Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has said that bringing back fuel subsidy would force state governments to start borrowing again to pay salaries, crediting President Bola Tinubu’s reforms with improving states’ finances.
Speaking on Tuesday in Akure, Aiyedatiwa said higher revenue allocations since the subsidy removal have allowed states to settle inherited liabilities, pay salaries and fund capital projects without resorting to loans.

He spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting with business operators, organised by the Manufacturing and MSME Directorate of the Presidential Campaign Council at the Dr Olusegun Mimiko Event Centre, The Dome.

The event was meant to highlight the administration’s achievements and second-term plans.
The governor asked beneficiaries of federal interventions in manufacturing and the MSME sector to rally grassroots support for the re-election of Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima.

“What is left that we all have to do is to take this news out there to the communities, to towns, to villages, to the units, to the wards,” he said.

He cited the revival of the Ile-Oluji Cocoa Factory, support for cocoa and agribusiness, tax exemptions for businesses with annual turnover of up to N250 million, and collateral-free loans under the National Credit Guarantee Scheme.

He acknowledged that some entrepreneurs had yet to benefit.

Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, said the Federal Government had disbursed at least N3.6 trillion in credits and grants to businesses through development finance institutions in three years, separate from ministry and agency spending.

He also listed free CAC registration for over 50,000 MSMEs and the Nigerian Industrial Policy unveiled on February 17, 2026. He added that about 220 Nigerian products had been certified to compete under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, John Uwajumogu, pointed to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Ondo’s planned deep seaport and the Olokola Free Trade Zone as opportunities for local businesses.

He said the NDDC and SMEDAN had made over N2 trillion available to businesses.

Bank of Industry Managing Director, Olasupo Olusi, said the bank had disbursed nearly N2 trillion in three years, financing 42,000 nano enterprises, nearly 400 MSMEs and agro-processors.

In Ondo, nearly 10,000 people benefited from the National Credit Corporation and 3,000 enterprises received credit guarantees.

He also said over two million farmers had benefited from interventions including 2,000 tractors and 2.5 million bags of fertiliser.

SMEDAN Director-General, Charles Odii, challenged Ondo and Cross River states to raise Nigeria’s cocoa output to Ghana’s level before 2031, promising federal agency support.

Also present were the governor’s wife, Esther Aiyedatiwa; the deputy governor’s wife, Abosede Adelami; and commissioners Ayodele Akande (Water Resources), Igbekele Ajibefun (Education) and Afolabi Adesoji (Culture and Tourism).