The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) says the country should move beyond debates about fuel subsidy removal, urging the government to ensure that the benefits of the move translate into improvements in the lives of Nigerians.

PENGASSAN President Bosun Olabiyi-Agoro said this when he appeared on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.

“I think the argument over whether to remove the subsidy or not to remove it is belated now. We have done it, but we need to start seeing the benefits of fuel subsidy removal in the lives of common Nigerians,” Olabiyi-Agoro said on Friday.

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the fuel subsidy upon assumption of office in May 2023. Since that move, the cost of petrol has moved from around ₦200 per litre to about ₦1,300 for the same quantity of the essential commodity.

Economists have also attributed the high cost of living to the action. More than three years after the announcement, opposition candidates and critics have questioned the Federal Government’s action, arguing that Nigerians are facing severe hardship over the matter.

Some presidential candidates, notably Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), have promised to reverse the policy, although the Federal Government insists there is no going back on the removal of fuel subsidy.

The PENGASSAN boss admitted that the removal of subsidy was “painful” and that the move “became extremely hard on Nigerians and workers” who are still battling hardship three years after the announcement.

Olabiyi-Agoro said that despite Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing by 4.43 per cent in Q2 2026, the country must move beyond “traction in the macroeconomic indicators affecting Nigeria”.

As far as he is concerned, these metrics should “translate into food or better living conditions for the average Nigerian.”

“What we are advocating for at the moment is that we want to see that translate into what is going to help a common man and not just the things that we see in figures,” the PENGASSAN chief said on the breakfast show.

Yes, those figures are good. We can relate to some of them. The GDP is getting better; the balance of trade. Things like our reserves in terms of forex – all those things are positive, but we want to see positive things in the lives of common Nigerians, and as workers, we are ready to do our own and put in our own input in that perspective to support whichever government is in power.”

He attributed improvements in the supply of petroleum products to the removal of the subsidy.

“From the moment there was no budget for subsidy again up until now, we believe that we are buying products at their right prices without the government putting in a subsidy, so I think we’ve left one side of that argument [on whether to remove subsidy or not],” Olabiyi-Agoro said.(Channels)