We Will Make Nigeria Affordable Again”

Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has placed affordability at the centre of the opposition’s 2027 message, arguing that Nigerians should judge government by the price of food, fuel, transportation and the security of their communities—not by statistics alone. Speaking on AIT’s Democracy Today Xtra, Melaye said the ADC intends to confront the cost-of-living crisis, review the subsidy model and resist political violence, while insisting that the coming election must remain a contest of ideas in which every lawful vote is allowed to count.

Former Senator Dino Melaye, a lawyer and former federal lawmaker who represented Kogi West in the 8th National Assembly, has presented an expansive case for the African Democratic Congress ahead of the 2027 general election, declaring that the party’s central objective is to “make Nigeria affordable again.”

Melaye, who is serving in the Contact and Mobilisation structure of Atiku Abubakar’s 2027 presidential campaign, made the remarks during an appearance on AIT’s Democracy Today Xtra of September 26, where political violence, the cost of living, fuel pricing, insecurity and the direction of the 2027 campaign dominated discussion. His campaign role has also been reported following the unveiling of Atiku’s campaign structure.

For Melaye, the economic debate is no longer theoretical.

His argument is that ordinary Nigerians do not experience the economy through government presentations or political speeches; they experience it at filling stations, markets, schools, hospitals and in the daily struggle to move goods and people.

“We are coming to make Nigeria once again affordable,” Melaye said.

He said Nigerians of every political persuasion ultimately buy from the same markets and pay the same prices for fuel, transportation, food and other necessities, making economic hardship a national rather than partisan problem.

Fuel at the Centre of Melaye’s Economic Argument

A major pillar of Melaye’s intervention was energy.

He argued that the price of petroleum products feeds directly into virtually every part of the economy because transportation costs affect food distribution, manufacturing, commerce, aviation and the movement of goods.

His position was straightforward: bring down the cost of energy and the effect should travel through the wider economy.

Melaye said the ADC would restore a form of fuel subsidy, arguing that what historically damaged the subsidy system was corruption and abuse rather than the principle of providing relief to consumers.

During the programme, he went further, saying the party intended to bring subsidy back and arguing that a properly managed intervention could push petrol prices substantially below their present levels.

The proposal has become an important dividing line in the 2027 campaign.

Petrol has recently sold for around ₦1,400 per litre in Lagos and Abuja and as much as ₦1,500 in some northern locations, following increases linked partly to higher international crude prices.

Atiku’s camp has described its proposed intervention more specifically as a production-based subsidy, under which domestic crude would be supplied to Nigerian refineries at an incentivised price rather than returning wholesale to the former import-subsidy structure. That model would still carry fiscal costs and require transparent implementation to prevent the abuses associated with the previous system.

Melaye’s message, however, was framed around the ordinary consumer.

He said Nigerians should ultimately feel economic policy in their pockets.

His argument was that cheaper fuel should mean cheaper transportation; cheaper transportation should reduce the cost of moving goods; and that reduction should eventually be reflected in food and commodity prices.

“Nigerians Are Hungry”

Melaye painted the cost-of-living situation in stark terms.

He said worsening purchasing power had pushed many households beyond ordinary hardship and into what he characterised as survival.

According to him, Nigerians were struggling with food, transportation and other necessities, while the economic burden was increasingly affecting people who had previously considered themselves financially stable.

He told the programme that affordability would therefore be more than a campaign slogan for the ADC.

It would, he said, become a benchmark against which the party wanted its economic programme to be judged.

Melaye linked this promise to food prices, transportation, energy and security, saying the party intended to bring relief directly to households.

Melaye Challenges Nigeria’s Rising Debt

The former senator also returned to an issue he has repeatedly raised: public borrowing.

He questioned why Nigeria’s debt stock had continued to rise after the removal of petrol subsidy and challenged the government to show Nigerians the tangible benefits arising from additional borrowing.

Melaye cited figures during the programme comparing the Buhari and Tinubu administrations. His broad argument was that the country was continuing to accumulate debt even after Nigerians had been told that subsidy removal would free substantial resources.

The latest official figures require an important distinction from the campaign rhetoric.

Nigeria’s total public debt stock stood at ₦166.79 trillion as of June 30, 2026, according to the Debt Management Office. That figure represents the combined debt of the Federal Government, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory; it is not the same thing as saying the Tinubu administration newly borrowed ₦166.79 trillion. Federal Government obligations accounted for approximately ₦152.77 trillion of the total.

Still, the rise in total debt has generated a wider political debate about what citizens are receiving in return.

That question is also being raised by Atiku, who has demanded greater transparency on revenue, borrowing, debt servicing and the actual outcomes financed by government debt.

Melaye’s own formulation was simpler: if Nigerians are being asked to sacrifice, he argued, they should be able to see what that sacrifice has produced.

Insecurity: “Nigeria Must Work Again”

Beyond economic hardship, Melaye said security would be another major focus of the opposition campaign.

He argued that economic recovery cannot be separated from security because farmers cannot produce safely, businesses cannot expand confidently and families cannot live normally where violent crime remains pervasive.

His message was that making Nigeria affordable must therefore go alongside making communities secure.

For Melaye, the objective is not simply lower consumer prices but a country in which citizens can work, travel, farm and conduct business without persistent fear.

Political Violence Must Not Define 2027

Melaye was equally forceful on the growing tension surrounding political activities.

During the AIT discussion, he accused elements of the ruling APC of responsibility for attacks on opposition political activities and argued that inflammatory political language could encourage supporters to believe intimidation was acceptable.

Those are Melaye’s political allegations, and they remain disputed by APC representatives.

The APC representative on the programme rejected the suggestion that political violence could simply be attributed to the governing party. He argued that some confrontations were linked to factional disputes within opposition parties and said he would not support violence as a method of political competition.

Melaye nevertheless insisted that the ADC would not initiate political violence.

“We will resist violence. We will defend ourselves. And we will make sure that votes count,” he said.

His argument was that opposition parties should be able to campaign freely and that Nigeria’s next election should be determined at the ballot rather than through intimidation.

He also called for condemnation of political violence irrespective of which party or individual is responsible, saying the overriding objective should be a country in which democratic competition remains peaceful.

From APC Founding Member to Opposition Campaigner

Melaye also addressed his own political history.

He reminded viewers that he had been a founding member of the APC, drawing a comparison between the coalition that produced the ruling party and the political realignments that have shaped the present ADC.

His response came after criticism of the manner in which opposition politicians had converged within new political arrangements.

Melaye rejected the argument that coalition politics itself was inherently problematic.

“I’m a founding member of the APC. Once I was blind, now I can see,” he said during the exchange.

His point was that the APC itself emerged from the coming together of several political tendencies and could therefore not logically dismiss political realignment by its opponents merely because they had previously belonged to different parties.

A Message Beyond Party Membership

Perhaps the clearest thread running through Melaye’s intervention was his attempt to present the economic argument as one that extends beyond party loyalty.

“There’s no APC market,” he argued.

The meaning was deliberate: supporters of Tinubu, Atiku and other candidates all purchase food from the same markets, pay transport fares and buy petrol within the same economy.

That framing places the 2027 debate around an everyday question rather than a purely partisan one:

Can Nigerians afford to live?

Petrol prices, food inflation, insecurity, wages, employment and purchasing power are therefore likely to remain central campaign issues as the election approaches.

The government’s counterargument is that subsidy removal was necessary to end a fiscally unsustainable and corruption-prone regime and free resources for infrastructure, education and social programmes. The administration and its supporters have also pointed to initiatives such as student financing and other interventions as evidence that savings and reforms are being redirected into development.

Melaye is asking Nigerians to judge that argument against their lived experience.

“Make Nigeria Affordable Again”

For Melaye, the ADC’s case to Nigerians ultimately comes down to affordability, security and what he presents as accountable government.

His message was not that economic policy should be judged only by macroeconomic indicators.

It should also answer basic household questions:

Can a family afford food?

Can a worker afford transportation?

Can a farmer safely reach the farm?

Can businesses survive energy costs?

Can parents educate their children?

And can citizens participate in elections without violence or intimidation?

That, according to Melaye, is the terrain on which the coming political contest should be fought.

The former senator said the ADC would take its case directly to Nigerians, promising lower energy costs, improved security and policies intended to restore household purchasing power.

Whether those proposals are fiscally achievable, and how they would be implemented without recreating problems associated with earlier subsidy regimes, will form part of the policy debate voters will have to assess ahead of 2027.

But Melaye’s message from the AIT studio was unambiguous:

The central question of the next election, he says, is whether government can once again make everyday life affordable for Nigerians.