FUEL SUBSIDY RETURN WILL DEVALUE NAIRA, WORSEN POVERTY, SCARE INVESTORS —MBAH

Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah, has warned that reintroducing petrol subsidy would worsen poverty in Nigeria, trigger an automatic devaluation of the naira, and scare away prospective investors.

The warning was delivered on Wednesday at the “Meet the Candidates” town hall meeting organised by Afia TV in Enugu, where the governor defended President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove the subsidy.

THE WARNING

Mbah was unequivocal about the consequences of a return to subsidy.

“If you reintroduce fuel subsidy today, we will lose ten times whatever we are currently trying to gain in terms of the removal of subsidy. The poverty rate that you are going to experience will be very high because the naira would be automatically devalued,” he said.

He argued that the subsidy debate should not even be entertained because of the signal it sends to the international community.

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“We cannot go back to subsidy. And I do not think it is in the interest of the country for us to even debate that,” Mbah said.

“Again, we should not even debate it because we do not want to send a signal to prospective investors that we are contemplating it. That would take us back. It is going to create panic in the system. It is going to get investors to pull back”. “Those that are coming in today to invest in that sector will become jittery. So, it is not even a subject to debate. It is something that we have moved on from, and we should be thinking about how to ensure that the natural benefits cascade to the households, create jobs and generate wealth for our people”.

THE SUBSIDY BENEFITED THE RICH

Mbah also challenged the narrative that the subsidy was designed to help the poor, arguing that the regime largely benefited wealthy Nigerians.

“By the way, I do not think the subsidy we practised before the President removed it was even the right one for the country because even the people we were looking at benefiting from it were only insignificantly benefiting from it. It was largely beneficial to our wealthy folks,” he said.

He said the savings from the subsidy removal are now being used to target vulnerable citizens. “But now, you can almost notice that the government is doing that in targeting the poor, using proceeds from subsidy removal. The government is aggressive on cash transfers. There is also the programme where the government is targeting 1,000 persons per ward across the entire country to be able to provide seed capital for them to become productive,” he added.

THE INVESTMENT CASE

Mbah said Tinubu’s policies had stabilised macroeconomic indicators and encouraged foreign direct investment.

“You can see quite a lot of funds coming into our country, not just portfolio investments, but also direct investments,” he said.

WHY IT MATTERS

Mbah’s intervention places him firmly on the side of the Tinubu administration in the ongoing debate over fuel subsidy.

It also comes at a time when opposition figures, including ADC presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, have proposed a return to subsidy in some form.

Mbah’s argument is that the economic consequences of such a move would be catastrophic—higher poverty, a weaker naira, and a loss of investor confidence.

Whether Nigerians agree depends on whether they believe the benefits of subsidy removal are reaching them. Mbah says they are. Many Nigerians say they are not.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the subsidy debate will continue to shape the 2027 election campaign.