Obi asks Tinubu to account for ₦15.8trn subsidy savings and $100bn in loans

Peter Obi, who is running for president on the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) platform, has asked President Bola Tinubu to tell Nigerians what has become of the ₦15.8 trillion reportedly saved since petrol subsidy was removed, and of more than $100 billion the government has borrowed.

In a statement on X on Saturday titled "Good Day, Mr President: Nigerians Deserve Accountability", Obi also questioned the extra tax revenue the government says it collected last year, above its target.

He asked how many Nigerians had been lifted out of poverty, how many out-of-school children were back in class, how many primary health centres were working, how much electricity supply had improved, and what the money spent on security had achieved. "Mr President, Nigerians deserve answers," he wrote.

Obi wrote after the President spent a night in Akwa Ibom State. He urged the President to visit the other states too, and claimed Tinubu had spent more than 260 days outside Nigeria since taking office. That figure has not been independently checked.

Tinubu ended the petrol subsidy on the day he was sworn in, 29 May 2023. Fuel, transport and food prices rose sharply afterwards. The Presidency has defended the reforms as necessary to rescue the economy, and has dismissed Obi's past criticism. It had not responded to this latest statement at the time of publishing.