Former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi has outlined his alternative approach to Nigeria’s recent economic reforms, emphasising the need for strategic implementation over hasty policy announcements.
During an interview on ARISE Television on Monday, Obi detailed how his administration would have handled the controversial fuel subsidy elimination and naira devaluation differently from the current government’s methods.
Regarding subsidy removal, Obi emphasised his commitment to the policy while criticising the execution approach.
“I have consistently maintained that I would have removed the fuel subsidy,” Obi said, referencing his campaign manifesto. “If you go to my manifesto, it’s there—steps I would have taken to do it in an organised manner. There was nothing wrong with the removal of the subsidy. What is wrong is the haphazard way in which it was announced and implemented. Everybody knows that the subsidy regime was a solution to criminality. There was a lot of corruption, which they needed to get out of. Do it in an organised manner.”
The politician questioned the transparency surrounding the funds saved from the policy change, asking:
“And since you’re doing it for savings, we’re told we’re doing it because we don’t want to continue to borrow to sustain the subsidy, and the removal will free up funds to be invested in critical areas of development. With all these billions saved, where is it? Where is it invested in those critical areas of development?”
On the floating of the naira, Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, supported the concept while highlighting implementation challenges tied to Nigeria’s low productivity levels.
“There’s nothing wrong with floating your currency. There’s nothing wrong with even devaluing your currency. But you do this when you have productivity. What devaluation or floating does is that your currency, in terms of value, becomes lower. You attract investment. Your products become more marketable. But when we are unproductive and have nothing to sell, it’s a double whammy. So, in all this, I would have done the same thing—but in an organised manner,” Obi noted.
News.ng recalls that President Bola Tinubu, during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, declared the abolition of the fuel subsidy.
“Fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu announced, sending a clear message of his administration’s commitment to economic reform during his inaugural speech.
Nigeria’s fuel subsidy system, established in the 1970s, has long generated controversy. Despite the country’s position as Africa’s leading oil producer, insufficient domestic refining capacity has forced Nigeria to import most petroleum products, which were then sold at government-subsidised prices.
The subsidy system maintained artificially low fuel costs for citizens but created substantial fiscal pressure. Government spending on subsidies reached 4.3 trillion naira in 2022, with an additional 3.36 trillion naira allocated for the first half of 2023.
Historical attempts by previous administrations to eliminate subsidies encountered strong resistance, with public protests and labour strikes typically forcing policy reversals. Tinubu’s declaration represents a decisive approach to addressing this longstanding economic challenge.
