The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele has assured Nigerians that the ongoing economic reforms by the Bola Ahmed administration are beginning to yield good results.

Oyedele gave the assurance in his speech while enlightening the audience on the benefits of the ongoing reforms on The Platform organised by the Covenant Nation on Saturday.

He emphasised that removing petrol subsidies is the best decision Nigeria could ever make.

“Removing subsidies is the best decision we made as a country. And we can now say that for once, subsidy is gone.

“We were living on window-dressed realities. If you look back to about two years ago, naira exchange rate was N450 depending on who you asked. But was our exchange rate really N450? If you wanted to buy petrol, it was under N200 per litre, but was it really under N200 per litre? “There wasnt band A at the time. Electricity was what time at the time, but was that really the price? A country can afford to sell petrol at N200 per litre if you can afford it. But there is everything wrong if you can not afford it.

“I am a parent and will like to send my kids to school. If I can afford a school of N200 million her term, no problem. But if I cannot, they will do just first term and wont be able to continue their education. Maybe they should go to a school of N200, 000 per term.

“So, Nigeria was doing worse than it ought to, and then we had this sense of “our economy was not doing great”. We thought thsat our economy is the largest in Africa.

“Our GDP was around N450 million dollars. We thought our per capita income is about $2, 000 per person but it was not up to that.

“Nigeria used all its revenue to service debts. We were not paying debts back o. we were just servicing it. In order what, everything other thing we did, from paying salaries to fighting Boko Haram, we were just borrowing.

“When Nigeria borrowed, we borrowed high digits and those were the funds we were using to run the economy and service debts.

“If anybody was not losing his sleep with just that alone, then, he must be from another planet. The outcome of what was happening was predictable. It was a Sri Lanka happening to us. It was a Venezuela.

“Their countries were that- you would hold money and you wouldn’t be able to get fuel to buy. There was a tile in Sri Lanka that you couldn’t drive your car everyday of the week because there was no fuel.

“Our GDP growth rate was very low. Over the past ten years less than 10 per cent. If you do it in real time, it was negative.

He explained that the Nigerian government had resorted to printing of money to spend, which according to him was the worst any country could ever do.

“Ways and Means was high. We were printing money to spend. We couldn’t borrow abroad because they said lending us was risky. We didn’t have cash flow. And the capacity to borrow locally was low. So we were printing money to spend, and that is even dangerous.

“We printed close to N40 trillion naira plus interest. And we were surprised there was inflation. Nigerians don’t realise that the invisible controls the visible. And that is because the removal of subsidies is not seen physically. It is not something you can touch.

“Even some airlines stopped flying to Nigeria because of the backlog of FX debt to foreign airlines.

He advised Nigerians to have a positive outlook on the country.

“There is nothing wrong with Nigeria. But maybe there is something wrong with the people ruling Nigeria.

“In America, people get killed every day by gunmen. But have you ever heard Americans say “May America never happen to you?’

Let’s stop saying “May Nigeria never happen to you’. Maybe we can turn it into “May Nigeria work for me”

“Going by available data, I personally believe that the worst is behind us, he said.

Since assuming office in May 2023, President Tinubu has implemented a number of reforms such as the removal of fuel subsidies and introduction of the controversial tax bills.

The removal of fuel subsidies has since spiralled into increase in prices of goods and services.

The pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, have risen to between N1,050 and N1,150/litre depending on the area of purchase, following the hike in the cost of the commodity by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and various depot owners.

Dealers confirmed that PMS prices would continue to rise since the major component in fuel production, crude oil, has been on the upward swing lately.

The National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Festus Osifo, earlier alluded to this when he pointed out that petrol prices might soon rise if the cost of crude oil continued to increase.

“The crude price rose to $80 per barrel today (Thursday). Without exchange rate improvements, PMS prices will increase in the coming weeks,” Osifo stated in Lagos.

On Friday, there was an upward adjustment in the price of petrol produced by the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery.

The $20bn plant raised its PMS from N899/litre to N955/litre at its loading gantry.

The refinery, in an email statement sent to its customers and obtained by one of our correspondents, said its refined products would now be priced at the new cost.


It noted that marketers buying between two million and 4.99 million litres would now buy at N955/litre, while five million litres and above would buy at N950/litre.

The amount marks an increase of N55.5 or 6.17 per cent from N899.50/litre announced as a holiday discount for Nigerians last December.

This adjustment applies to all stock balances yet to be lifted by the stated time, while pending stock as of the effective time will also be repriced at the updated rates.

The statement added that the new price regime took effect from 5:30pm on Friday.

The notice, titled, ‘Communication on PMS Price Review’, read, “Dear esteemed customer, Trust this email finds you well.

“Kindly be advised that effective from 5:30 pm today (Friday), an upward adjustment has been implemented on the gantry price of Premium Motor Spirit. Quantity Previous Price (NGN/Litre): 2 million-9.99 million – N899.50; 10 million litres & above – N895.

“Quantity New Price (NGN/ Litre): 2 million – 4.99 million – N955; 5 million litres & above – N950.


“Please note that all stock balances yet to be lifted as of the above-stated time are to be repriced at the new reviewed prices. We shall communicate with customers on their revised volumes based on the reviewed prices, in due course.”

The price increase sparked widespread effects on the downstream petroleum sector, particularly private depots and retail markets.

Findings showed that private depots, despite having old stocks, increased their loading costs to N970 in Lagos and N1,000 in Calabar.

A breakdown analysing petrol price movements at loading depots after the announcement of the new price showed that Sahara depot increased its loading price by N20 to N970/litre from N950/litre on Thursday.

Pinnacle Depot increased its price to N970 from N921, while Wosbab Depot made a similar change to N965 from the N940 it sold a litre of petrol on Thursday.

NIPCO increased its loading costs by N30 to N980 from N950 on Thursday.

Also, a private depot, Rainoil, increased its loading costs to N970 from N950. A private depot, Alkanes, in Calabar, asked retailers to pay N1,000/litre to receive products.


Zone 4 and Mainland depots increased their loading costs to N1,005/litre from N985, which sold products on Thursday.

The Ogun State Government is considering signing the death warrants of condemned criminals sentenced by competent courts to serve as a deterrent to those who may want to commit heinous crimes in the state.

The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), disclosed this on Friday after a scheduled visit to inmates and facilities at the Ibara Correctional Centre in the state capital.

Ogungbade, who was conducted around by officers of the Centre, expressed concern over the increase in criminal activities like ritual killings, kidnapping, cultism, and other heinous crimes in recent times in the state.

According to him, the state government is ready to take the bull by the horns by implementing the law through signing the death warrants.

He observed that despite the proactive measures put in place by security agencies in tackling crimes, there appears to be an upsurge, particularly in ritual killings, adding that the government had identified the wrong perception that there would be no repercussions when some of these crimes are committed as the root cause.

“I can tell you that we are looking seriously at a means of sending a message that Ogun State is not a place where you can come and commit such serious crimes and get away with it,” he said.

“The law as of today, for example, states that a murder case attracts the death penalty and some other offences. But if you look at it nationally, for a long time, there has been reluctance on the part of governments across the states, particularly since the advent of democratic rule, to sign death warrants. But I assure you that at this time, we are looking very seriously at following the law to its letter.

“It is part of the duty of the governor to sign death warrants, and I am certain that when he took that oath of office, he took it knowing full well the responsibilities that come with it. He is a governor who upholds the rule of law, so I can assure you that in deserving cases, he will not shy away from that constitutional duty.

“Though I may not give a timeline, I can only say that in deserving cases, which we are looking at, it will happen.”

He said that the government would not be reckless about this, rather it would be highly responsive and responsible.

“If somebody has gone through the process of a fair trial and has made use of all his appeals, we will begin to look seriously at implementing those judgments, hoping that it will serve as a deterrent to those who still intend to carry out such crimes. But in doing so, I can assure you that we will be systematic about it; we will not be reckless about it,” he assured.

He said the present administration has done a lot in terms of granting amnesty to those condemned to death by turning their death sentences into life imprisonment, reducing life imprisonment to a fixed term of imprisonment, as well as allowing punishment to serve as a deterrent.