₦airaland Forum

The 16th Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s administration for resorting to massive borrowing despite the removal of petrol subsidy, a policy that was expected to boost government revenue.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference and Book Launch, Sanusi questioned the logic behind continuous borrowings when, according to him, “the government should have more fiscal space” after ending the costly fuel subsidy regime.

While commending the Tinubu administration for removing fuel subsidy and unifying Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates, measures he described as “painful but necessary”, the outspoken emir wondered why the fiscal discipline expected from such reforms has yet to reflect in national spending priorities.

He, however, cautioned that the reforms would fail unless matched with fiscal discipline and transparent spending.

“If you stop paying subsidies but continue borrowing more, it means you’ve filled one hole only to dig another. The real challenge now is the quality of government spending and the management of the revenues saved,” he said.

Sanusi, who served as CBN governor between 2009 and 2014, said Nigeria’s current economic woes were the consequence of years of policy inconsistency and populist politics.

“In 2012, we warned that the subsidy was unsustainable, but politics took over. Now, the same people who led protests against it have inherited the problem and had no choice but to do the right thing,” he said.

He applauded the professionalism of the current economic team for the steps taken to stabilise inflation and reduce exchange rate volatility, but insisted that government waste must be urgently curtailed.

Questioning the government expenditure, he asked: “Why do we need 48 ministers? Why do we need convoys of vehicles? Why are we still borrowing even after removing subsidies? If you fill one hole, why dig another?

“This government needs to look at institutions, transparency and how money is being used at all levels. Because if you keep earning more and spending badly, you’ll undo every gain made.

“We have too many sycophants in government. You sit in a meeting, and someone begins with, ‘Mr. President, I thank you for your leadership; God has blessed Nigeria by making you our leader.’ By the time they finish the praise-singing that is the advice the president takes.

“However, people like me that will say ‘Mr. President, this is wrong’ are branded enemies. So, when leaders surround themselves with praise-singers, they never get good advice.

“That is why people like Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and myself often end up being enemies of the state because people don’t like hearing bad news.

“We told Buhari everything — about printing money, waste, exchange rates, and subsidy— but each time, it was seen as a personal attack. Those around him convinced him we were enemies. Leaders must begin to ask: who do I surround myself with?

“And ministers should know — it’s not to your benefit to become a praise-singer. You debase yourself when you do that.”

Speaking on why the Jonathan government could not remove the fuel subsidy, Sanusi said: “The only reason the government compromised then was Boko Haram. There were thousands of Nigerians on the streets in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and there were suicide bombers in the country. I told them, if one of these bombers explodes among protesters, we’d have 200 corpses; it won’t be about subsidy anymore.

“So, I must give President Jonathan credit. He was determined to do it, but at the end of the day, the compromise was made to save lives.”

Sanusi said that in 2012, “We were in a situation where we had what we called a hedge — not a subsidy. You see, a subsidy means the government pays a percentage of the price. But what we had was what, in risk management, you call a naked hedge, the worst possible derivative you can have. You will not pay more than X amount per litre of petrol, no matter what happens.

“So when oil prices rose from $40 to $140, the federal government paid the difference. When exchange rates moved from N155 to N300, the government paid the difference. When interest rates moved from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, the government paid the difference.

“All those costs — crude, refining, transportation, interest — were absorbed by the government. We moved from using revenues to pay subsidies, to borrowing money to pay subsidies, to borrowing money to pay interest on the borrowed money. We became bankrupt."

malali:
Yet even though the federal government now has more fiscal space by not paying subsidies, what we are seeing is more borrowing, not less. That contradiction strikes at the core: the problem was not simply the subsidy. The problem is how government spends and borrows.

Why is it that, despite freeing up money from subsidies, the government still keeps filling the debt pot? Why are we still seeing large borrowings while promises of jobs, agricultural revolutions and domestic manufacturing remain un-fulfilled?

Meanwhile:
• We are not seeing meaningful growth in Nigerian manufacturing, despite having vast arable land and young labour.
• Oil prices are stuck in the US$50s per barrel, so there is no windfall there to magically solve everything.
• The only thing holding up the economy’s illusion of stability is borrowing and currency/FX buffers, not a fundamentally transformed production base.

What this suggests is that the real challenge is governance: institutional discipline, transparent spending, reducing bloat in government, and avoiding the trap of turning reform optics into mere slogans. If you fill one hole (subsidy) but dig another (uncontrolled borrowing + bloated expenditure), you haven’t moved forward, you’ve just redirected the problem.

The many ministers, convoys, bureaucratic overheads, the creeping idea of “political dynasty” or “monarchy by another name” (i.e., Tinubu-and-sons or wike-and-sons), all this adds to the sense that the architecture of public service is drifting back into degeneracy. It’s worse than a simple budget item: it’s a governance culture issue.

The promise of 2027 elections should not become the excuse for not doing the work now. The real test is: what has ordinary Nigerians’ lives improved by, three years in? Are more people employed? Are we producing ourselves instead of importing rice? Are anti-corruption cases visible and credible?

Reform is not simply removing an unsustainable subsidy. Reform is pairing that with fiscal discipline, institutional reform, production-led growth, and transparent governance. Until then, savings from subsidy removal will keep leaking away into borrowing and inefficiency, and the recovery will remain more illusion than reality.

helinues:
Wondering why US is having trillion dollars debt

malali:
Stop comparing looting to USA-style social infrastructure. Let’s be clear:

1. In the USA, unemployment benefits exist for those actively looking for work but unable to find a job.
2. Citizens who cannot afford housing have Section 8 and other public accommodation support.
3. People who become disabled and cannot work receive disability benefits.
4. Social Security ensures that anyone who has worked until ~62 receives a basic income, regardless of private pensions.
5. Every child gets free schooling up to high school graduation.
6. Underserved children have access to healthcare if their parents cannot afford it.
7. Children from low-income families receive food vouchers to ensure they are fed.

Now look at Nigeria. We have mountains of debt, but what is it financing? Which of these fundamental social supports does Tinubu’s administration provide with all the money borrowed?

Debt in Nigeria is not building social safety nets, infrastructure for human capital, or sustainable welfare. Instead, it seems to prop up a bloated government, subsidies that barely reach the intended people, and a political class focused on optics rather than outcomes.

The question is blunt: why borrow so heavily when none of the systems that make a society humane, productive, and resilient are in place?

Debt without social investment is not development; it’s a trap, and we are all paying for it.

malali:
Sources:


https://saharareporters.com/2025/10/29/emir-sanusi-cautions-tinubu-govt-continuous-borrowing-after-subsidy-removal-wrong

helinues:
Wondering why US is having trillion dollars debt

helinues:
Wondering why US is having trillion dollars debt

helinues:
And how many millions of homeless people do they have in USA? Can you compare that with Nigeria

helinues:
Wondering why US is having trillion dollars debt

Emzedz:
Tinibu has borrowed more money in 2yrs than buhari borrowed in 8years yet the oldman does not pay subsidy to reduce prices of goods n services..
the worst ruler ever in nigeria

malali:
Sources:

https://saharareporters.com/2025/10/29/emir-sanusi-cautions-tinubu-govt-continuous-borrowing-after-subsidy-removal-wrong