Lagos, Sept. 15, 2025 – Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, says Nigeria was pressured to remove fuel subsidy by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
President Bola Tinun, announced the removal of fuel subsidy on his assumption of office on May 29, 2023.
Falana said this on Sunday while speaking on “Sunday’s Politics”, a programme on Channels Television.
He said no nation in the world had entirely removed subsidy in all aspects of the lives.
Falana said complet6e removal of fuel subsidy is detrimental to Nigeria’s economic development, adding that complete removal of the subsidy was economically unrealistic and socially insensitive..
“No country abolishes all subsidies. Even the US and UK subsidise electricity, agriculture, and key social services,” he said.
“There’s no way you can remove subsidy completely. No country in the entire world has abolished subsidies completely.
“Even leading Western countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and others subsidise electricity, agriculture, and many aspects of the lives of their people.
“So, when the Nigerian Government said it was removing subsidies, as a matter of fact, if I must say this, it was the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, that insisted that the government must remove all subsidies,” he said.
