The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has revealed that the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan abandoned plans to completely remove fuel subsidies in 2011 due to fears of escalating violence amid the Boko Haram insurgency.

Speaking at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Sanusi—who served as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between 2009 and 2014—said the decision to delay subsidy removal more than a decade ago is a key reason behind Nigeria’s current economic hardship.

“The only reason the government compromised at that time and did 50 per cent to 100 per cent was Boko Haram,” Sanusi explained. “There were thousands of Nigerians on the streets in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and other cities. There was fear that one day, a suicide bomber could target the protesters, leading to mass casualties.”

Despite the setback, Sanusi commended former President Jonathan for his commitment to reform.

“You have to give President Jonathan credit. He was determined to do it, but at the end of the day, the compromise was made to save Nigerian lives,” he said.

The former CBN governor argued that had the subsidy been removed in 2011, the economic pain would have been far less severe than what Nigerians face today. “If Nigerians had allowed the Jonathan government to remove the subsidy in 2011, there would have been pain. But that pain would have been a tiny fraction of what we are facing today,” he noted.

According to Sanusi, the Central Bank had already projected the short-term economic impact at the time. “We worked out the numbers in the Central Bank. I put my credibility on the line and said, remove the subsidy today— inflation would rise from 11 per cent to 13 per cent, and I’d bring it down in a year,” he recalled.

Sanusi concluded that if the reform had been implemented earlier, Nigeria would not be struggling with inflation above 30 per cent today.  “There’s a kind of poetic justice that those who led the Occupy Nigeria movement then are now the ones grappling with the same issue,” he added.