After N2 trillion in subsidies, government wants you to share the cost

Budget Office Director-General Tanimu Yakubu said it plainly last week: "If we want stable power, we must pay for it."

Here's what that means.

Between October 2024 and September 2025, government paid N1.98 trillion subsidizing electricity. That's covering the gap between what power costs and what you're charged.

Meanwhile, you still run generators.

Now they're asking you to "partly bear" the subsidy cost. Not because power got more reliable. Because government can't keep paying for failure.

The numbers: N4 trillion owed to generation companies. Monthly subsidy hitting N200 billion. Your neighborhood still goes dark daily.

This is the same pattern as Kano defection and US troops: institutions fail, citizens pay.

Daily Trust reported Yakubu's statement. What he didn't explain: why Nigerians should pay more for the same epileptic supply after decades of promises.

The uncomfortable protagonist here? Government presenting "burden-sharing" as partnership when the burden has always been on citizens buying generators, inverters, and fuel to compensate for state failure.