I watched the recent interview of the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Zacch Adedeji, on Sunday Politics on Channels TV. He said, “We would have been spending about ₦53 trillion yearly on petrol subsidy if President Bola Tinubu had not removed the scheme.” This is not what most Nigerians love to hear. The reason is obvious, and I don’t have to mention it. But he said it and indeed opened a new vista of understanding in the whole subsidy regime as practiced in the country before now. What is subsidy, and how has it been funded since it was introduced by the General Yakubu Gowon military regime in 1973 to cushion Nigerians against rising inflation and equalise fuel prices nationwide?
Zacch Adedeji’s arithmetic, By Joshua Ocheja
