ABUJA, Nigeria — The Federal Government of Nigeria announced on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, that the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market generated N15.8 trillion ($15.8 billion) in additional resources for the Federation Account between June 2023 and December 2025.
Golden Info reports that Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed the revenue figures during a media conference titled “The Benefits, Costs and Harm Prevented.”
Oyedele said the N15.8tn ($15.8 billion) was not deposited into the national accounts under a specific heading for subsidy savings. The minister said the financial gains materialized through increased revenue collections driven by changes in the exchange rate and the elimination of subsidy-related market distortions.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised a sum of N15.8tn in resources for the Federation,” Oyedele said. “Many people will say, ‘Where is the subsidy saving?’ As a matter of fact, there wasn’t any line in the Federation Account with the description, ‘subsidy savings.’”
The minister said the savings were reflected in higher collections by the Nigeria Customs Service and through the Petroleum Profit Tax. Oyedele detailed that prior to the reforms, import duties were calculated at N460 ($0.46) to one United States Dollar, which later transitioned to rates exceeding N1,000 ($1.00).
“So, the subsidy savings showed up in the form of higher collection by Customs because, for every one dollar of import duty before, at N460, it became one dollar at N1,004, N1,003, N1,005,” Oyedele said. “The NRS, Petroleum Profit Tax that it collected before, same dollar, higher amount in naira. So, the savings showed up in the Federation accounts by way of higher revenue collections as a result of the reforms.”
Addressing the foreign exchange system, Oyedele said the previous policy included an implicit subsidy that benefited rent-seekers rather than manufacturers. “Not just the subsidy removal, but also the exchange rate flotation, because we were subsidising the exchange rate. And that subsidy was not going to the ordinary person or manufacturers. It was going to rent-seekers,” Oyedele said.