Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has strongly reiterated his support for the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, declaring that any contemplation of returning to the old order is both “undebatable and inconceivable.”
Speaking on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, during the “Meet the Candidates” town hall meeting organized by Afia TV in Enugu, Governor Mbah warned that public debate surrounding the potential reintroduction of petrol subsidy risks causing economic volatility and deterring prospective investors.
“If you reintroduce fuel subsidy today, we will lose ten times whatever we are currently trying to gain in terms of the removal of subsidy,” Governor Mbah said during the broadcast. “The poverty rate that you are going to experience will be very high because the naira would be automatically devalued. We cannot go back to subsidy, and I do not think it is in the interest of the country for us to even debate that.”
Governor Mbah described calls for a return to the subsidy regime as a “pathetic misconception” of Nigeria’s current economic trajectory. He noted that reopening the issue would undermine macroeconomic stability and unsettle domestic and international capital investors.
“Again, we should not even debate it because we do not want to send a signal to prospective investors that we are contemplating it,” he emphasized. “That would take us back. It is going to create panic in the system. It is going to get investors to pull back. Those that are coming in today to invest in that sector will become jittery.”
He maintained that the previous subsidy scheme primarily enriched wealthy individuals and market arbitrageurs at the expense of ordinary citizens. According to the governor, policy focus must now center on targeted interventions that allow positive macroeconomic indicators to translate into tangible relief for vulnerable Nigerians.
Shifting focus to state governance, Governor Mbah highlighted key infrastructural initiatives delivered by his administration across several sectors to cushion economic challenges and boost regional growth:
The restoration of flagship assets, including the Hotel Presidential, the International Conference Centre, and the operationalisation of Nigergas. The deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses, construction of ultra-modern transport terminals, and the establishment of Enugu Air, and with ongoing development of 260 Smart Green Schools, 260 Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres, and an International Hospital.
In his concluding remarks, Governor Mbah urged residents to support structural economic policy over short-term palliatives.
“If these imaginations capture our fancy, then we have a duty to fight for it,” Mbah concluded. “We do have a duty to continue to make sure that the bar does not come down and that the standard we have set in Enugu is sustained.”
