Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said the “time is right” for the West African nation to end a decades-long subsidy on fuel, as gasoline production at his mega refinery near Lagos helps to ease pressures on the country’s battered currency.

“Subsidy is a very sensitive issue. Once you are subsidizing something then people will bloat the price and then government will end up paying what they are not supposed to be paying,” the tycoon told Francine Lacqua during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York Monday. “It is the right time to get rid of subsidies.”

Africa’s largest oil producer, which until Dangote’s refinery came on stream was fully dependent on imported petroleum products, has been taking tentative moves to finally end the nation’s pricey fuel subsidies, which in 2022 cost $10 billion.