Paul Ibe, an adviser to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, for drawing comparisons between Nigerian and American fuel costs.

During an appearance on Channels TV, Lokpobiri said, “Our [petrol] price is lower than that of the US. The United States is the highest producer of crude oil and one of the countries with the highest level of refineries. Today the price in the US is higher than that of Nigeria."

Reacting, Atiku's aide described the minister's statement as a classic case of how statistics can mislead about economic reality when income and purchasing power are not considered. He pointed out that claiming petrol is cheaper for Nigerians earning ₦70,000 a month because Americans pay more per litre in dollars misses the real issue: how much petrol each worker can actually buy with their income.

Ibe said, "At about ₦1,400 per litre, Nigeria’s ₦70,000 minimum wage buys only 50 litres of petrol. By contrast, four weeks of earnings at the US federal minimum wage can buy roughly 981 litres at prevailing American pump prices.

"That is the comparison Nigerians should be looking at. Americans may pay a higher nominal price for petrol, but they also earn substantially more. Nigerians are buying petrol from wages already battered and shattered by high food prices, transport costs, rent, electricity, healthcare and the collapse in the purchasing power of the naira.

"And because Nigeria depends heavily on road transportation and generators, expensive petrol does not stop at the filling station. It feeds directly into the price of food, transportation, production and virtually every other household expense.

"So the real question is not whether a litre of petrol costs more in America. The real questions are: how many litres can the average Nigerian afford from his income? How much is left after food, rent and transportation? Absolutely nothing. Indeed, it leaves a deficit!

"And is the average Nigerian household better off today? A government cannot establish that petrol is affordable simply by converting the pump price into dollars and pointing to another country where the nominal price happens to be higher.

"Affordability is measured against income, purchasing power and the cost of living. Any comparison that leaves those out is economically incomplete.

"And this is where accountability must begin. Instead of celebrating favourable international price comparisons, government officials should publish the figures that actually reflect the lived economy: petrol as a share of wages, real household income, food inflation, transport costs, unemployment, poverty levels and purchasing power.

"Nigerians deserve economic arguments grounded in what families can actually afford, not comparisons that look reassuring only when wages and living costs are left out.

"If the government wants to defend its economic record, it should do so on the full cost-of-living numbers. Those are the numbers that matter to ordinary Nigerians and not the 'Animal Farm' numbers being bandied by Tinubu and his officials."

ASA