Cheap petrol abroad is not proof of policy failure at home. But subsidy removal will remain politically fragile until Nigerians can see, audit and feel the reform dividend. The seduction of a pump-price league table A viral comparison that converts petrol in Iran, Libya or Saudi Arabia into naira offers the comfort of a simple verdict: their governments care; Nigeria’s does not. It is emotionally potent because Nigerians are living through a punishing squeeze. The N70,000 national minimum wage buys far less than its headline suggests once food, transport, rent, electricity and school costs are paid. Yet the comparison is still bad economics. A pump price is not a free-standing market fact; it is the visible end of a fiscal