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By Zika Bobby
Energy expert and founder of Puttru, Monica Maduekwe, has challenged presidential aspirants ahead of the 2027 general elections to present credible plans for diversifying Nigeria’s economy, expanding domestic production and creating jobs rather than relying on promises to retain or remove fuel subsidies.
Maduekwe said the recurring debate over fuel subsidies had distracted attention from the country’s deeper economic challenges, particularly its dependence on oil revenues, mounting debt obligations and weak industrial and export capacity.
In her latest essay, *2027 Elections and the Band-Aid Called Fuel Subsidy*, she argued that Nigerians should assess presidential candidates on their understanding of the country’s structural economic problems and the practical measures they intend to adopt to address them.
She proposed a fundamental question for presidential aspirants: If Nigeria’s creditors and existing debt obligations were not constraints, would they retain or remove fuel subsidies, and why?
According to her, the reasoning behind each candidate’s response would provide voters with a clearer understanding of their economic competence, policy priorities and long-term vision than campaign promises centred solely on subsidy retention or removal.
Maduekwe maintained that credible economic leadership must combine carefully designed short-term measures to protect vulnerable households with investment in competitive domestic refining capacity and a long-term strategy to expand Nigeria’s industrial and export-oriented productive base.
She noted that Nigeria’s dependence on oil earnings, coupled with the substantial share of government revenue devoted to debt servicing, had continued to limit the country’s fiscal capacity and expose the economy to fluctuations in global commodity prices.
“Oil continues to account for a significant share of Nigeria’s export earnings and government revenue, although its contribution to the latter has declined compared with previous decades. Furthermore, debt servicing continues to consume a substantial share of government revenue.
“Consequently, the government’s fiscal capacity remains severely constrained by both debt obligations and developments in the global oil market. In simple terms, the economy is in poor shape and requires surgical precision to fix — not another sweet-sounding political promise,” she said.
The energy expert argued that an economy heavily dependent on oil and other raw commodity revenues, without a sufficiently diversified and competitive productive base, would continue to experience recurring fiscal pressures and economic hardship, irrespective of the subsidy policy adopted by successive administrations.
She therefore urged presidential candidates to demonstrate how their proposed policies would strengthen domestic industries, promote exports, generate productive employment and reduce the country’s vulnerability to changes in international oil prices.
“An economy that remains heavily dependent on oil revenues, and revenue from raw commodities in general, while lacking a sufficiently diversified and competitive productive base, will continue to experience recurring fiscal pressures and household vulnerability.
“The long-term solution, therefore, cannot rest solely on whether fuel subsidies are retained or removed. It must include a credible strategy to expand domestic production, develop industries capable of competing in export markets, create productive employment, and reduce the country’s exposure to fluctuations in global oil prices.
“Without such structural transformation, fuel subsidies will remain what they have been for decades: a band-aid applied to an economic wound that has never been properly treated,” Maduekwe stated.
