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Nigerian President Bola Tinubu will not reinstate the country’s petrol subsidy despite opposition calls for a reversal, the presidency said on Wednesday, as the International Monetary Fund urged the government to favour targeted support for vulnerable households.
“President Tinubu is not looking back. No matter the crackles and noise of the opposition,” Sunday Dare, special adviser on media and public communication, wrote on X.
“President Tinubu is laying the foundation for a stronger economy by reversing the distortions of the past and introducing new and dynamic policies and programs,” he added.
The comments came after the IMF advised Nigeria against restoring a blanket petrol subsidy, recommending targeted assistance for vulnerable households instead.
Credit: Channel Africa
Rodrigo Valdés, director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, made the recommendation during a briefing on the fund’s Fiscal Monitor at the 2026 IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok.
Valdés said broad fuel subsidies were costly, tended to benefit wealthier consumers disproportionately and could worsen pressure on public finances as borrowing costs rise.
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“Protecting people is not the same as protecting the price of fuels,” he said.
“It’s first fiscally very costly, and second, if you look at the pattern of consumption, it’s easy to see that that subsidy is readily regressive in many places.”
He added that fuel subsidies and similar measures preventing prices from adjusting fully to energy shocks had cost countries between one and 1.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2026.
