By Comrade Bamidele Atoyebi

I listened to Sam Amadi’s argument on Arise TV that the removal of fuel subsidy and the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are designed to favour only business owners and entrepreneurs, with little or no benefit to education and the poor.

With due respect, that argument does not survive scrutiny.

Criticism is legitimate. Nigerians are still facing a painful cost-of-living crisis and government must do more to ensure that economic reforms translate into cheaper food, better jobs and improved living standards. But criticism must be based on the full ledger, not selective memory.

Let us examine the facts.

1.5 million students cannot simply be erased.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has disbursed about ₦303.91 billion, with 1.63 million students benefiting from tuition and upkeep support as of July 2026. About ₦190.06 billion went directly to 315 tertiary institutions for fees while ₦113.85 billion went to students as upkeep allowances.

This programme did not exist in its present form before this administration.

So when someone says the reforms have produced no meaningful educational benefit, Nigerians should ask: What exactly is NELFUND?

What about the universities?

For more than a decade, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strikes became almost predictable. Students enrolled for four-year programmes could spend five or six years because of repeated disruptions.

The history of this struggle did not begin in 2009. On September 3, 1992, the Federal Government and ASUU signed a major collective bargaining agreement following intense industrial action. Further agreements and memoranda followed in 1999, 2001 and, most notably, the widely referenced 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement. Many of these commitments became subjects of prolonged disputes and incomplete implementation.

The long-disputed 2009 framework eventually underwent comprehensive renegotiation, culminating in a new agreement signed in December 2025 and effective from January 2026.

The new agreement provides a 40 per cent upward review of academic staff remuneration, alongside reforms to allowances, university autonomy and academic welfare.

President Tinubu’s government did not merely sign the agreement; it commenced implementation. Professors, for instance, now have a new Professorial Cadre Allowance, while the 40 per cent upward review of academic staff emoluments took effect from January 2026.

Is implementation perfect? No. ASUU itself has raised concerns about delays and selective implementation. Those concerns must be addressed. But pretending that nothing has changed is equally dishonest.

₦13 billion for tertiary institution workers.

The Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund has also disbursed more than ₦13 billion in interest-free loans to 7,450 academic and non-academic staff across 153 public tertiary institutions.

Eligible workers can access up to ₦10 million at zero interest.

These are lecturers, administrators and other workers in our public tertiary institutions.

Are they “business owners” simply because the government is helping them survive, improve their welfare and remain productive?

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is also education.

The Federal Government’s TVET programme currently reports 160,000 young people matched, more than 73,000 enrolled, over 1,700 accredited centres and more than ₦13.98 billion disbursed to training centres and trainees. The programme provides tuition-free training, stipends and start-up support.

This matters because education is not only about university degrees. A young Nigerian learning welding, fashion design, agriculture, electrical installation, ICT or another technical skill is also receiving education.

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) is also part of this picture. Through the Renewed Hope Employment Initiative, NDE is training unemployed Nigerians in practical, demand-driven skills, with stipends and starter packs/work tools for eligible graduates. The third phase is currently targeting 26,961 Nigerians across 70 skills.

And what of workers and pensioners?

Between June 2023 and December 2025, the Federal Government says it spent ₦9.39 trillion on minimum-wage increases, salary adjustments, wage awards and related allowances. That figure is higher than the Federal Government’s estimated ₦5.43 trillion share of subsidy savings.

On pensions, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) completed payment of arrears connected to the ₦32,000 pension increment for 54,206 Defined Benefit Scheme pensioners, disbursing ₦1.734 billion in the final payment.

These are not abstract numbers. Behind them are Nigerian workers and retirees.

And let us not forget where we are coming from.

Before subsidy removal, Nigerians faced fuel scarcity, queues and black-market premiums, while many state governments struggled to meet salary obligations. There were periods when only a few states could consistently meet their wage commitments.

I remember this personally. In 2002, I led a protest over seven months of unpaid salaries owed our parents. At the time, salaries were as low as ₦5,000 to ₦7,000. These are realities Nigerians who lived through those years cannot simply erase.

And the fuel queues?

We must also tell the truth about the old subsidy regime.

Subsidy was presented as protection for the masses, yet Nigerians routinely experienced fuel scarcity, queues and black-market premiums.

Today, the country has a major domestic refinery supplying the local market while Nigeria’s petroleum-product exports have increased sevenfold since 2023, largely driven by the Dangote refinery.

Fuel prices remain painful. Nobody should pretend otherwise. But high prices and fuel scarcity are two different problems.

Criticism is welcome. Selective memory is not.

I am not arguing that every Tinubu policy is perfect. I am not saying Nigerians should ignore inflation or the hardship created by the transition.

What I reject is the simplistic narrative that the reforms have benefited only entrepreneurs while doing nothing for students, lecturers, workers and pensioners.

The numbers tell a different story:

* ₦303.91 billion for 1.63 million NELFUND beneficiaries.
* ₦13 billion for 7,450 tertiary institution workers.
* ₦13.98 billion for TVET.
* 40 per cent upward review of academic staff remuneration.
* ₦9.39 trillion spent on workers’ wage adjustments and allowances.
* ₦1.73 billion in final pension-increment arrears for 54,206 pensioners.

These figures do not mean Nigerians should stop demanding more. They mean the debate should be honest.

If the question is whether the government has done nothing for education and ordinary Nigerians, the evidence says no.

We must demand better implementation, greater accountability and faster relief for families.

But God forbid that we return to the dark days simply because we have forgotten what those days looked like.

Nigeria does not need selective outrage.

Nigeria needs the full truth, the full ledger and the courage to judge government by both its failures and its measurable results.

That is how responsible opposition works. That is how responsible government should also respond and that is how we put Nigerians first.

Nigeria is moving forward. Nobody should take us backwards.

Comrade Bamidele Atoyebi is the Convener of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Ideological Group, National Coordinator of Accountability and Policy Monitoring PR and a Publisher of Unfiltered and Mining reports.