Subsidy Gains: How Tinubu Is Funding Easy Education, Health, Infrastructure, Building A New Nigeria

Amarachi Ihesiulo

August 28, 2026
10 min read
health President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

For years, my position has been clear: take the burden of education and health off the masses, and you would have solved over 50% of poverty in Nigeria.

Many parents today are hypertensive not because of genetics but because of fear. Fear of school fees. Fear of hospital bills. Fear of “what happens to my children.”

That is why the model of Chief Obafemi Awolowo remains the most productive blueprint for governance in a developing economy like ours.

Awolowo’s 4-Cardinal Programme

1. Free Education.

2. Free Health Care.

3. Gainful Employment.

4. Rural and Urban Integration.

In the 50s, he delivered free primary education and health. He integrated rural and urban areas. Awolowo built solid roads connecting cities and villages across the West. He developed industries, schools, hospitals, markets, estates and established farm settlements, dairies, etc. in rural areas.

In 1979, UPN governors under his leadership built on them. From 1983, we lost momentum.

The significance of that history is not merely nostalgic. It demonstrates what can happen when government deliberately makes human capital development, healthcare, employment and infrastructure central to its development agenda.

Today, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government is reviving the Awolowo model with a contemporary touch.

The circumstances are different. Nigeria is now more populous, more urbanised and more economically complex. Technology has transformed education, healthcare and commerce. The federal system is also more developed, with states and local governments playing significant roles in delivering public services.

Yet the fundamental principle remains the same: government must create an environment where a child’s future is not determined by the income of his or her parents.

That is where the conversation about subsidy removal must also be situated.

The removal of the petrol subsidy was painful. There is no denying that. It immediately affected transportation, food prices and household budgets. Millions of Nigerians felt the pressure.

But the more important question is what government does with the resources freed from subsidy and how those resources are converted into assets and opportunities that outlive the immediate pain.

If subsidy savings are invested in education, healthcare, roads, agriculture, security, water and productive infrastructure, then the policy becomes more than an exercise in fiscal adjustment. It becomes a transfer of resources from short-term consumption to long-term national development.

That is the opportunity before Nigeria today.

Cardinals 1 & 2: Education and Health – EASY EDUCATION

At the Federal Level: Through NELFUND, the National Education Loan Fund, the burden of tertiary education has been lifted off parents. About 1.5 million Nigerian students are now in school without begging for tuition. No collateral. This is what I brand Easy Education.

The importance of this intervention cannot be overstated.

For a country with millions of young people, access to higher education is not simply an individual benefit. It is an investment in the country’s future workforce.

A student who is able to remain in school is potentially a future teacher, doctor, engineer, entrepreneur, lawyer, journalist, scientist, civil servant or technology professional.

When financial constraints force young Nigerians out of school, the country loses twice. The individual loses an opportunity, while the economy loses a potential contributor to national development.

NELFUND therefore represents an important shift in the way the burden of tertiary education is approached.

The objective should not be to create another generation of graduates trapped by poverty. It should be to create a system where students can acquire skills and qualifications without their parents being pushed into crippling debt.

This is why I call it Easy Education.

It is not necessarily education without cost. It is education without the unbearable immediate burden on families.

On health, the federal government is rejuvenating primary healthcare centres all over Nigeria, drug supply chains, and health insurance. But the real impact will come when states step up.

Healthcare, like education, is one of those areas where poverty reproduces itself.

A family that cannot afford medical treatment can lose its savings to a single illness. A breadwinner who cannot access affordable healthcare can lose income. A child who misses school because of preventable illness can fall behind permanently.

This is why primary healthcare must be treated as a frontline economic policy, not merely a social service.

A functioning primary healthcare centre in a rural community can save families the cost and stress of travelling long distances for basic treatment. It can also improve maternal and child health, vaccination, disease prevention and early diagnosis.

At the State and LG Levels

This is the call.

With the increased allocations from subsidy removal, states must now take full responsibility for free, quality secondary education and free primary/secondary healthcare.

LGs must deliver free primary education and functional primary healthcare centres in every ward.

Awolowo did it as Premier. UPN governors did it. As sub nationals are receiving humongous allocations from the centre, they must justify it by investing in our children’s classrooms and hospitals.

This is where the real test of Nigeria’s federalism lies.

It is not enough for governors to announce infrastructure projects or celebrate increased federal allocations. Citizens should be able to point to what those resources have changed in their communities.

A parent in a rural community should see the benefit in the classroom.

A pregnant woman should see it in the health centre.

A farmer should see it in the road connecting his farm to the market.

A young person should see it in employment opportunities.

A small business owner should see it in improved electricity, roads, security and access to finance.

That is how public expenditure becomes meaningful.

The federal government cannot and should not do everything. Nigeria’s constitution and federal structure give states and local governments important responsibilities. The current revenue situation therefore provides sub-national governments with an opportunity to demonstrate that they can convert resources into measurable improvements in the lives of their people.

Cardinals 3 & 4: Gainful Employment and Rural-Urban Integration

From Abuja to Lagos, Maiduguri to Calabar, the Tinubu’s government is opening up rural Nigeria.

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike has in 3 years integrated urban and rural FCT more than all the ministers since 1976. Roads, water, schools, and clinics are reaching forgotten communities.

At the federal level, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Lagos-Maiduguri Super Highway are opening up rural areas in virtually every state. They will move farm produce, create jobs, and connect markets.

That is Gainful Employment and Integration.

Infrastructure is often misunderstood as simply concrete, asphalt and buildings.

Its real value is economic connectivity.

A road linking a farming community to an urban market can determine whether a farmer makes a profit or watches his produce rot. A bridge can reduce the time and cost of transporting goods. Reliable water can support agriculture and small businesses. Better roads can make schools and hospitals more accessible.

This is why rural development should not be treated as charity.

It is an economic strategy.

Nigeria cannot build a sustainable economy by concentrating development in a few major cities while rural communities remain disconnected from markets and opportunities.

Our farmers need access to roads, storage, markets, electricity, irrigation, finance and technology. Our rural youth need skills and jobs. Communities need schools and healthcare.

When these things come together, rural communities become productive economic centres rather than places people are desperate to escape.

The same principle applies to the Federal Capital Territory.

The integration of communities outside the city centre is important because development should not be restricted to the most visible parts of Abuja. Rural residents deserve the same dignity of infrastructure and public services as those living in the metropolitan districts.

The broader national infrastructure programme must pursue the same objective.

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, for instance, has the potential to strengthen connections along Nigeria’s coastal corridor, while major road projects linking northern and southern economic centres can improve the movement of people, agricultural produce and manufactured goods.

But infrastructure must be completed, maintained and connected to economic planning.

A highway without productive communities around it will not automatically create prosperity.

The road must connect farmers to markets, workers to jobs, businesses to consumers and communities to essential services.

That is where infrastructure becomes development.

The Bottomline: The Purpose of the Pain
Subsidy removal was painful because we were borrowing to fund consumption.

Today, we are investing in production.

The pain was at the pump. The gain is in the classroom, in the clinic, on the highway, and in the village.

But this gain must be deliberately protected.

The government must continue to explain how savings and additional revenues are being deployed. Citizens deserve transparency. They deserve accountability. They deserve to know that sacrifices made today are producing opportunities for tomorrow.

The success of the reform should therefore not be measured only by government revenue figures, debt ratios or other macroeconomic indicators.

It should ultimately be measured by the quality of life of ordinary Nigerians.

Can a poor child remain in school?

Can a sick mother access treatment without selling everything her family owns?

Can a farmer move his produce to market?

Can a young graduate find productive employment?

Can a small business survive and expand?

Can a rural community access good roads, water, electricity and healthcare?

Those are the questions that will determine whether the sacrifices of today have produced the promised gains.

Awolowo gave us the vision. Tinubu is advancing it with contemporary touches.

But the work cannot stop at the federal level.

States and LGs must now deliver their part.

Governors must see education and healthcare as investments rather than expenses. Local governments must return to the basics of community development. Public officials at every level must understand that increased allocations come with increased responsibility.

Nigeria has no shortage of brilliant policies. What we have often lacked is consistency, implementation and accountability.

The challenge before the present administration is therefore to ensure that today’s reforms produce lasting institutions and infrastructure that future governments will build upon rather than dismantle.

That is how development becomes sustainable.

The Awolowo model was powerful because it was not simply about giving people things. It was about creating the conditions for people to become productive, educated and economically independent.

That is the same philosophy Nigeria must pursue today.

Free or affordable education produces human capital.

Accessible healthcare protects that human capital.

Infrastructure connects people and markets.

Employment gives citizens purchasing power and dignity.

Rural-urban integration spreads economic opportunity.

Together, they can break the cycle of poverty.

The subsidy debate should therefore move beyond whether the policy was painful or popular.

The more important debate is whether Nigeria is converting the resources released by the reform into productive assets and opportunities.

If we get that right, the sacrifice will have a purpose.

If we fail, the pain will simply become another chapter in Nigeria’s long history of economic hardship.

Awolowo’s greatest lesson was that government can transform society when it makes deliberate investments in people and connects those investments to economic development.

Tinubu has an opportunity to build on that philosophy for a modern Nigeria.

The federal government must continue its role. States must rise to their responsibilities. Local governments must become functional again. Citizens must demand accountability at every level.

That is how we build a new Nigeria.

That is how we make education easier for the poor.

That is how we make healthcare accessible.

That is how we create jobs.

That is how we open rural communities to opportunities.

And that is how to achieve the much sought-after true federalism without hurting one another.

Olaosebikan, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Ibadan.

Subsidy Gains: How Tinubu Is Funding Easy Education, Health, Infrastructure, Building A New Nigeria

Amarachi Ihesiulo

Amarachi Ihesiulo

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