Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has reaffirmed his support for the removal of petrol subsidy, arguing that the mismanagement of the funds recovered from the policy should not be used as a reason to reverse it.
Gatekeepers News reports that Obi spoke on Monday at a conference organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
“I subscribe and maintain that you need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds shouldn’t be the reason for not removing it,” the former Anambra State governor said.
He, however, criticised the government for failing to properly deploy the resources generated from the subsidy removal to improve the welfare of Nigerians.
“What we should have done is that when we removed the subsidy, we would have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” Obi said.
“What we have today is that, that removal and the attendant resources being recovered is also being mismanaged and stolen. For example, we have received, according to them, N16 trillion.”
According to Obi, his leadership blueprint for Nigeria envisaged removing the subsidy “in an organised manner” while ensuring that the funds recovered were channelled into projects that would directly benefit Nigerians.
Subsidy savings could have transformed healthcare — Obi
Obi said the resources generated from subsidy removal could have been used to address some of Nigeria’s major challenges, particularly in the health sector.
“The number one thing a nation needs to develop is health. But today, our health is very poor, our primary care is very poor, where we are now, we have more maternal and child issues than countries like India,” he said.
He argued that five per cent of the N16 trillion the government said had been saved could significantly improve primary healthcare infrastructure across the country.
“Assuming, let me use five percent, you said that they saved N15.8 trillion. So, according to them, N16 trillion. So, five percent of that is just about N800 billion,” Obi said.
“And if today, our biggest problem is the issue of primary care and you decide to put primary care in each ward, today it will cost you, from our own studies, an average of N100 million for one.”
The former governor also said part of the funds could have been invested in expanding kidney treatment facilities.
“If you decide today, we have an issue now with kidney dialysis. We have over 25 million Nigerians with kidney issues,” Obi claimed.
“To build a kidney centre, you need N200 million. And we need about a thousand centres when we have less than 200.
“We need about 5,000 machines when we have less than 800. It costs you N200 million to do a centre, and it costs you exactly N10 million to buy one machine.”
Obi said another option would have been to invest the funds in Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund.
“If they had saved the money and decided to do like any other country, we would have had $10 billion added to our sovereign wealth fund, which, if you add it today, we will get about $10 billion every month, which we can use for a purpose,” he said.
He further criticised the government for asking Nigerians to endure economic hardship while public officials allegedly continued to benefit from public resources.
“So, don’t say because people use the money they are supposed to utilise very well for party, and you say no, we should bring back,” Obi said.
“What I’ve said is that people in government have asked Nigerians to fast. Okay. They cannot be feasting when Nigerians are fasting.”
Subsidy debate intensifies
Obi’s comments come amid renewed debate over the impact and management of petrol subsidy removal since the beginning of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Opposition figures, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Obi, have criticised the government over its handling of the resources generated by the policy.
Atiku, who had supported subsidy removal during the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, recently said he would restore the petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Speaking during an interview with an ADC media group last Wednesday, Atiku argued that the Tinubu administration had failed to account adequately for funds saved through subsidy removal.
Tinubu subsequently criticised the proposal, describing it as evidence of “serious ignorance of governance and economy”. He also noted that some states struggled to pay salaries and pensions before he assumed office.
The debate followed a disclosure by Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, that petrol subsidy removal mobilised N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
Oyedele said the Federal Government received N5.4 trillion of the amount, while N10.4 trillion was shared among state and local governments.
According to him, the increase reflected higher revenue collections, particularly as the naira value of dollar-denominated transactions rose following the exchange-rate reforms.
