The Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Zacch Adedeji, has said Nigeria’s petrol subsidy bill could have risen to about ₦53 trillion, with the exchange rate weakening to ₦3,500 to the dollar, if the subsidy had not been removed.
Adedeji made the remarks in an exclusive interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme while defending President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms.He described the removal of the petrol subsidy as “the best thing that has happened to this country,” arguing that it was a courageous decision that had delivered positive economic results.
“All the good results that I will reel out soon come as a result of that courageous decision (subsidy removal). So, it is not a mistake; it is the best thing that has happened to this country. Subsidy was evil and had been with Nigeria for decades,” he said.
Adedeji noted that Tinubu inherited an economy marked by an unsustainable subsidy regime,
