The pro-Tinubu march in Ebonyi was presented as gratitude for federal projects, especially roads delivered through the Ministry of Works. That gratitude is understandable—but if the President’s re-election case rests mainly on concrete, asphalt and flyovers, it will miss the question most Nigerians will ask in 2027:
What has changed in my daily life?
The Tinubu administration has a genuine infrastructure story to tell. It says more than 2,700 kilometres of highways and major roads are under construction, rehabilitation or reconstruction, including the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway, Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano Road and East–West Road.
In Ebonyi itself, the Federal Government approved about ₦248 billion for road projects, including dualisation works around Abakaliki and drainage and shoulder works on the Okposi–Amasiri Road. Nationally, the Federal Executive Council recently approved ₦631.3 billion for nine road projects across the country.
These are not trivial achievements. Better roads can reduce travel time, lower transport costs, open markets, connect farms to cities, and make commerce more predictable. A government that invests in durable infrastructure deserves credit.
But roads do not pay school fees
The political problem is that infrastructure is a long-term public good, while hunger, rent, transport fares, school fees and medical bills are immediate household realities. A new expressway may eventually help a trader move goods more cheaply, but it does not automatically put food on the table this week.
Even the administration’s own figures show why the case cannot stop at roads. Headline inflation reportedly fell to 14.63 percent in September 2026, but food inflation remained elevated at 19.59 percent. In plain terms: prices may be rising more slowly, but many families are still paying far more than they did before the reforms.
That is the gap between a macroeconomic success story and a kitchen-table crisis. GDP growth, improved revenues and lower inflation matter, but they become politically persuasive only when ordinary people can feel them in their purchasing power.
President Tinubu has defended the reforms—subsidy removal, exchange-rate unification and tax changes—as necessary steps toward stability and long-term growth. The argument is not unreasonable: countries often must endure difficult adjustments to correct structural weaknesses.
But “difficult decisions” cannot become a permanent excuse for hardship. If the reforms are working, the administration must show clearer evidence that they are translating into affordable food, stable energy costs, jobs for young people, functioning hospitals and schools, and protection for the poorest households.
The government has acknowledged this by listing food affordability, energy-price stability, targeted household support and human development among its next-phase priorities. That is the right language. The task now is delivery that citizens can verify in their own lives.
The Ebonyi rally shows that the President has organised support, committed allies and a visible record of federal spending to campaign on. Organisers explicitly cited projects executed through the Ministry of Works as a reason for their support.
Yet a rally is not the same as a mandate. It can demonstrate gratitude, party strength and elite mobilisation, but it cannot settle whether voters believe their standard of living has improved. In 2027, the ruling party should not assume that visible projects will automatically convert into votes.
If President Tinubu wants infrastructure to become a winning political argument, his campaign should connect every major project to measurable household benefits:
- Show how completed roads reduce transport and food costs in specific markets and communities.
- Publish clear timelines and costs for flagship projects, so citizens can distinguish delivery from announcements.
- Expand targeted cash transfers and food-support programmes with transparent beneficiary lists.
- Accelerate CNG deployment and other measures that directly reduce transport and energy expenses.
- Pair road construction with agricultural productivity, rural storage, security and market access, so farmers can actually benefit from better connectivity.
The Ebonyi marchers are entitled to celebrate the roads. But a nation cannot eat a highway. The 2027 election will not be decided only by what government has built; it will be decided by whether Nigerians believe the country is becoming more livable, more secure and more fair.Infrastructure can be part of Tinubu’s case. It cannot be the whole case.
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