The Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, has said Nigeria’s petrol subsidy could have risen to about ₦53tn if President Bola Tinubu had not removed it.

Adedeji made the claim during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while defending the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms.

According to him, the subsidy would have become an enormous burden on government finances under current economic conditions, arguing that maintaining it would amount to spending public funds to keep petrol prices artificially low.

He said the removal of the subsidy had also created conditions for increased investment in domestic refining and reduced Nigeria’s reliance on imported petroleum products.

Adedeji claimed that Nigeria now had about 700,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, compared with roughly 10,000 barrels per day before 2023. He attributed the growth largely to private-sector investment following the reforms.

The NRS chairman also defended the administration’s foreign exchange reforms, claiming that the naira could have weakened to around ₦3,500 to the dollar without the measures introduced since 2023.

He further said monthly allocations to the three tiers of government had risen from about ₦700bn in 2023 to approximately ₦4.5tn, which he argued had strengthened the ability of state and local governments to fund salaries and development projects.

Adedeji acknowledged that the reforms had created short-term economic difficulties but argued that the government needed time for the structural changes to translate into broader improvements in household welfare.

President Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy shortly after assuming office in May 2023, a decision that led to a sharp increase in petrol prices and higher transportation and living costs.