Bu Paul Okojie

On May 29, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that “fuel subsidy is gone.”

The decision was presented as painful but necessary. Nigerians were told that the government could no longer afford to subsidise petrol while facing declining revenues, rising debt and a fragile economy.

However, more than three years later, Nigerians are not asking the hard question: Who is paying for the subsidy the government says it no longer pays?

Although the Federal Government stopped treating petrol subsidy as a direct budgetary expense, citizens continue to bear much of the cost through higher petrol prices, transport fares, food prices, business expenses and declining purchasing power.

In effect, government removed the subsidy from its books and transferred much of the immediate burden to consumers.

The financial figures are significant. The Federal Government says that between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy reform mobilised ₦15.8 trillion in additional resources for the Federation. Approximately ₦5.43 trillion accrued to the Federal Government, ₦6.52 trillion to states and ₦3.88 trillion to local governments.

That raises a fundamental question: If Nigerians are making the sacrifice, where is the dividend?

The government says the additional resources have created fiscal space for infrastructure, security, education, healthcare, agriculture and human-capital development. But citizens do not experience “fiscal space” as an abstract figure. They experience the cost of filling a tank, commuting to work, transporting goods and feeding their families.

Government measures success in billions and trillions of naira; citizens measure it by the number of meals they can afford.

The increase in Federation Account Allocation Committee distributions reinforces the accountability question. In April 2023, the three tiers shared ₦872.55 billion. By July 2023, shortly after subsidy removal, the distribution had risen to ₦1.89 trillion.

The distributions remained high thereafter: ₦1.67 trillion in January 2024, ₦2.07 trillion in February, ₦2.32 trillion in June and ₦2.68 trillion in July.

The trend continued in 2026. In March, the three tiers shared ₦2.036 trillion, including ₦657.596 billion for states and ₦468.826 billion for local governments. (Fed Min Info & Nat Orientation) By June, ₦2.551 trillion was shared, with ₦430.810 billion going to states from statutory revenue and ₦332.136 billion to local governments.

There is little doubt that governments now have greater fiscal capacity. The real question is what they have done with it.

The governors are now at the centre of the accountability question.

For years, politicians argued that the Federal Government spent too much on petrol subsidies. Now that the subsidy has been removed and states are receiving substantially larger allocations, governors can no longer rely on inadequate resources as a general explanation for poor services.

If citizens are paying more for petrol because the money is being redirected to development, that development must be visible.

People should see better roads, functioning hospitals, improved schools, water projects, stronger security, agricultural support, public transportation and more economic opportunities. They should also be able to connect increased government revenue with improvements in their quality of life.

It is not enough for a governor to announce a record FAAC allocation. Citizens need to know how it was spent.

The 2027 elections will give Nigerians an opportunity to ask political leaders a simple question; What did you do with the our money?

Governors seeking re-election or greater political influence should expect citizens to examine budgets, financial records, procurement documents, capital projects and actual expenditure.

If billions were allocated to roads, where are the roads? If money went to healthcare, where are the hospitals and equipment? If education received increased funding, where are the classrooms, laboratories and teachers? If agriculture and security received more resources, what measurable improvements followed?

These are not merely opposition questions. They are citizens’ questions. Nigerians where told to make sacrifices but is should not be permanent.

Nigeria needed to confront the structural problems surrounding petrol subsidies. The old system was costly and placed pressure on public finances. But reform is not automatically successful because government saves money. It succeeds when the savings improve people’s lives.

The Federal Government acknowledges that subsidy removal has imposed sacrifices on individuals, families, businesses and communities, while arguing that the resources released are being redirected to productive uses. But Nigerian witness untold hardship and taxes would increase on products.

That claim creates an obligation: government must demonstrate the dividend.

Nigerians have already paid through higher petrol prices, inflation, transport costs, food prices, reduced disposable income and increased business expenses. They cannot be told indefinitely to endure hardship today because prosperity may come tomorrow.

The subsidy may be gone from government accounts, but its economic burden remains in Nigerian lives. When government withdraws its contribution to petrol prices, consumers absorb the difference. The government gains fiscal space, while citizens pay more at the pump and throughout the economy.

The debate should therefore not be framed simply as “subsidy versus no subsidy.” The real questions should now be: Who bears the cost, who receives the benefit and who is accountable for the difference?

This is what Nigerians should demand from the APC is an annual public Subsidy Removal Revenue and Impact Report.

The Federal Government should publish the total resources released by subsidy removal. Each state and local government should disclose its additional revenue and explain how it was spent. State governments should identify projects financed from increased allocations. The Auditor-General should scrutinise the figures, while state assemblies, civil society organisations and the media should track implementation.

That is how Nigerians’ sacrifice can become democratic accountability.

The money did not materialise from nowhere. It came from an economic restructuring in which consumers lost the protection of artificially lower petrol prices. The Federal Government says the reform released ₦15.8 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025. Its figures show that about ₦10.4 trillion accrued to states and local governments combined. (Fed Min Info & Nat Orientation)

That is money belonging to the Federation, and citizens have a right to know what it has achieved.

As Nigeria moves towards 2027, the most important campaign question may not be who promises the next flyover or organises the biggest rally. It may be much simpler:

You received more money after subsidy removal. What did you do with it?

Nigerians make their contribution every time they buy petrol, pay a higher transport fare, purchase more expensive food or spend more to keep a business alive.

If they continue to bear the burden while governments receive the financial dividend, the next chapter of the subsidy debate must focus on accountability for the money saved and the burden transferred.

Paul Okojie is a Journalist/Media Consultant writing from Benin.