Abia State Governor Alex Otti has warned against calls for the restoration of petrol subsidy, saying anyone pushing for its return “doesn’t mean well” for Nigeria.
Otti, a member of the Labour Party (LP), spoke in an interview with Arise News on Thursday, where he reiterated his support for the removal of petrol subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
He said subsidising consumption encourages waste, inefficiency and corruption, arguing that government resources should instead be directed towards boosting production and creating an environment where businesses can operate efficiently.
“I’ve always been consistent on subsidies. And I’ve written extensively,” Otti said, recalling an article he published in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in which he advocated subsidy removal.
According to him, consumers are more conscious of their usage when they bear the actual cost, unlike when consumption is subsidised.
“When you subsidise consumption rather than production, you are just subsidising laziness. You are subsidising, sometimes, corruption,” he said.
Otti acknowledged that subsidy removal has caused hardship for Nigerians but maintained that the policy was the right decision.
“You know, as election approaches, people will be making all sorts of arguments. But removing the subsidy was the right thing to be done,” he said.
“If you are pushing for a subsidy to return, you don’t mean well for the country.”
The governor also argued that businesses should not necessarily depend on petrol subsidies if government can provide reliable electricity.
“For the people who use it for production, for their factories, those people, they really don’t need the subsidy. They just need constant power supply. And once you’re able to guarantee them constant power supply, they’ll pay,” he said.
His comments come weeks after Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said he would restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Atiku had also questioned the government’s accounting for funds saved from the removal of the subsidy, asking where the money had gone.
Brief time: Otti made the remarks during an Arise News interview on Thursday, September 24, 2026.