President Bola Tinubu has likened calls for the reinstatement of the petrol subsidy to asking Moses to return to Egypt, insisting that Nigeria can no longer afford to sustain the policy.

Tinubu made the remarks on Monday while addressing members of the City Boy Movement, arguing that the country risked bankruptcy if it continued to bear the cost of the subsidy.

“With your ideas, I came and I removed subsidy the first day. No, Nigeria will go bankrupt. There is nothing left to pay subsidy,” the President said.

He acknowledged that his political opponents had promised to restore the subsidy but maintained that Nigeria must not return to its previous economic path.

“I listen to my political opponents promising a return to subsidy,” he said.

Drawing on his religious studies, Tinubu referenced the biblical and Quranic accounts of Moses and Musa leading the Israelites out of Egypt, using the story to argue against reversing his administration’s policy direction.

“Most of all, sometimes I remember my scriptural studies, both in the Bible and in the Holy Koran. When Moses and Musa left Egypt, they faced the challenge and the Red Sea parted and gave way.

“You cannot ask Moses to go back to Egypt. We will campaign with ideas and original thoughts and deep thinking to move this country forward. With your energy, your support, never will we go back to Egypt,” Tinubu added.

Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, declaring that “fuel subsidy is gone”.

The decision triggered an increase in petrol prices, raising transportation costs and the prices of goods and services across the country.

The policy has remained a major subject of public debate amid rising living costs, with opposition figures and other political actors questioning aspects of the government’s economic reforms.