November 5, (THEWILL) – An open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Mr President,
There is something admirable about a man who can look back at the humble beginnings of his life and find a reason to encourage others; something even more admirable about a leader who remembers the struggles that shaped him and uses that experience to make life easier for the people he now governs.
When you spoke about your journey from being a taxi driver abroad to becoming the President of Nigeria, while defending the ₦372 billion student loan scheme, I understood the point you were trying to make. You were reminding Nigerians that a person’s present circumstances do not have to determine their future.
This is a message, in itself, worth celebrating.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) is one of the policies of your administration that deserves recognition. For a country where many young people abandon their education because their parents cannot afford tuition and other expenses, the idea that a student can access an interest-free loan to complete university is a welcome intervention.
The same can be said of the efforts to expand access to student financing, the increase in the national minimum wage, and the government’s attempts to address long-standing distortions in the economy.
These are not small matters; a country that wants to grow must invest in its young people, reward work, and create opportunities for people to improve their lives. But Mr President, there is a problem with using your personal journey as a yardstick for the struggles of the average Nigerian.
The circumstances of your journey are not the circumstances of the people you govern today. And that is where I believe your statement requires a reality check.
The taxi driver of yesterday and the Nigerian worker of today, walk with me…
You have spoken about your time as a taxi driver in the United States. It is a story of ambition, hard work, and the determination to rise above one’s circumstances. But the question we must ask is this: “What did it mean to be a taxi driver in the United States at the time you were working there, and what does it mean to be a taxi driver in Nigeria today?”
The two experiences are not the same – according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for taxi drivers in the US was $42,100 in May 2025. That works out to roughly $3,508 a month before taxes. This does not mean every American taxi driver earns that amount. Some earn less, some earn more, and the cost of living in the United States is considerably different from Nigeria’s. But it gives us a useful picture of the earning potential of the occupation in that economy. US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Now consider the Nigerian taxi driver – a driver working in Lagos or Abuja may spend the better part of a day on the road, navigating traffic, paying for fuel, servicing a vehicle, meeting daily remittance obligations and trying to make enough money to feed a family. Many drivers do not own the vehicles they operate. Some work under daily or weekly agreements with vehicle owners; others drive their own cars but must contend with maintenance costs, insurance, licensing, fuel prices, and the possibility of a breakdown that can wipe out several days of earnings.
A driver who earns ₦20,000 in a day has not necessarily taken home ₦20,000. The cost of earning that money must first be deducted. The distinction between revenue and income is important. It is also one of the realities that political speeches often overlook.
Nigeria has no single, reliable national salary figure for taxi drivers that captures the difference between an employee, a vehicle owner, a ride-hailing driver, and someone operating under a daily remittance arrangement. That is precisely why it would be misleading to compare the gross income of an American taxi driver with the take-home income of a Nigerian driver without considering the costs of earning it.
But the larger point remains: the economic conditions under which people work are not the same.
A Nigerian taxi driver cannot simply be told to work harder because someone who once drove a taxi in America eventually became President.
The problem with turning personal success into public policy, hear me out…
Mr President, your journey is yours. It is a story that deserves to be told, but it cannot become the standard by which we judge the struggles of millions of Nigerians.
A personal success story can inspire people. It cannot replace an honest examination of the conditions under which people are trying to succeed.
The Nigerian worker is not necessarily struggling because he lacks ambition; the trader is not necessarily poor because she lacks discipline; the university student is not necessarily unable to pay school fees because he has failed to work hard enough. Sometimes, the problem is simply that the cost of living has risen faster than people’s incomes.
Sometimes, a family is working as hard as it possibly can and still cannot afford food, rent, transport, school fees, and healthcare. And sometimes, the opportunities that made one person’s journey possible are no longer available to the next person. This is the difference between telling a story about individual success and understanding the economic realities of an entire country.
Since your administration came into office in May 2023, Nigeria has undergone significant economic changes. The removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market were presented as necessary steps towards correcting long-standing economic distortions. There is a legitimate argument for those reforms. A country cannot continue to spend enormous amounts of public money on policies that are poorly targeted, unsustainable or vulnerable to abuse.
The government has also argued that the reforms would improve public finances, attract investment and create the conditions for long-term economic growth. But Mr President, economic reform is not an end in itself; the ultimate test of reform is whether it improves people’s lives.
The World Bank’s October 2025 Nigeria Development Update acknowledged progress in stabilising the economy but warned that these gains had yet to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives. It noted that food inflation remained a major concern and that poor households spend up to 70 percent of their income on food. That is a reality that cannot be dismissed with a story about personal determination. World Bank: Nigeria Development Update
A family that spends most of its income on food has very little room to save, invest in a business, pay school fees or prepare for an emergency. When food prices rise, the family does not simply become less comfortable. Its ability to plan for the future is weakened. The same applies to transport costs, electricity bills, rent, and the price of basic medicines. A person may have a job and still be poor; they may work every day and still be unable to build anything meaningful from the money earned. That is the economic reality millions of Nigerians are facing.
The student loan scheme is welcome, but it is not the whole answer; cook with me…
I want to return to the student loan scheme because I believe it is one of the more important policies of your administration. For too long, the inability to pay school fees has prevented young Nigerians from completing their education. The scheme offers a pathway for students who might otherwise have been forced to abandon their studies. It is a policy that recognises the importance of education as a tool for social mobility. But the existence of a loan scheme does not automatically mean that every student can now afford to attend university.
Costs like accommodation, transport, food, books, and internet access are part of the everyday expenses of staying in school. A student whose family cannot afford these expenses may still struggle, even if tuition is covered. And after graduation, the question becomes whether the economy can provide the kind of employment that allows that student to repay the loan and build a decent life. A student loan is an opportunity. It is not a guarantee of prosperity.
That is why the government must also pay attention to the quality of education, the availability of jobs, the purchasing power of workers and the conditions under which young people enter the labour market.
The same principle applies to other policies of your administration. An increase in the minimum wage is significant, but its value depends on what that wage can actually buy. A worker who earns more money but spends all of it on food, transport and rent may still be trapped in poverty. The question is not simply whether the government has introduced a policy. The question is whether that policy is improving the lives of the people it was designed to help.
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Can a taxi driver in Nigeria afford to become a local government chairman? This is perhaps the most important question raised by your statement. Can a taxi driver in Nigeria realistically afford to become a local government chairman?
Can he afford to contest an election, pay for the necessary political consultations, mobilise supporters, travel across his constituency, maintain a campaign structure, and survive the financial demands of political participation? Can he do all of that while still providing for his family?
And if the answer is that he cannot, what does that tell us about the opportunities available to the average Nigerian?
The question is not whether an ordinary person can ever become a politician. Nigeria’s political history has examples of people who rose from humble beginnings. The question is whether the system makes that journey reasonably possible for ordinary people today.
Political participation is not supposed to be the exclusive preserve of the wealthy. Yet the cost of seeking public office can be a significant barrier for people without access to money, political networks, or influential sponsors. A person may have the intelligence, integrity, and public support to serve his community but lack the financial resources to compete.
That is a problem of opportunity, not ambition. And it is a problem that a personal success story cannot resolve. The Nigerian dream should not depend on exceptional circumstances, Mr President; there is a difference between telling Nigerians that they can succeed and creating a country in which success is reasonably attainable.
The first requires a good speech. The second requires institutions, policies and economic conditions that give people a fair chance. A young Nigerian should not have to become an extraordinary individual simply to escape poverty. A university graduate should not have to leave the country to find work that pays enough to support a family. A taxi driver should not have to work himself into exhaustion merely to afford necessities. A trader should not have to spend her entire income replacing the goods she sells because inflation has eroded her purchasing power. And a student should not have to abandon education because his parents cannot afford the cost of keeping him in school.
These are the realities that should guide our conversations about economic reform. The government must be able to defend its policies, explain its spending, and demonstrate that public resources are being used responsibly.
But it must also be willing to listen to the people whose lives are affected by those policies. That is what leadership requires.
A personal journey is not a national economic plan
Your story is a reminder that people can rise from humble beginnings. But it is also a reminder that circumstances matter. The opportunities available to a taxi driver in the United States decades ago are not necessarily the opportunities available to a taxi driver in Nigeria today.
The cost of living, the structure of the economy, the value of wages, the availability of credit, the quality of public services and the cost of political participation are all different. The fact that you made it from a taxi to the presidency does not mean every Nigerian who works hard enough will be able to do the same. And it does not mean that those who have not made it have failed to work hard.
The real test of your administration should not be whether you can tell Nigerians how far you have come; it should be whether the policies you introduce make it easier for ordinary Nigerians to move forward.
Can the taxi driver save enough to buy his own vehicle?
Can the trader expand her business without being overwhelmed by the cost of credit?
Can the student complete university and find a job that pays a living wage?
Can a young Nigerian enter politics without needing to be wealthy or connected?
Can a family afford food, transport, rent, and healthcare without being pushed into debt?
These are the questions that matter. And they are questions that deserve answers beyond personal anecdotes.
Naija si ma dun!
