The Federal Government spent ₦9.39 trillion on wage adjustments, minimum wage increases and allowances for public servants between June 2023 and December 2025, using part of the resources generated through economic reforms, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, has said.
Oyedele disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday while presenting the government’s “Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard: The Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented,” which detailed the financial effects of the fuel subsidy removal and other reforms introduced by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
According to the minister, the Federal Government estimated total savings from the removal of fuel subsidy at ₦15.8 trillion, comprising ₦5.4 trillion accruing to the Federal Government and ₦10.4 trillion shared among states and local governments.
He said the Federal Government also generated an additional ₦3.1 trillion in independent revenue, principally through remittances from government-owned entities, while incremental borrowing contributed ₦11.9 trillion.
“Altogether, the Federal Government’s incremental resources over the period came to ₦20.4 trillion,” Oyedele said.
He explained that the additional resources helped finance ₦30.64 trillion in incremental expenditure, including ₦9.39 trillion for wage adjustments, minimum wage increases and allowances, ₦9.37 trillion for external debt service arising from exchange-rate depreciation and ₦6.5 trillion for strategic infrastructure.
Borrowing accounted for 58 per cent of the Federal Government’s ₦20.4 trillion in incremental resources, while subsidy savings accounted for 27 per cent and other revenue 15 per cent, according to the minister.
Oyedele said the figures showed that the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market were not primarily undertaken to raise government revenue but to correct economic distortions.
He acknowledged that the reforms imposed significant costs on Nigerians, particularly through higher petrol prices and interest rates, but argued that retaining the pre-reform system would have subjected the economy to deeper fiscal and monetary pressures.
The minister said the reforms had created fiscal space and helped prevent a further deterioration of the economy.
He cited the ability of states to meet salary obligations as one of the outcomes, saying the number of states unable to reliably pay salaries had fallen from 27 in May 2023 to zero.
According to Oyedele, government estimates indicated that at least 30 states could have become unable to meet salary obligations had the pre-reform trajectory continued.
He also said the premium between the official and parallel foreign exchange markets, which was above 60 per cent before the reforms, had fallen to below five per cent.
Oyedele projected that without the reforms, the premium could have risen above 150 per cent, making foreign exchange increasingly difficult to access at the official rate.
On government borrowing, he said the ₦30 trillion Ways and Means stock inherited by the administration had been curtailed instead of doubling as projected under the pre-reform trajectory.
The minister also listed regular payment of salaries and pensions, settlement of pension arrears and the increase in the national minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000 among the benefits associated with the reforms.
He said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund had supported more than 1.5 million students, while cash transfers, subsidised mortgages and agricultural interventions had been deployed to cushion the impact of the reforms.
Oyedele also said the new Tax Act exempts low-income earners and small businesses from tax while simplifying the tax system.
However, he acknowledged that household welfare and poverty reduction remained major areas requiring further intervention.
He noted that the Monetary Policy Rate had risen from 18.5 per cent to 26.5 per cent, while petrol prices increased from about ₦185 per litre to between ₦1,100 and ₦1,400.
Oyedele argued that under the former system, petrol could have traded above ₦3,000 per litre on the black market while becoming increasingly unavailable at the previous official price.
“Food inflation has eased from 24.82 per cent to 17.52 per cent as at June 2026, but poverty and household welfare recovery is still classified in our own scorecard as unfinished business,” he said.
The minister said headline inflation had fallen to 15.91 per cent in June 2026 from 22.41 per cent in May 2023.
He further disclosed that gross external reserves had risen from about $35 billion to $52.5 billion, while net reserves increased from roughly $3 billion to $34.8 billion.
Stock market capitalisation also rose from about ₦31 trillion to approximately ₦150 trillion, while real Gross Domestic Product growth strengthened to 3.89 per cent from a baseline of 2.31 per cent, he said.
Oyedele said S&P Global upgraded Nigeria’s sovereign credit rating to ‘B’ in May 2026, describing it as the country’s first upgrade in 14 years.
He also noted that Nigeria exited the Financial Action Task Force grey list in October 2025 and the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Deficiency List in January 2026.
Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the briefing was organised to provide Nigerians with information on the financial implications of fuel subsidy removal and how resources freed by the policy had been utilised.
Idris acknowledged that the policy had required “sacrifices and adjustments” from individuals, families, businesses and communities but said resources previously committed to fuel subsidies were being redirected towards investments intended to create sustainable value.
“This is fundamentally about transparency and accountability,” Idris said.
He said the government had a responsibility not only to announce policies but also to explain them, acknowledge their challenges, account for their outcomes and demonstrate how difficult decisions were intended to strengthen the economy.
Oyedele said the Federal Government would continue with its reform programme while placing greater emphasis on translating improvements in macroeconomic indicators into better living conditions for Nigerians.
He said implementation of the Nigeria Tax Act would continue alongside reforms in budgeting, reporting and accountability, while the government would work to reduce inflation towards single digits, maintain a unified and predictable exchange rate, improve spending quality and expand interventions for vulnerable households.
“On the areas this scorecard honestly marks as unfinished business — poverty and household welfare chief among them — the next phase of our work is squarely about translating macroeconomic stability into relief that households actually feel,” Oyedele said.
He listed expanded cash transfers, deeper agricultural interventions and stronger collaboration with state and local governments among measures planned to improve household welfare.
“We are not here to pretend these reforms were painless. We are here to show you, honestly and with the numbers, what they cost, the benefits they delivered, and the harm they prevented,” the minister said.
