According to a news report from Daily Trust, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Egbewole, has highlighted that Nigeria's expenditure on fuel subsidies between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded the combined budgets for the defence, education, and healthcare sectors.

Professor Egbewole, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, revealed that approximately N10 trillion was spent on fuel subsidies from 2006 to 2018. He described this expenditure as a significant drain on the government’s finances, noting that only educated Nigerians fully grasp the implications of subsidy removal.

He made these remarks at the University of Abuja during a programme organised by the El-Mavericky Centre for Educational Research and Development in honour of the former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah.

“Economically, fuel subsidy removal should contribute to fiscal savings for the government, allowing room for funds to be redirected to priority sectors such as education, infrastructure and healthcare.

“For instance, the N3.92trn allocated to petrol subsidy between January 2020 and June 2022 surpassed the combined federal budgets for healthcare, education and defence for the 30-month period.

“If that subsidy was removed, that would make a huge impact on the critical sectors if the funds were properly utilised. Between 2006 and 2018, about N10trn was spent on fuel subsidies, a significant drain on the government’s finances,” the varsity don said.

Speaking on the theme of the programme: “A march to the future: addressing issues of university administration in post-subsidy Nigeria”, he said the masses who would mainly care about prices would blame the government for inflicting hardship on them.

“The subsidy removal would be interpreted as an anti-poor policy and make the ruling party unpopular, if not well handled.

“But the situation was better handled and the government was able to communicate its sincere intentions to the satisfaction of those who may have wanted to exploit the situation for political advantage. The context of post-subsidy removal is that of heightened economic reality, social concerns and political sensitivity.