Nigeria’s removal of its fuel subsidy generated the funds used to finance a $500 million reconstruction of Lagos airport and upgrades to other critical aviation infrastructure, Minister of Aerospace and Space Development Festus Keyamo, SAN, said at an event in Lagos on Monday.
Funding and aviation investment
- President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration ended the fuel subsidy in 2023, creating savings that helped make the airport project possible.
- Keyamo said the Lagos airport work was funded without new borrowing. He attributed the availability of the money to stronger liquidity and an increase in Nigeria’s foreign reserves, which he said had risen from $3 billion to $56 billion under Tinubu.
- He said the recovery in the aviation industry was also drawing more investors to Nigeria, as businesses increasingly viewed the country as a viable investment destination.
- In August 2026, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said the Federal Government had secured about N20.4 trillion in additional resources during the period in which the fuel subsidy was removed, while expenditure over that period reached N30.64 trillion.
