Former Ekiti State Governor and ex-Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi, has called for a fundamental rethink of Nigeria’s economic and foreign policy strategies, warning that the country cannot sustain its global ambitions without first addressing the hardship, poverty and insecurity confronting millions of Nigerians.
Fayemi, who spoke during an interview on Arise Television monitored by Nigerian Tribune on Monday night, said the debate over fuel subsidy had increasingly become a political issue rather than a purely economic one, arguing that Nigerians were more concerned about the impact of government policies on their daily lives than the technicalities surrounding subsidy removal.
According to him, while he was not opposed to the removal of fuel subsidy, the major failure was the inability of successive administrations to adequately protect vulnerable Nigerians from the immediate consequences of the reform.
Fayemi disclosed that, towards the end of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, a technical committee comprising representatives of the federal government, state governors, the World Bank and organised labour had developed a safety-net strategy designed to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.
He said the committee, on which he served alongside former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and other stakeholders, produced a report on measures to mitigate the anticipated hardship.
‘There was a plan on how to mitigate the potential problems that were going to come,’ Fayemi said, noting that the challenge was that the strategy did not ultimately materialise.
He said the welfare of ordinary Nigerians should remain the central consideration in evaluating economic reforms, stressing that most citizens were not interested in the ideological arguments surrounding subsidy removal but in their ability to feed their families, educate their children and cope with rising living costs.
Fayemi also linked poverty and inequality to the wider security crisis in the country, arguing that addressing economic vulnerability was essential to tackling insurgency, banditry and other forms of insecurity.
The former governor said the political debate surrounding proposals for alternative economic policies should therefore focus on concrete programmes capable of improving citizens’ living conditions rather than rhetoric.
He also warned that no government could indefinitely ask citizens to endure severe hardship on the promise of future prosperity without risking a loss of public confidence.
According to him, economic reforms inevitably involve sacrifices, but citizens are more likely to accept such sacrifices when they perceive that the burden is fairly shared across society.
‘The populace likes to see beyond the improvement in their own economic condition than pain, however temporary, is universally felt,’ he said.
Fayemi further urged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the government to pay greater attention to the perception of frugality and responsible management of public resources, saying public confidence could be undermined when citizens perceive a disconnect between economic hardship and the lifestyle of some government officials.
He said the APC had historically projected itself as a party committed to prudence, discipline and responsible management of scarce resources, stressing that those values must remain visible in the conduct of government.
On Nigeria’s international standing, Fayemi argued that the country’s ability to exercise influence globally was inseparable from its economic strength, internal stability and capacity to meet the needs of its citizens.
He said Nigeria could not effectively project power abroad while ‘charity’ was not being seen to begin at home.
Recalling Nigeria’s historical role in Africa and the wider international community, Fayemi noted that the country once possessed sufficient economic and diplomatic weight to support liberation struggles, provide professional expertise to other countries and influence major international decisions.
He, however, maintained that declining material resources should not automatically translate into declining international influence, arguing that Nigeria could regain strategic relevance by adapting its foreign policy to the realities of a changing global order.
Fayemi advocated a foreign policy anchored on national interest, African unity, regional integration and global peace, urging the country to develop a clear grand strategy rather than merely choosing sides in the rivalry between global powers.
He also called for a return to a more assertive African leadership role, saying Nigeria should lead efforts to unite the continent and drive the implementation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Fayemi argued that African countries must define their collective development priorities instead of continually looking outside the continent for direction.
He cited the role played by African leaders such as former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, former Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in advancing the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
According to him, Nigeria must reclaim the leadership initiative and help build an Africa capable of defining and pursuing its own development agenda.
Looking ahead to the 2027 elections, Fayemi said whoever emerges as Nigeria’s president must make African leadership, economic renewal, security and improved welfare central to the country’s next phase of development.
He said Nigeria’s enormous potential would remain largely unrealised unless the country succeeded in building a secure, prosperous and economically resilient society at home while simultaneously reclaiming its influence abroad.