Nigerians are unanimous in their submissions that the current hardship in the country is originally and largely attributed to the removal of fuel subsidies, exchange rate merger, and the global test crisis, rather than the Middle East crisis alone.
They reason that the removal of fuel subsidies has led to increased fuel prices, transportation costs, and inflation, affecting low-income households and small businesses.
Rather, they further argue that, the Middle East Crisis may have exposed the governments’ lack of preparedness, even as hardship deepens.
Noting some likely consequences of prioritising politics over governance,, Friday Ameh, Lagos based energy analyst said increased poverty and inequality, deteriorating public services and infrastructure can engender social unrest.
Ameh, suggested that the government at all levels, particularly the federal, should focus on implementing palliative measures, such as, increasing power supply, improving transportation system, boosting food productiin, reducing prices, and sincere tackling of insecurity among others.
Chief Economist at SPM Professionals, Paul Alaje, advised the Federal Government to partner with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in providing palliatives to the masses following the escalation in the ongoing war between Iran and the United States.
According to Alaje, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s, The Morning Brief on Monday, returning the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol to ₦800 per litre before the war would go a long way in ameliorating suffering among Nigerians.
“Before the war, Dangote Refinery had slashed prices to ₦800 per barrel. Now that prices are soaring, what that means is that the costs of living will keep soaring, and food prices will escalate. “We have seen governors such as Seyi Makinde announcing some sort of ₦10,000 support. It’s something, even though relatively small. We encourage other states to do the same.
“What we should do is partner with Dangote. What was the cost of crude to Dangote before the war? Can we maintain that price as a subsidy to Nigerians? And then instruct that for everybody who is buying from Dangote, there should be a specific price at which the products should be sold.
“We can now deliberately reduce oil theft, which is a gap nobody wants to talk about. Can we deliberately stop oil theft, even if it is just for this period that everybody is going through hardship? Then take all of those crude and give them to Dangote for refining so that prices can go back to what they were before the war?, he said.
Speaking further, Alaje, warned that the price of petrol could climb above ₦1500 if the war continues unabated.
“What we know now is that America has said it is making efforts to talk with Iran on how to end the war.
“But whether that will be the case is another kettle of fish. The war is still ongoing, and the price of Brent crude is climbing to about $110 per barrel.
“If it gets to $120, one of the implications is that Nigerians will be buying PMS above $1,500 per barrel, approximately N1,600. That also has an implication that will double the cost of transportation before the pre-war.
“So, do I think the war will stop soon? I hope it stopped yesterday. But with the activities I see around the Middle East, I doubt. President Trump has even said that they don’t even know who they are talking to.
“This war has major implications for gas supply. Just yesterday, we saw what we can call a notable delay of flights from Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport to other airports. It blamed the delay on operational reasons, but data aggregation noted that Jet-A1 rationing may be one of the reasons for the delay.
“So the war is already affecting everyone. But if the war prolongs and the US targets the Iranian oil, Nigerians should be ready to pay more for diesel. It will grow more from what it is now to about N2,000 per litre.
“That means you will pay more for production, pay more for finished goods, and the one we are importing will get hit by global inflation”, he said.
He noted that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) inflation rate for February would definitely climb to about 16 per cent due to the war.
“Already, we should expect the war to have an impact on the inflation rate for February, which we should expect to be about 16 per cent above what was reported in January, slightly above 15 per cent, and prices of commodities have started going up”, he said, adding that the government needs to introduce more economic reforms.
He called on the Federal Government to introduce more economic reforms.
“Nigerian government needs to come up with reforms, not just subsidy removal, unification of the naira, and tax reforms.
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“We now need reforms in industrial output to target major improvements in output. We need major reforms on energy- that is, electricity supply, and of course, major reforms on Agriculture. “And if I can anchor it, we need major reforms on the railway- voting more money to it and connecting it to farms and city centres where major consumption takes place, and even to industrial centres.
“We also need reforms in the oil and gas sector. We can’t make gains if we do less than 2 million barrels per day. We should be doing about 60 million barrels”, he said.
Another concerned Nigerian wondered why the President has decided to keep mute in the face of rising misery of Nigerians, noting that even the United States and United Kingdom have put out some palliative measures in place to alleviate the suffering of the citizens as prices of some household needs have increased.
National chairman of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Boniface Okezie posited that the management of the economy by the government and it’s agents have been very poor, rather, inflicting hardship on Nigerians.
He decried a situation where there is no priority accorded any sector, but that politics continues to take front seat at the expense of governance that should have improved the overall welfare of citizens.
Also, most of the respondents disagreed with president Tinubu, attributing the current crisis to the Middle East war, saying that it is ‘escapist in nature and thinking’ as Nigerians have been grappling with hardship ocassioned by rates unification and subsidy removal without a well thought out plan.
The removal of subsidy on petrol, rise in inflation and unification of exchange rates have raised the level of hardship nationwide, heightening anxiety of citizens for presidential broadcast with palliative packages.
This is because, Nigerians are currently confronted by daunting economic challenges as the cost of most goods and services have tripled, whereas the income of many citizens has remained the same, despite the announced inflation ease by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate in February 2026 eased to 15.06% on a year-on-year basis, marking a slight decrease from 15.10% in January 2026 and representing the 11th consecutive month of decline.
Despite this moderation, food prices continued to drive inflation, with food inflation rising on a month-on-month basis to 2.01% in February, up from -2.88% in January.
The largest contributors to the inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.03 percentage points), restaurants and accommodation services (1.95), and transport (1.61).
