His remarks come more than three years after President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, declaring that “fuel subsidy is gone.” The decision, followed by the unification of the foreign exchange market, marked the beginning of sweeping fiscal and economic reforms aimed at reducing government spending, boosting public revenue and attracting investment. Providing a breakdown of the expenditure, Oyedele said a significant portion of the savings had been channelled into settling the Federal Government’s Ways and Means obligations, servicing public debt and implementing the new national minimum wage. Oyedele further revealed that the increase in the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 had almost doubled the Federal Government’s wage bill, requiring additional fiscal resources to sustain implementation. He added that subsidy savings had also supported the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), through which more than 1.5 million students have received tuition financing and monthly upkeep allowances.