit all Nigerians instead of returning to a system where a few individuals cornered resources meant for the entire country.

He recalled that Nigerians continued to face fuel shortages during the subsidy era despite heavy government spending. Restoring the payments, he argued, would place an unbearable burden on the country. Previous administrations had often borrowed to fund subsidies and, in some cases, workers’ salaries, he said. “Today, loans are largely tied to specific capital projects rather than recurrent expenditure such as salaries or fuel subsidy. We should not return to that era,” he declared.

Akinteye said anyone seeking to lead Nigeria should present practical plans for investing subsidy savings in ways that improve citizens’ lives. He pointed to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund as one programme that had benefited students since the subsidy was removed. He also said petrol prices had begun falling before the Iran-United States conflict, which he linked to a subsequent increase.

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Today, loans are largely tied to specific capital projects rather than recurrent expenditure such as salaries or fuel subsidy. We should not return to that era.