By Chibuike Nwabuko
ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has called on Nigeria’s middle class to urgently rise and play a stronger role in holding the country’s political leadership accountable, warning that millions of Nigerians are being trapped in worsening poverty.
Ezekwesili, in remarks posted on her X handle on Wednesday, said the middle class had abandoned its responsibility as an organised counterforce to what she described as the “low-grade quality” of political actors presiding over the affairs of the country.
The former minister said she raised the concerns during a Monday appearance on ARISE TV, where she discussed what she described as some of the “tough issues” confronting Nigeria.
According to her, Nigerians repeatedly go from one election cycle to another without seeing meaningful improvements in governance or tangible benefits delivered between elections.
“We go from election to election with nothing—absolutely nothing—delivered in-between,” she said.
Ezekwesili cited World Bank estimates to illustrate the scale of Nigeria’s poverty crisis, noting that about 46 per cent, or 104 million Nigerians, were estimated to be living in poverty in 2023.
She said rising inflation and weak per-capita economic growth had reversed some of the gains previously recorded by the Nigerian economy, while poverty continued to expand.
According to her, World Bank projections indicated that approximately seven million additional Nigerians fell into poverty in 2025.
Ezekwesili further warned that the situation had become even more severe in 2026, citing a World Bank-based projection which she said now puts the poverty rate at about 63 per cent, representing between 145 million and 150 million Nigerians.
She contrasted the worsening economic hardship among ordinary Nigerians with what she described as the lavish lifestyles of irresponsible and self-serving political leaders.
The former minister also addressed the controversial practice of vote-buying, arguing that poor Nigerians who sell their votes for small sums are responding rationally to the harsh realities confronting them, even though such conduct remains immoral and illegal.
“The poor who sell their votes for a pittance are acting rationally even though immorally and illegally,” she said, stressing that many impoverished Nigerians have little confidence that their circumstances will improve after elections.
“Nothing assures them that ‘tomorrow will be better’ and so, they live for a day. The poor don’t have four years. They live for a day,” Ezekwesili added.
She argued that impoverished citizens should not be expected to lead the struggle for systemic political change because their immediate survival needs often take precedence.
“The poor cannot fight the war that is the responsibility of the middle class of our country,” she declared.
Ezekwesili therefore urged Nigeria’s middle class to reclaim its civic responsibility, organise more effectively and demand higher standards of leadership, accountability and governance from political actors.
Precise Post recalls that her remarks come amid continuing concerns over Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, poverty, unemployment and the widening gap between political elites and ordinary citizens.
