The real test of Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal is no longer whether the policy should be reversed, but whether the savings can be converted into visible improvements in the lives of citizens, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Senator Ita Enang, has said.
Enang argued that returning to the former subsidy regime would amount to reversing an economic reform that has already released resources for government spending, insisting that Nigerians should instead demand accountability over how the savings are deployed.
The former federal lawmaker made the position during a live television interview monitored in Abuja, amid renewed debate over fuel prices and the rising cost of living.
According to Enang, the subsidy system had become associated with massive fiscal losses, smuggling, fraud and other leakages, making its removal necessary despite the immediate hardship it imposed on households and businesses.
He said the resources freed by the policy should now be redirected into areas capable of producing tangible relief, particularly roads, healthcare, education, security and employment-generating projects.
Enang specifically urged the Federal Government to accelerate the rehabilitation of domestic refineries, expand Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) deployment, invest more heavily in renewable energy and strengthen direct support for vulnerable Nigerians.
He linked the effective use of subsidy savings to President Bola Tinubu’s directive for the immediate and timely release of funds to Regional Development Commissions, saying such interventions could demonstrate to citizens where the benefits of the reform are going.
The Ambassador said the emergence of stronger regional development structures should translate into infrastructure, jobs and human-capital investments, rather than simply becoming another layer of government expenditure.
Enang nevertheless acknowledged that the benefits of structural reforms would not emerge overnight, urging Nigerians to remain patient while demanding transparency and accountability from government at all levels.
He maintained that the country cannot afford to return to a system he described as financially unsustainable, arguing that the more important question now is whether government can turn the resources saved from subsidy into measurable economic and social gains for Nigerians.
