President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have defended the administration’s decision to remove the fuel subsidy, describing it as a difficult but necessary reform that has redirected public resources into productive sectors of the economy.
The party also rejected a proposal by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to restore the subsidy regime ahead of the 2027 presidential election, warning that such a move could reverse the economic gains recorded under the Tinubu administration.
The position was presented by the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who represented President Tinubu at the second edition of the APC Professionals Forum’s Policy Roundtable, tagged the Asiwaju Scorecard Series.
The event, held on Tuesday, had the theme, “Dissecting the Renewed Hope Deliverables & Achievements.”
Yilwatda said the Tinubu administration inherited what he described as “fuel subsidy distortions, multiple exchange-rate windows, weak revenue mobilisation, foreign-exchange shortages, rising debt-service pressures and years of inadequate investment in critical infrastructure” when it assumed office on May 29, 2023.
According to him, the government’s reforms have contributed to improvements in Nigeria’s economic indicators.
He said the country’s gross external reserves had risen to about $52.7 billion as of August 2026, while consolidated non-oil revenue increased from approximately ₦13.63 trillion in 2023 to ₦16.4 trillion in the first two quarters of 2026.
Yilwatda further stated that Nigeria’s merchandise trade position improved from a surplus of about ₦44.8 billion recorded in 2023 to approximately ₦7.54 trillion in the first quarter of 2026.
He also cited real Gross Domestic Product growth of 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026 and a decline in inflation to about 15.4 per cent.
The APC chairman linked the economic reforms to the administration’s ambition of growing Nigeria into a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
He highlighted plans for an integrated five-port maritime and logistics corridor connecting Lagos, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Port Harcourt and Calabar, alongside major road and rail projects, including the Lagos Abuja Kaduna Kano corridor, Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway and proposed Calabar-Maiduguri Trans-Sahara Super Highway.
Yilwatda said the northern region stood to benefit significantly from the planned infrastructure and trade expansion, particularly through increased commercial links with neighbouring countries.
“The biggest beneficiaries of this economy will be the Northern part of Nigeria, because they will now be trading with countries, trading with Niger, trading with Chad, trading with Burkina Faso, trading with Southern Sudan, trading with Northern Cameroon, trading with Central African Republic,” he said.
“The North is the next business destination of Nigeria.”
He also listed the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), technical and vocational training programmes and the CREDICORP credit initiative as measures designed to translate macroeconomic stability into improved living standards.
Yilwatda urged Nigerians to view the 2027 election as a choice between consolidating the reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration and reversing them.
“For the All Progressives Congress, the answer is clear. We choose progress, productivity, investment, infrastructure, innovation, Nigerian enterprise, exports, human capital, and we choose President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he declared.
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the APC Professionals Forum, Dr Isa Yuguda, defended the removal of the subsidy.
Yuguda, who chaired the Fuel Subsidy Task Force in 2009, said the committee had uncovered serious irregularities, fraudulent practices and financial leakages within the subsidy regime.
According to him, the system had become inefficient and consumed huge public resources that could have been channelled into education, healthcare, agriculture, security, infrastructure and other productive sectors.
He described the removal of the subsidy as “a difficult but necessary reform intended to redirect national resources towards long-term development.”
Yuguda said Tinubu demonstrated the political courage to implement a reform that previous administrations had recognised as necessary but struggled to fully execute.
He claimed that more than ₦15 trillion had been saved as a result of the subsidy removal.
The former Bauchi State governor also highlighted investments in education through NELFUND, as well as increased funding, operational support and equipment for the armed forces and other security agencies.
On security, Yuguda acknowledged that Nigeria continued to face serious challenges arising partly from instability in neighbouring countries, porous borders and the cross-border movement of armed groups and criminal networks.
He called for stronger border security, improved intelligence gathering and greater regional cooperation.
Addressing Atiku’s proposal to restore the fuel subsidy, Yuguda said the policy might appear attractive to Nigerians seeking immediate economic relief but urged voters to consider the country’s previous experience with the system.
He said the former subsidy regime was associated with “massive leakages, fraudulent claims, inefficiency, and a significant drain on public finances.”
According to him, restoring the subsidy without addressing the weaknesses that characterised the previous system could undermine the fiscal space created by the current reforms.
“Reviving the system without clearly addressing these problems risks misleading Nigerians for short-term political gains and could reverse the fiscal space now supporting critical national investments,” he warned.
Yuguda therefore urged Nigerians to make the 2027 presidential election a contest centred on policies, achievements and realistic solutions rather than promises that could undermine ongoing economic reforms.