NRS Boss: Tinubu Reforms Saved Nigeria From ₦53tn Petrol Subsidy, ₦3,500/$ Exchange Rate

Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) Chairman Zacch Adedeji has defended President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, claiming petrol subsidy costs could have climbed to about ₦53 trillion while the naira could have weakened to ₦3,500 per dollar if the policies had not been implemented.

Adedeji made the claim during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he defended the removal of petrol subsidy and the government’s decision to reform the foreign exchange system.

He described subsidy removal as one of the administration’s most important economic decisions, arguing that the policy had placed an unsustainable burden on government finances for decades. “All the good results that I will reel out soon come as a result of that courageous decision (subsidy removal). So, it is not a mistake; it is the best thing that has happened to this country. Subsidy was evil and had been with Nigeria for decades,” he said.

The NRS chairman said the Tinubu administration inherited an economy facing serious pressure from an expensive subsidy regime, weak oil-sector performance and a limited tax base. He argued that keeping the subsidy in place could have created an even larger financial burden, particularly amid changes in global energy markets and the Iran crisis.

Adedeji also linked the government’s exchange-rate reforms to the broader economic reset. He urged Nigerians to judge the policies by their results rather than emotions and challenged politicians seeking to defeat Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election to explain how they would handle the country’s economic problems differently.

“What the President deserves now is support and commendation for being a statesman and not a politician. Anybody who says he is coming (to contest as president), just ask them, ‘What will you do differently?’” Adedeji said.

Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, with the declaration that “fuel subsidy is gone.” The decision led to a sharp increase in petrol prices and contributed to higher transport, food and production costs, but it has also increased government revenues and boosted allocations shared by the federal, state and local governments.

The policy remains politically and economically contentious, with supporters pointing to increased government revenue and fiscal savings while critics continue to highlight its impact on household incomes and the cost of living. Adedeji maintained that the reforms should be assessed against the alternative of continuing what he described as an increasingly unsustainable economic system.