{"id":16108,"date":"2026-10-04T10:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/?p=16108"},"modified":"2026-10-04T10:46:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:46:48","slug":"open-letter-to-nigerians-on-fuel-subsidy-economic-realities-why-we-must-vote-wisely-for-the-right-presidential-candidate-in-2027-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/open-letter-to-nigerians-on-fuel-subsidy-economic-realities-why-we-must-vote-wisely-for-the-right-presidential-candidate-in-2027-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEN LETTER TO NIGERIANS ON FUEL SUBSIDY, ECONOMIC REALITIES & WHY WE MUST VOTE WISELY FOR THE RIGHT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN 2027 ELECTIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"

*\u201cTo say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against, or one might believe that you support things you really do not\u201d<\/span>-Germany Kent<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>*\u201cTruth is hard, propaganda is cheap\u201d<\/span>-DaShanne Stokes<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span>*\u201cIt\u2019s not unpatriotic to denounce an injustice committed on our behalf, perhaps it\u2019s the most patriotic thing we can do\u201d<\/span>-E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>*By Dr. George Elijah Otumu<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Fellow Citizens,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

THERE are moments in life when we keep quiet, watch events unfold, since times and season happen to everything under the Heavens. There are some moments our silence is akin to complicity, nonchalant and attitude indifference in the face of an obvious anomaly. And there are other moments when we speak up, albeit reluctantly when we notice that the navigation of our voyage is not necessarily sailing us to the much awaited ‘promise-land of milk and honey’, with only the exit ramp available is to change the course of our movement and re-direct our compass to the right direction to avert a crisis which would be an after-effect of unpredictable wind blowing all of us in various dangerous directions. In the words of Alexander Semenyuk, a great philosopher, he probably had Nigeria in mind when he once postulates: “Often, it is the silence of the good that becomes the most devious thing”.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nigerian artisans like vulcanizers, tailors, carpenters; shoemaker, taxi drivers, market women and farmers have few things in common: they all survive on daily income to feed their families. And petrol is central to farmers and many of the artisans successfully have economic survival. To that extent, if anything alters that pendulum, no one can guarantee anyway for them to eke out a lawful living in a bid not to starve. \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What good is saving a huge amount of fund in Nigeria\u2019s foreign reserve when most homes in Nigeria cannot guarantee adequate three-square meals? What is the essence of having to keep lots of money in our Nigeria\u2019s foreign reserve when a market woman returns home from her trading place sobbing telling her family members, she could not make sale in her business because people could not afford it due to high rise of fuel that farmers incur in transporting goods from the farms to the market? What is the gain for the masses when the children could not go to school defaulting in their tuition or school fees\u2019 payment because their dad, a cab driver, had no money to buy petrol into his taxi to make ends meet?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Latest statistics from the World Bank Group and PwC’s Economic Outlook revealed that Nigeria’s poverty rate in 2026 is projected to stand at approximately 62% to 63%, impacting about 140 to 141 million people. World Bank economic data confirmed that poverty rate is estimated at 62%\u201363% of the total population by major economic institutions. The affected population of roughly 140\u2013141 million Nigerians live below the poverty line.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The driving, economic factors are: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Inflation & Living Costs: Persistent food inflation and high energy expenses leave essential prices elevated.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Food Consumption: Food accounts for up to 70% of total consumption for low-income households.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Weak Real Incomes: Sluggish wage growth fails to offset ongoing macroeconomic price adjustments.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Future-Outlook: Analysts expect poverty levels to peak or plateau through 2026 before potentially seeing a marginal decline heading into 2027 and 2028<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In its critical economic analysis and report, World Bank did not hold bank its overall appraisal of the present administration in the country, when it claimed \u201c123million Nigerians live in extreme poverty, below $4.20 per day.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As Nigerian citizens, can we all for a moment break that information down? It says Nigerians live on less than $4 a day, meaning an estimated 69.6% of Nigerians live below the lower-middle-income poverty line of $4.20 per day.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In understanding the economic toil, the current hardship is placing on the majority of Nigerians, World Bank explained that by their own internal data, empirical collection, \u201cAround 50.8% (about 123 million people) live in extreme poverty, Rural poverty rates are near 75.5%, while urban rates are about 41.3%; and Wealth Inequality among top 10% of the population controls the vast majority of resources, skewing median income far below the nominal per capita average\u201d.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Who\u2019s to blame? World Bank offers an answer by listing the underlisted factors in the present Nigerian administration:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Inflationary Pressures:<\/span> Soaring costs for food staples, transportation, and energy heavily erode daily purchasing power.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Macroeconomic Reforms:<\/span> Currency shifts and subsidy removals have created short-term hardships despite broader GDP growth. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Job Deficits:<\/span> Economic growth has not produced enough productive, formal job sectors to pull millions above the threshold.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If your children could not perform well academically in school for three years, do you think the principal of such an educational institution will allow your kids to move into higher class? That is a pointer to the 2027 presidential election. Why must the electorates applaud your lackluster performance with a reward of electing you for another FOUR YEARS? Also, the Holy Book in Luke chapter 16 verse 10 says: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As such, it did not come to me as a surprise, rather ignite my passion to allow the ink of my pen to flow effortlessly when one of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu\u2019s best friends, a highly respected Nigerian to whom they both, in company of others fought the then military dictators into a standstill, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, CON, penned a letter to Aso Rock where he did not hide his overriding patriotism for Nigeria, in the following words: \u201cPlease widen the circle of people you listen to. Seek out Nigerians of goodwill from every part of the country, including those who disagree with you. Invite them to speak freely about what is working, what is failing and what needs to change. A leader gains little from advisers who shield him from unwelcome news. He gains much from those willing to tell him the truth while there is still time to act on it. <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAsiwaju, hardship has become the defining experience of too many Nigerians. You may hear that difficult measures were necessary and that the figures now show progress. Even where some indicators are improving, the question you must ask is whether that progress can be felt in an ordinary household. A parent who cannot pay school fees or buy medicine cannot live on a projection of future relief. Progress must mean food on the table, a child in school, treatment for the sick and a reasonable chance to earn a living.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Being the Nigerian tradition that “An elder cannot be in the marketplace and watch a newborn’s head droop\/sag,” Farooq Adamu Kperogi, a Nigerian-American professor, author, media scholar, newspaper columnist, blogger and activist added his weight to this urgent matters arising so that we all, as Nigerians (the electorates) could right the wrong with our votes at the ballot box in the 2027 elections which has become a defining, turning point of our economic survival as a people. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Farooq writes: \u201cSomething extraordinary is happening across the world. Governments are losing sleep over the intolerably rising prices of petrol and diesel. They are cutting taxes, subsidizing fuel, capping prices, releasing strategic reserves, relaxing regulations and strong-arming oil companies. Where relief has not yet come, governments are promising it.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Tinubu\u2019s Nigeria is the exception. It is marching callously and ignominiously in the opposite direction. It derives perverse joy and pride in its soulless, cold-hearted strangulation of the people.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Without mincing word, I should believe it is the greatest disservice to Nigeria and Nigerians for President Tinubu to have removed the fuel subsidy on the day he was sworn into power on May 29, 2023, without necessarily put in place a short-, medium- and long-term economic palliative side-by-side to absorb the shock and attendant effect of the fallout of his action. And I am tempted to believe every action has its consequences. This means whoever advised him to have embarked on the \u2018Red Sea\u2019 economic rollout is an enemy of the nation and of the masses. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For the purpose of the context of this discuss, I will peg my realities, commentaries and facts on the following data, variables and analysis: Forex (U.S. to Naira), Petrol Price, Nigerians Standard of Living under former President Olusegun Obasanjo\/Atiku Abubakar government, ex-President Umaru Yar’Adua\/Jonathan Goodluck, erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the Incumbent. At the end of this detailed comparative breakdown, then ask yourself if this direction is the right way to go and how can you continue in this way in the next four years?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

*United States Dollars rate under PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBANSANJO\/ATIKU ABUBAAKAR administration:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The official US Dollar to Nigerian Naira exchange rate moved from \u20a694.88\/$1 at the start of the Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar administration in 1999 to \u20a6127.55\/$1 when they left office in 2007. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Exchange Rate Progression:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*1999 (Inauguration): Started at approximately \u20a694.88\/$1. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*2000\u20132003: Gradually depreciated, moving past \u20a6100\/$1 and stabilizing near \u20a6112 \u2013 \u20a6130\/$1. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*2007 (End of Tenure): Closed at approximately \u20a6127.55\/$1. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Total Change: Represented an overall nominal increase of about 34% (\u20a632.67) over the 8-year term.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Economic Context<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*Stability: Compared to prior and subsequent decades, the exchange rate experienced relatively moderate depreciation. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*External Factors: Supported by rising global crude oil prices (which climbed from under $20 to around $70 per barrel) and major international debt relief initiatives.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

*PETROL PRICE for 1999-2007: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n