Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that Nigeria would have been spending about N21 trillion annually on petrol subsidy at the current exchange rate if the subsidy regime had been retained. He made this assertion during an interview on Channels Television, basing the estimate on the N18.4 billion daily subsidy expenditure that former Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed told the House of Representatives in 2023 the country was spending. Lokpobiri also argued that Atiku Abubakar's petrol subsidy proposal has no legal or fiscal basis, claimed that higher FAAC allocations reflect savings from subsidy removal, and revealed that $1.4 billion of the $1.5 billion refineries' fund had already been spent before he assumed office.
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