Tinubu and Atiku’s Cheap-Petrol Debate Must Focus on Nigerians’ Purchasing Power
Nominal salaries mean little unless we consider what they can buy. Nigeria’s price levels have risen so sharply that ₦50,000 in 2017 had purchasing power close to ₦237,000 today. A worker receiving a “full salary” today may still be poorer in real terms than when they received half their pay years ago. Petrol prices illustrate the point. At about ₦144 per litre in 2017, ₦50,000 could buy roughly 346 litres. At nearly ₦1,600 per litre today, ₦100,000 buys only about 63 litres. Celebrating full salary payments without addressing inflation and living costs is empty propaganda. The real test of economic policy is whether Nigerians can afford food, transport, rent and their children’s basic needs. Atiku’s subsidy pledge has pushed the debate back toward making energy and daily life affordable, even as Tinubu and Atiku disagree on how to achieve it.
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