By Rayyanu Bala

Let’s be fair to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the fuel subsidy issue.
Whether you support Tinubu or oppose him, one thing should be made clear: he did not create the plan to end the petrol subsidy in 2023. The decision to discontinue the subsidy was already embedded in the fiscal plan of the previous administration.
The approved 2023 federal budget made provision for about ₦3.36 trillion for PMS subsidy, but only for the first six months of 2023, January to June. There was no provision for the subsidy beyond June.
That is an important fact that gets lost in the political arguments about fuel subsidy removal.
The Buhari administration’s own fiscal plan was based on the assumption that the subsidy regime would end by the middle of 2023. In fact, the then Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, explained that the ₦3.36 trillion provision covered only the first six months of the year. Late President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2023 budget speech also referred to the planned discontinuation of the subsidy.
So, when people say, “Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy,” we need to be a little more careful with our words.
Tinubu announced and implemented the end of the subsidy when he came into office, but the budget he inherited had already provided for the subsidy to end after June 2023.
This is where the famous declaration “subsidy is gone” needs to be understood in its proper context.
Tinubu’s statement was not necessarily the announcement of a completely new policy that had never been contemplated before. In practical terms, it was a re-emphasis and confirmation of a fiscal reality that was already staring the country in the face: the government’s budget had no provision for continuing the subsidy after June.
And that distinction needs to be understood and appreciated.
Imagine a government prepares a budget that says it will fund something for six months and then stop funding it. A new administration comes into office as the six-month period is about to expire and says, “This subsidy is gone.”
Can we honestly say the new administration invented the decision?
Of course, Tinubu deserves to be held accountable for the broader economic policies that followed after the removal.
But blaming him for the original decision to discontinue the subsidy without acknowledging the 2023 budget is historically incomplete.
The political noise surrounding the phrase “Tinubu removed subsidy” is misleading. It creates the impression that the Buhari administration had budgeted to continue subsidising petrol throughout 2023 and Tinubu suddenly came in and cancelled it.
That is not what the budget says.
The budget provided for subsidy for the first half of 2023. After June, there was no provision for continuing it.
So, to be fair to Tinubu, the more accurate statement is this: Tinubu inherited a budget that was already designed around the termination of petrol subsidy by mid-2023, and he chose to proceed with that direction rather than reverse it.
People can disagree with his decision to proceed. They can argue that the government should have prepared Nigerians better. They can question whether the palliatives were adequate or whether the economic consequences were properly anticipated.
But history should not be rewritten for political convenience.
If we are going to criticize President Tinubu, let us criticize him for the things he actually did and not make him the sole author of a policy whose scheduled ending was already contained in the 2023 budget.
Fairness requires that we look beyond the political slogans and read the documents.
And when we do, the picture becomes much clearer: the subsidy was already scheduled to disappear after June 2023. Tinubu did not invent that fiscal reality. He inherited it, confirmed it and implemented it. That’s all.