As Nigeria inches towards the 2027 general elections, one question must trouble every honest citizen: are we better off today than we were two years ago? For millions of families, the answer is painfully clear. Nigeria is at a crossroads, and the facts are no longer debatable.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, headline inflation stood at 15.39% in August 2026. On paper, it is declining from the 34.8% peak of December 2024, but on the streets, prices are not falling. Food inflation, which determines whether a family eats or starves, remains at a crushing 19.57%. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels — the basics of decent living — rose by 16.94%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages alone contributed 19.67% to the entire inflation basket, the highest of any sector. This explains why disinflation is not relief.
The World Bank captured this contradiction perfectly in its Nigeria Development Update of April 2026. While inflation is slowing, poverty is deepening. About 63% of Nigerians — nearly 140 million people — now live below the poverty line, up from 56% in 2023. When prices rose fastest in 2024, incomes did not rise with them. The result is a nation where people work harder and can afford less.
The PiggyVest Savings Report 2025 further exposed the depth of the crisis. Three in ten Nigerians earn below N100,000 per month, 28% earn no income at all, and nearly 60% either have no income or earn below N100,000. The new minimum wage of N70,000, though well-intentioned, cannot buy what N30,000 bought in 2023. Transport fares have tripled since fuel subsidy removal. House rents in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Osogbo and Kano have doubled. Small businesses are closing because diesel and petrol have become luxury items.
This is not propaganda. It is the daily reality of market women, farmers who cannot go to the farm due to insecurity, graduates who ride okada for survival, and civil servants whose salaries are exhausted by the 10th day of the month.
It is against this backdrop that the 2027 election becomes the most important in Nigeria’s recent history. It must not be about tribe, religion, or turn-by-turn politics. It must be about who has the capacity to fix a broken economy and restore affordability to Nigerian homes.
This is why Atiku Abubakar deserves honest consideration.
Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 and now the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is not a novice. He chaired the National Economic Council during Nigeria’s most prosperous era — when GDP growth averaged over 7%, when Nigeria secured $18 billion debt relief from the Paris Club, when the GSM revolution created millions of jobs, and when private enterprise was truly empowered. He understands economics not from textbooks alone, but from experience as a successful businessman who has employed thousands of Nigerians for over four decades. He is not coming to learn on the job; he has done the job before and delivered.
What Nigeria needs in 2027 is not slogans, but solutions. Atiku’s agenda speaks directly to the pains of today. First, economic recovery and affordability, with a clear plan to bring down food prices, stabilize the naira through export-led growth, and support local production. Second, security for productivity, because no economy can grow when farmers abandon their farms. Third, jobs and business support, through tax incentives and affordable credit for SMEs, youth entrepreneurship, and industrialization. Fourth, restructuring and unity, with commitment to constitutional reforms that will ensure fairness, state policing, devolution of powers, and a formal rotation of power to give every region a sense of belonging.
Critics will talk about age and past attempts, but resilience is not a weakness. Six attempts show a man who never gave up on Nigeria even when it seemed Nigeria had given up on itself. That resilience is exactly what is needed to rebuild a battered economy. More importantly, Atiku has publicly stated that 2027 is his last dance and that he is ready to serve for a single term and midwife a generational transition and structured succession. That is statesmanship, not desperation.
Nigerians must therefore rise above cheap propaganda and ask the real questions: Can we afford another four years of survival economics? Can we continue to pay more for less? Do we want a contest of ideas or a contest of insults?
The present condition of Nigeria is enough message. The empty pots in kitchens, the high cost of petrol, the insecurity on our highways, and the hopelessness among our youths are all campaigning already. Nigerians have suffered enough to know what they need. In 2027, they have the chance to choose experience over experiment, competence over convenience, and recovery over rhetoric.
That is why Atiku Abubakar should be seriously considered. Nigeria needs a fixer, and the facts point to him.
Signed:
Comrade James Onifade
Media Executive to Hon. Toyin Anibire Adams aka Obailukan
Founder and Convener, Obailukan Strategic Support Group for Atiku (OSSAT)
