The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has disclosed that savings from the removal of petrol subsidy generated and mobilised N15.8 trillion in resources for Nigeria’s federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
Oyedele made the disclosure on Wednesday during a media conference on the scorecard of economic reforms implemented by the Federal Government between 2023 and 2026.
According to the minister, the resources made available through subsidy savings were reflected largely in increased revenue collections, particularly after the exchange-rate reforms increased the naira value of dollar-denominated transactions.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised the sum of N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation,” Oyedele said.
He explained that the Federal Government received N5.4 trillion of the total amount, while N10.4 trillion was shared among the states and local governments through the federation allocation process.
The minister said the government also generated N3.1 trillion in additional independent revenue during the same period. He explained that a substantial portion of the increase came from improved remittances by government-owned entities.
When the subsidy savings, additional independent revenue and increased borrowing were combined, Oyedele said the Federal Government’s incremental resources amounted to N20.4 trillion during the period under review.
“Altogether, the federal government’s incremental resources over the period — subsidy savings, independent revenue, and incremental borrowing — came to N20.4 trillion,” he said.
However, Oyedele stressed that the reforms did not simply create additional money for government spending. He argued that the fiscal space created by the changes helped the Federal Government manage increased expenditure pressures without resorting to even higher levels of borrowing.
According to him, the Federal Government incurred N30.64 trillion in incremental expenditure between June 2023 and December 2025.
He said the expenditure covered several areas, including higher wages, debt servicing and strategic infrastructure investments.
Of the total incremental expenditure, N9.39 trillion was spent on wage adjustments, increases in the minimum wage and allowances for public servants.
Another N9.37 trillion went towards servicing external debt, while N6.5 trillion was allocated to strategic infrastructure projects.
Oyedele said the additional amount spent on wages was particularly significant because it exceeded the entire share of subsidy savings that accrued directly to the Federal Government.
“The incremental amount that the federal government spends paying higher wages is more than the entire savings that the federal government earned from subsidy removal,” he said.
The minister explained that the increase in debt-servicing costs was largely a consequence of the depreciation of the naira following the foreign-exchange reforms.
He noted that although the dollar value of Nigeria’s external debt obligations remained essentially unchanged, the amount of naira required to meet those obligations increased significantly because of the change in the exchange rate.
“If we were paying $1 million before in interest on our foreign debt, it is still the same $1 million, but instead of N460, it’s now N1,415,” Oyedele explained.
“That’s more naira that we need to incur. And I’ve said this before, when you have debt service to pay, you don’t negotiate, you don’t delay, you pay. Because delay or defaults have consequences.”
Oyedele said the Federal Government also relied on additional borrowing during the period, with N11.9 trillion in incremental borrowing forming part of the overall increase in resources.
He argued that the amount would have been substantially higher and potentially destabilising to the economy if the reforms had not created additional fiscal space.
According to the minister, the reforms should therefore not be viewed primarily as an effort to increase government revenue.
Instead, he said, the changes were intended to address longstanding structural distortions and what he described as entrenched corruption associated with Nigeria’s artificially managed fuel subsidy and foreign exchange systems.
“The reforms were not introduced primarily to increase government revenue,” Oyedele said.
He argued that the old system of fuel subsidies created opportunities for leakages and abuse while placing considerable pressure on public finances.
Similarly, he said the previous approach to managing the foreign exchange market created distortions that affected the country’s economic stability and complicated government financial planning.
Oyedele maintained that the reforms were designed to create a more transparent and sustainable economic framework, even though they have also resulted in significant short-term adjustments and pressures for businesses and households.
The minister’s presentation provides an overview of the Federal Government’s argument that the reforms have expanded available resources while enabling increased expenditure on wages, infrastructure and debt obligations.
The figures also highlight the scale of the financial adjustments the government has had to make since the removal of the petrol subsidy and the introduction of major foreign-exchange reforms.
While the subsidy savings have created substantial resources for all levels of government, the government has simultaneously faced increased expenditure demands, particularly from higher public-sector wages and the rising naira cost of servicing foreign debt.
Oyedele’s comments come amid continuing national debate over the economic consequences of the reforms. Supporters of the government’s policies argue that subsidy removal and exchange-rate reform were necessary to correct structural imbalances and prevent the continued accumulation of unsustainable fiscal pressures.
Critics, however, have raised concerns over the impact of the reforms on household incomes, transportation costs, food prices and the overall cost of living.
The minister’s latest figures therefore offer the government’s perspective on where the additional resources generated through the reforms have gone and how they have been deployed.
Oyedele maintained that the key objective remains the establishment of a more sustainable economy, with fiscal resources better aligned with national priorities and less vulnerable to leakages arising from inefficient subsidy and foreign-exchange arrangements.
He said the reforms should ultimately be judged by their ability to create a stronger economic foundation for long-term growth, rather than solely by their immediate financial effects.
The Federal Government is expected to continue implementing its economic reform programme while monitoring its impact on public finances, investment, employment and living standards.
For now, the N15.8 trillion in reported subsidy savings represents a major component of the government’s broader reform narrative, while the N20.4 trillion in additional federal resources underscores the scale of the fiscal adjustments undertaken since 2023.
