HURIWA to Oyedele: Nigerians Are Suffering While You Project Tinubu’s 2027 Victory

***says economic recovery must take priority over re-election calculations

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged the Minister of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, to explain how the Federal Government intends to rescue millions of Nigerians from economic hardship instead of focusing on President Bola Tinubu’s re-election prospects in 2027.
The association said the government’s economic managers must prioritise the rising cost of living, expensive petrol, declining purchasing power and growing poverty rather than speculate about the President’s political future.
In a statement on Sunday, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, questioned the minister’s priorities, insisting that Nigerians needed practical economic solutions, not projections about how international investors view Tinubu’s chances of securing a second term.
The association stressed that the electorate, not foreign investors or international financial institutions, would determine Nigeria’s next president.
HURIWA also demanded greater transparency over government borrowing, questioning why increased revenue collections had not translated into sufficient improvements in citizens’ living conditions.
Citing concerns raised by economic commentator Dele Oye in The Guardian on May 25, 2026, the group called for a transparent account of government loans, the projects they finance and the benefits they deliver.
It warned that borrowing without measurable improvements in infrastructure, employment and public welfare could leave future generations carrying an increasingly heavy financial burden.
On petrol subsidy, HURIWA argued that properly designed public support programmes could protect vulnerable households from economic shocks, insisting that corruption, waste and weak oversight—not the principle of subsidy itself—should be the focus of government action.
The association maintained that removing petrol subsidy without adequate protection for low-income households had intensified economic hardship.
It also cited Professor Pat Utomi’s criticism of the government’s handling of petrol prices and wages, published by TheCable on October 16, 2026.
Utomi had questioned the President’s response to citizens’ suffering, asking: “But does the President care? How does he even sleep at night, knowing that millions of Nigerians are struggling to survive in a country blessed with abundant natural resources?”
HURIWA urged Oyedele to concentrate on reducing living costs, creating jobs, restoring purchasing power and ensuring that public revenue delivers tangible benefits to Nigerians.
The association insisted that the success of economic reforms should be measured by improvements in citizens’ lives, not by investors’ expectations about Tinubu’s re-election prospects.