About 70 million litres of fuel are consumed daily by Nigeria’s estimated 200 million people.
Nigeria’s oil is refined in Europe and imported back to Nigeria, a process that contributes to its high costs. Those costs are shouldered mostly by the Nigerian government as subsidies to reduce the costs of fuel paid by the consumers.
This retail cost determines the costs of almost every good and service in Nigeria. The Nigerian government introduced an oil subsidy to cushion the effect of rising global oil prices in the 1970s.

The Olusegun Obasanjo military regime formalised the subsidy in 1977 when it promulgated the Price Control Act which regulated prices of items including fuel.


Subsequent administrations attempted to remove the subsidy but failed to do so because it is widely popular among citizens, many of whom consider it their major – or only – benefit from the federal government. It gradually became a heavy burden to the government as the cost of maintaining the subsidy increased over the years.
Subsidy became a buzzword in January 2012 when then-president Goodluck Jonathan announced the subsidy removal. Fuel prices increased from 65 naira ($0.14) to 140 naira ($0.30) per litre.
The removal sparked widespread protests for two weeks, organised by labour unions, civil society and opposition party leaders, including Tinubu. The protests brought the country to a standstill, forcing the government to lower the price to 90 naira ($0.20) and reintroduce the subsidy.
Subsidy payments have always been thwarted by issues of corruption and a lack of fiscal transparency. In 2012, a 200-page report released by a parliamentary inquiry uncovered a $6bn fraud, involving officials at the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) – now a limited company. Since then, governors and members of parliament have routinely called for an investigation into NNPC and a review of subsidy payments to oil marketers.
In 2015, former president Muhammadu Buhari referred to the subsidy as “fraud” and “non-existent” even though his administration retained it, spending 11.7 trillion naira ($26bn) between 2016-2023


Just out of curiosity I wanted to know what administration introduced subsidy for fuel and for how long this has been happening.


Read more on here/ sourced from:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/31/nigeria-fuel-subsidy-cut-spiralling-costs-all-you-need-to-know#:~:text=The%20Olusegun%20Obasanjo%20military%20regime,prices%20of%20items%20including%20fuel