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…says policy was ‘draining national purse’
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has defended the removal of fuel subsidy, arguing that the controversial measure was necessary to stop the draining of money intended for development.
Speaking at the Freedom Online 7th Yearly Lecture Thursday in Lagos, Sanwo-Olu challenged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who recently spoke in favour of subsidy, saying it was not removed because anybody enjoyed removing it but because it had become a hole in the national purse through which the money for roads, schools and hospitals was draining away, and because much of that money was never reaching the ordinary motorist it was supposed to help.
Sanwo-Olu acknowledged the impact of the removal of subsidy on ordinary Nigerians saying: “I will not stand here and tell you that it has been painless. It has not. Lagosians have felt it at the pump, at the market, and in the price of a bag of rice, and any governor who tells you otherwise has not been listening to his own people. The measure of a reform is not whether it hurts. It is whether it heals. And the evidence that this one is healing is now arriving, quarter by quarter.”
He cited recent economic data as evidence that the reform was beginning to yield positive results. The National Bureau of Statistics, he noted, had just published growth figures showing the economy expanded by 4.43 percent in the second quarter of 2026, up from 3.89 percent in the first quarter and 4.23 percent in the same quarter of 2025.
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”Agriculture, the sector on which most of our people depend, grew by 4.39 per cent, up from 2.82 per cent a year earlier. Services grew by 4.6 per cent. In nominal terms, the economy is more than 18 per cent larger than it was twelve months ago. “These are not my numbers. They belong to the National Bureau of Statistics and the Central Bank of Nigeria, and every journalist in this hall can check them. I invite you to,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Sanwo-Olu accused the opposition of attempting to exploit subsidy removal grievances despite the macroeconomic evidence of recovery saying: “Barely two weeks in, opposition politicians have reached for the fuel subsidy as their instrument of choice. We will see more of this. We will see promises that no treasury on earth could honour.”
Speaking on security as a critical factor shaping 2027 elections, he said that voters evaluate safety based on how secure they feel and that President Bola Tinubu has demonstrated serious commitment to security.
