The Fuel Policy Is Filling Government Coffers, Says Duke
Lagos · Sunday 23 August 2026
The former Cross River governor Donald Duke has argued that the administration's fuel policy fills government coffers while hurting Nigerians. It is a clean political line and it is roughly half right, which is what makes it useful.
The half that holds
Removing the fuel subsidy transferred an enormous recurring cost off the federal books. That money did not disappear. It moved from a subsidy line into revenue available to federal and state governments, and the improvement in the fiscal position since has been real and measurable.
The cost of that transfer landed on households, immediately and without a compensating mechanism arriving at anything like the same speed. That is not in dispute either.
The half that has changed
The picture in the most recent data is not the one either side of this argument uses.
| Measure | Direction | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| Headline inflation | Falling, two months | 15.43 per cent |
| Food inflation | Rising, six months | 20.31 per cent |
| External reserves | Multi-year high | Highest since 2009 |
| Naira | Broadly stable | Stopped sliding |
Fuel and transport costs coming off are part of why the headline number is falling.
Falling fuel and transport costs are a component of that headline decline. So the policy Duke is criticising is contributing to the one economic number the government can legitimately point at.
The subsidy argument has been fought for three years on whether removal was right. The live question is what the revenue is being used for.
Where the argument should actually be
Not on the removal, which has happened and will not be reversed. On the ledger.
If the money released is visible in things households can see, the policy defends itself. If it is not, Duke's framing is the one that survives, and food inflation rising for six consecutive months while headline inflation falls is exactly the evidence that framing needs.
The campaign period opened on 19 August. Expect both numbers, quoted selectively, for the next 150 days.
Reporting: Vanguard, The Sun Nigeria and Premium Times.
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