“When a man’s knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has, the greater will be his confusion.” – Herbert Spencer
N45.2 billion for 500,000 Nigerians to buy cars, houses, and “others.” On paper it sounds like compassion. In reality it sounds like confusion.
Let’s do the math. That is roughly N90,400 per person. You cannot buy a plot of land, let alone a house, with that in Benin, Lagos, or Abuja. You cannot buy a decent car. What exactly are we buying? Motorcycles? Down payment vouchers? In 2026, N90,000 won’t finish a bathroom in Lagos. Hope?
This is the same government asking citizens to “tighten their belts” because of subsidy removal and inflation while diesel is N1,500/litre. The same government telling workers to be patient while food prices climb weekly. And now we are throwing cash into a program with no clear design, no clear targeting, and no clear outcome.
Confusion is when you subsidize consumption instead of production. Cars and houses are good. But where are the factories building them? Where are the mortgages that last 20 years? Where are the roads those cars will drive on?
500,000 people is less than 0.3% of Nigeria. The other 99.7% will watch and ask: what is the criteria? Party card? Connection? Location?
We do not need more announcements. We need systems. Cheap housing through mass construction. Affordable transport through working rail and CNG buses. Credit that banks can actually lend.
When a government cannot explain the how, the who, and the why, it is not policy. It is PR.
Nigerians are tired of being confused with generosity. Give us jobs, power, and security. Then we will buy our own cars and houses.
Or is the plan that 500,000 Nigerians will clap, and 220 million will keep suffering?
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