Reforms saved Nigeria ₦15.8trn, lifted millions despite pains— Oyedele

Omeiza Bilal

The Federal Government has disclosed that its removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market generated ₦15.8 trillion in savings for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025, funds it says have translated into tangible relief for millions of Nigerians despite the pains of the reforms.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this while unveiling what the ministry termed “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard,” a document assessing the costs, benefits and harms averted by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s twin reforms.

Of the ₦15.8 trillion in subsidy savings, Oyedele said ₦5.4 trillion accrued to the Federal Government while ₦10.4 trillion was shared among states and local governments. He added that the Federal Government also earned ₦3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, mainly from remittances by government-owned entities, while ₦11.9 trillion came from borrowing.

“That money did not sit idle,” Oyedele said, noting that the Federal Government’s total incremental resources of ₦20.4 trillion helped fund ₦30.64 trillion in incremental expenses, with ₦9.39 trillion spent on wage adjustments and public servant allowances, ₦9.37 trillion on external debt service, and ₦6.5 trillion on strategic infrastructure.

He pointed out that wage adjustments alone outstripped the entire subsidy savings accruing to the Federal Government, an indication, he said, that the reforms were not introduced for revenue purposes but to tackle “entrenched corruption in an artificially managed fuel subsidy and foreign exchange market.”

On how the reforms have benefited ordinary Nigerians, Oyedele listed the prompt payment of salaries and pensions, the clearing of longstanding pension arrears, and an increase in the national minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000. He also cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), which he described as one of the most affordable student loan schemes globally, as having supported over 1.5 million students.

Other benefits, he said, include cash transfers to millions of households, subsidised mortgages, agricultural support aimed at strengthening food security, and a new Tax Act that exempts low-income earners and small businesses from taxation.

Beyond the visible gains, the minister said the scorecard also captured harms the reforms had prevented. He noted that while 27 states could not reliably pay salaries as of May 2023, that number has since dropped to zero, whereas the ministry’s projections suggest at least 30 states would have been unable to pay salaries by now without the reforms.

He also disclosed that the exchange rate premium between the official and parallel markets, once above 60 per cent, has narrowed to under 5 per cent, adding that without the reforms, the premium could have exceeded 150 per cent, leaving the naira “simply unavailable at any official rate for most Nigerians and businesses.”

The minister, however, was candid about the costs of the reforms. He noted that the Monetary Policy Rate has risen from 18.5 per cent to 26.5 per cent, while petrol prices have climbed from about ₦185 per litre to between ₦1,100 and ₦1,400. He maintained that without the reforms, petrol would likely be both scarce and trading above ₦3,000 per litre on the black market.

On inflation, Oyedele said the general price index eased to 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, down from 22.41 per cent in May 2023, while food inflation dropped from 24.82 per cent to 17.52 per cent within the same period. He, however, admitted that poverty and household welfare recovery remained “unfinished business.”

Citing other macroeconomic indicators, the minister said gross external reserves rose to $52.5 billion from about $35 billion, while net reserves grew from roughly $3 billion to $34.8 billion. He added that the stock market’s capitalisation expanded from about ₦31 trillion to approximately ₦150 trillion, while real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth strengthened to 3.89 per cent from a baseline of 2.31 per cent.

Oyedele further disclosed that Nigeria’s sovereign credit rating was upgraded to ‘B’ by S&P Global in May, its first upgrade in fourteen years, alongside the country’s exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in October 2025 and the European Union’s anti-money laundering watch list in January 2026.

Looking ahead, the minister said government would sustain the reform trajectory, deepen cash transfers, expand agricultural interventions to moderate food prices, and work with subnational governments to ensure that economic gains translate into felt relief across the 774 local government areas of the federation.