President Bola Tinubu has ruled out a return to the petrol subsidy regime, insisting that his administration will not reverse the policy introduced shortly after he assumed office in May 2023.
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Tinubu spoke on Monday at a gathering of supporters under the City Boy Movement at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he defended the subsidy removal as a necessary economic decision and rejected promises by some opposition politicians to restore it if elected in 2027.
Drawing an analogy from the biblical and Quranic account of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, the President said Nigeria could not return to a policy his administration had already abandoned.
“I came and I removed subsidy the first day. I knew Nigeria would go bankrupt. There was nothing left to pay subsidy. I could listen to my political opponents promising a return to subsidy,” Tinubu said.
“I remember my scripture studies, both in the Bible and in the Holy Quran. When Moses and Musa left Egypt, they faced a challenge, and the Red Sea parted and gave way. You cannot ask Moses to go back to Egypt.”
Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023. The decision was followed by a sharp increase in petrol prices and transportation costs and has remained one of the most debated economic policies of his administration.
The Federal Government has consistently defended the policy, arguing that the subsidy regime placed an unsustainable burden on public finances and that continuing it would have undermined the government’s ability to fund other critical sectors.
Tinubu maintained that returning to the subsidy arrangement would amount to reversing the economic reforms his administration has pursued since coming into office.
“With your energy and support, never will we go back to Egypt,” he told members of the movement.
The President also urged his supporters to take the administration’s message to communities, markets, campuses and villages ahead of the 2027 general election.
“Make sure every young person you know has a PVC and uses it. Tell them what we have done and tell them what we will do,” he said.
The issue of petrol subsidy has emerged as a major point of disagreement ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, has pledged to restore petrol subsidy if elected, arguing that Nigerians have not sufficiently benefited from the savings arising from its removal. In August, Atiku said his position had not changed and that he would reinstate the subsidy if elected president.
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