By Emmanuel Thomas l Thursday, Oct.2026
NIGERIA’S President has sparked outrage after telling millions of starving citizens that the end of fuel subsidies is a “painful cancer cure” and refusing to budge on the policy.
In a fiery Independence Day address, defiant President Bola Tinubu compared the nation’s crushing economic plight to undergoing harsh medical treatment, declaring that the country has “passed through its own Red Sea” and that prosperity is just around the corner.
But his words will come as cold comfort to ordinary families across the West African nation, where the cost of living has skyrocketed and hunger bites harder than ever following his decision to scrap the vital fuel safety net.
Despite desperate pleas from trade unions, rights groups, and millions of struggling families to bring back the subsidies, Tinubu doubled down, branding those asking for relief as “regressive voices” singing a “siren song.”
In his speech, titled From Reforms to Prosperity, the 74-year-old leader insisted that previous governments had merely hooked the country on “morphine” by subsidising petrol, leaving the underlying economic “cancer” to spread.
”When this Administration assumed office, we resolved to excise the cancer,” Tinubu claimed. “The reforms were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease.”
He added: “Certain influential but regressive voices would have us abandon the treatment and return ourselves to the abuse of addictive subsidies. We must resist their siren song.”
’PROMISED LAND’
Tinubu insisted the country was entering an “age of prosperity,” citing rising foreign reserves and non-oil export revenues topping $6 billion. He boldly claimed Nigeria was now on its way to a “Promised Land” of abundance.
Yet critics say the President’s optimistic spin is totally detached from the grim reality on the ground.
Since the removal of the decades-old fuel subsidy, petrol prices have soared, triggering cascading price hikes in food, transport, and basic healthcare. Bus fares have doubled, food inflation has pushed staple items out of reach for working families, and millions have been driven deeper into poverty.
Protests have repeatedly flared up across major cities, with citizens demanding immediate relief as kitchen tables lie empty.
Despite acknowledging that “some families still struggle today for the next meal,” Tinubu made it clear there will be no policy reversal, insisting that government-backed social registers, student loan schemes, and consumer credit projects would bridge the gap.
Concluding his address with a biblical reference, Tinubu urged the nation to keep moving forward despite the agony.
”Nigeria has corrected its course. We have passed through our own Red Sea. This is not the time to look back,” he declared.
For millions of Nigerians wondering where their next meal will come from, however, the President’s vision of “Promised Prosperity” feels less like a cure and more like a sentence.