Abia State Governor Alex Otti has issued a sharp rebuke to advocates of restoring fuel subsidy, arguing that the policy entrenches inefficiency and corruption while diverting resources from productive investment.
Speaking as the 2027 election cycle intensifies, Otti said anyone pushing for the subsidy’s return “does not mean well for the country,” even as he defended the Tinubu administration’s decision to remove it in 2023 despite the initial hardship.
Otti, an economist and former banker, said he had long opposed fuel subsidies, including in a 2020 column during the pandemic when oil prices collapsed.
He argued that subsidising consumption, rather than production, encourages waste and creates avenues for abuse.
“When you subsidise consumption rather than production, you are just subsidising laziness. You are subsidising, sometimes, corruption,” he said.
He said higher pump prices have made households and businesses more conscious of usage, reducing frivolous consumption that flourished under cheap fuel.
On electricity, he said manufacturers do not need subsidies if the government can guarantee reliable supply; once power is constant, “they’ll pay, he added.”
The Governor acknowledged the short-term pain of subsidy removal but said consistency and sound management would yield greater efficiency over time.
On his administration’s finances, Otti said Abia has maintained a hard cap on recurrent spending, directing at least 80% of annual budgets to capital projects over the past three years.
He said that approach has channelled more resources into roads, hospitals, schools and environmental works while keeping governance costs within 20% of total expenditure.
Salaries account for about 11.9% of the state’s costs, even after implementing the new minimum wage, he added.
Abia inherited N191.2 billion in debts in 2023, including contractor arrears, pension liabilities and multilateral obligations.
The state, he said, has reduced that burden to about N48.4 billion, a cut of nearly 75%.
The Governor’s fiscal stance comes as Abia’s 2026 budget, signed in late 2025, earmarked roughly 80% for capital expenditure against a N1.016 trillion total, with internally generated revenue projected at about N223 billion.
A member of the Labour Party, Otti clarified that he supports his party’s presidential candidate and would not publicly oppose President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
He said internal disagreements should be handled within government rather than through open confrontation, warning that public opposition while serving would risk “implosion.”
Separately, Otti warned that Nigeria’s neglect of its libraries is eroding the nation’s institutional memory, speaking through a representative at the launch of the Endowment Foundation for the National Library of Nigeria in Abuja.
“A nation that neglects its libraries weakens its memory. A nation that strengthens them gives its people the tools to think, to innovate, and to build,” he said.
He urged secure, searchable digitisation of the country’s documentary and intellectual heritage, calling it essential in the age of artificial intelligence.
Otti said government cannot do it alone, calling for private-sector expertise, philanthropy and innovation to expand access to knowledge.
Prof. Chinwe Anunobi, Chief Executive of the National Library, said the endowment was created to address chronic funding constraints that have hampered preservation of the nation’s memory.
The launch drew dignitaries including House of Representatives lawmaker Dominic Okafor and infrastructure investor Alhassan Dantata.
