By Hon Ogbobe Chidera Stanley
I am not writing this as an economist or a politician.
I am writing this as a Nigerian, one of millions trying to survive each day under the Tinubu-led APC government.
Every morning, people wake up and calculate hardship.
Not profit.
Not savings.
Hardship.
How much transport will cost.
What food can be afforded.
Which bill must wait.
Which need must be sacrificed.
And yet, in the middle of all this, the government is talking about new tax structures.
According to the proposed tax framework:
₦0 to ₦800,000 is taxed at 0 percent.
₦800,001 to ₦3,000,000 is taxed at 15 percent.
₦3,000,001 to ₦12,000,000 is taxed at 18 percent.
₦12,000,001 to ₦25,000,000 is taxed at 21 percent.
₦25,000,001 to ₦50,000,000 is taxed at 23 percent.
Above ₦50,000,000 is taxed at 25 percent.
On paper, these are just numbers.
But in real life, they are people.
₦3 million a year sounds big until you break it down.
That is about ₦250,000 a month.
In today’s Nigeria, that amount barely stretches.
Rent takes a chunk.
Transport takes another.
Food prices change weekly.
Electricity is unstable.
Healthcare is expensive.
There is no buffer for emergencies.
So when a government looks at that income and says this person should pay 15 percent tax, it feels like the people making these decisions have never lived this life.
Or they have forgotten what it means to struggle.
What makes it more painful is context.
Fuel subsidy was removed, and everything became more expensive overnight.
The naira was weakened, and purchasing power collapsed.
Food inflation turned normal meals into luxury.
Electricity tariffs increased, but power supply did not improve.
People are not just earning little.
Their money is worth less every day.
Taxation is not the problem.
Nigerians understand responsibility.
What hurts is paying more into a system that gives so little back.
Roads are bad.
Security is fragile.
Public hospitals struggle.
Schools are underfunded.
Yet the cost of governance remains untouched.
Convoys grow longer.
Allowances grow fatter.
Political comfort is preserved.
It feels unfair.
It feels like the burden is always placed on the same people.
Workers.
Small business owners.
Young Nigerians trying to build a future.
Meanwhile, those in power rarely share in the sacrifice they demand.
This is not about hating Tinubu or the APC.
It is about asking them to see us.
To see the market woman.
To see the salary earner.
To see the young graduate.
To see the family choosing between food and fuel.
A government that truly cares would first reduce its own excesses before increasing pressure on citizens.
It would build trust before demanding more contribution.
It would remember that behind every tax bracket is a human being.
Nigeria does not need policies that look good on charts but hurt in real life.
We need leadership that listens, understands, and acts with compassion.
Because you cannot heal a nation by ignoring its pain.
APC Goverment is tormenting Nigerians and 2027 is the only chance we have to send them packing.
