I have just read another round of claims from the Tinubu administration and its supporters. Another round of flashy presentations. Another round of self-congratulatory press releases. Another round of “promise made, promise kept.”
And I am left wondering: Do these people live in the same Nigeria as the rest of us?
Because while they are busy doing PowerPoint presentations, Nigerians are turning to firewood because cooking gas now costs ₦2,000 per kilogramme . While they are celebrating “achievements”, 63 percent of Nigerians are poor and 27 million face food insecurity. While they are talking about “investor confidence,” Nigeria will spend more than half of its revenue -53.7 percent, servicing debt in 2026.
And while they are distributing fertiliser to 0.3 percent of farmers, farmers cannot even access their farms because gunmen control the land, kidnap anyone who ventures out, and have established a parallel government that collects taxes and tolls.
This is not governance. This is propaganda dressed as performance.
Let me list what they are celebrating:
Signing the Electricity Act to allow states generate, transmit and distribute power
Transferring regulatory powers to State Electricity Agencies
Completing two major gas pipelines -AKK and OB3
Floating a bond to pay N4 trillion legacy debts owed to Gencos
Unbundling the TCN to create the Nigerian Independent System Operator
The $2.3 billion Siemens transmission expansion project
The Presidential Metering Initiative
Distributing 515,720 bags of fertiliser to 128,930 farmers
On paper, it looks impressive. On paper, it looks like progress. On paper, it looks like a government that is working.
But paper is not reality. And Nigerians do not eat paper.
But, here is the truth the PowerPoint presentations will never show you.
Across Nigeria’s North-West and North-Central regions, armed groups have established a shadow government. They control forests, collect taxes, and have created what analysts now call a “bush economy” -an underground financial ecosystem operating beyond government control.
In Falgore Forest in Kano State and Rugu Forest in Katsina State, bandits have formed a parallel system of governance . They demand ₦50,000 per acre from sugarcane farmers before harvest. Farmers who refuse face intimidation, destruction of their crops, and violent attacks.
The pattern is spreading. Armed groups have moved beyond kidnapping and cattle rustling to establish shadow taxation systems, collecting levies from farmers, traders, and transport operators across conflict-prone areas. In some communities, farmers must pay fees before accessing their own farmlands. Traders are compelled to pay taxes to move goods through territories controlled by criminal groups.
This is not “insecurity.” This is state collapse dressed in military fatigues.
And what is the scale of this crisis?
According to Amnesty International, at least 1,100 people were abducted in just the first three months of 2026 . Research by SBM Intelligence found that between July 2024 and June 2025, at least 4,722 people were abducted across Nigeria, while victims and their families paid an estimated ₦2.56 billion in ransom payments .
Let me repeat that: ₦2.56 billion. Money that could have fed families, educated children, built businesses -instead flowing into the pockets of criminals.
The mass abductions of 2026 have been staggering:
January 3, 2026: 57 residents abducted from Kasuwan Daji community in Niger State
January 18, 2026: 166 worshippers abducted from three churches in Kaduna State
February 3, 2026: 176 people abducted from Woro village in Kwara State
March 3–6, 2026: More than 300 people abducted in Borno State
April 2026: 150 residents abducted in Zamfara State
June 2026: 39 people abducted during a peace meeting in Zamfara State
This is not just a security challenge, but a war against the Nigerian people.
Now connect this to the government’s claims about agricultural “achievements”.
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has warned that the combination of economic and security pressures could undermine efforts to boost agricultural productivity nationwide . The Vice President of AFAN, Daniel Okafor, stated plainly:
“Insecurity is not even allowing farmers access to their farms because anyone who leaves home for the farm is not sure of returning alive or without being abducted for ransom”.
Think about that. A farmer cannot leave his home to feed his family without fearing for his life.
Professor Isaac Aiyelaagbe of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, confirmed: “When farmers can no longer access their land safely, food production declines. The consequences are reduced supply, higher prices and increased food security for millions of Nigerians”.
Thousands of farmers have been displaced, leaving vast hectares of cultivable land unattended.
And the government is celebrating distributing fertiliser to 128,930 farmers -out of an estimated 38 million farmers in Nigeria. That is 0.3 percent.
This is not a solution. This is a photo opportunity while the country starves.
And what does the political class say about all this?
When Senator Adams Oshiomhole called for a comprehensive audit of Nigeria’s security operations and expenditure, the Senate rejected it. The proposal failed to secure a seconder.
The Senate refused to investigate why billions of naira allocated to security have not stopped the kidnapping, the killings, the burning of villagers alive.
Senator Mohammed Sani Musa asked the question no one wants to answer:
“Every year we allocate huge resources to security, yet we still hear complaints about lack of equipment and unpaid allowances. We need to ask: where is the money going?”
No answer came. Because the system does not want accountability. It wants performance. It wants PowerPoint presentations. It wants press releases.
Meanwhile, villagers in Zamfara are being burned alive for refusing to pay illegal levies to bandits . On January 29, 2026, bandits burned four villagers alive in Bungudu Local Government Area because they refused to pay extortionate levies.
Burned alive.
And the Senate is debating whether to investigate military spending?
The government and its supporters claim these are “opposition lies.” They dismiss reports of bandit control as “exaggeration.” They call critics “unpatriotic.”
But the facts are undeniable.
The consulting firm Nextier documented that 2,452 individuals were kidnapped in Nigeria in 2024 -a 31 percent rise from the 1,878 recorded the previous year.
In the first quarter of 2026 alone, at least 1,100 abductions were recorded.
The crisis has outgrown its geography. Banditry was once understood as a crisis of the North-West -Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto. That framing no longer holds. In May 2026, gunmen attacked three schools in Oyo State, abducting staff and pupils . Oyo State is not an outlier. It is a signal that the crisis has outgrown both its geography and the federal response designed to contain it.
This is not an opposition narrative, it is documented, verifiable reality.
Let me spell out what this crisis means in human terms.
Families are selling their houses and properties to raise funds for ransom payments. Money is moving from banks in cities to bandits’ hideouts in the bush . Legitimate businesses are dying while criminal enterprises thrive.
The agricultural sector has been particularly devastated. Insecurity has forced farmers to abandon their lands, reducing production and threatening food security. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) projects that about 35 million Nigerians could face acute hunger during the June–August 2026 lean season if urgent interventions are not implemented.
While the government distributes fertiliser to 0.3 percent of farmers, the other 99.7 percent are struggling to survive -if they can even reach their farms.
And the elite? They are insulated. They have bulletproof cars, international doctors, and children overseas . As Prophet Odumeje put it:
“One person and his family are just enjoying the resources of Nigeria. The president, the governors and senators have bulletproof cars, their children are overseas, they have international doctors that take care of them but they will tell you that Nigeria is working.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians are being kidnapped, killed, and burned alive. And the political class is campaigning for the next election instead of doing their jobs .
Here is what I have concluded.
The Tinubu administration and its supporters are not governing. They are performing governance.
They sign bills. They commission projects. They announce initiatives. They distribute fertiliser -to 0.3 percent of farmers. They “progress” on pipelines -while gas prices soar and Nigerians turn to firewood. They “transfer” regulatory powers -while the grid collapses.
And then they present it all in beautiful PowerPoint slides and press releases and claim “promise made, promise kept.”
But governance is not about presentations. It is about results.
Results are measured by whether Nigerians can farm without fear of abduction, not by how many bags of fertiliser were distributed to a fraction of farmers. Results are measured by whether Nigerians can sleep without fear of being burned alive in their homes, not by how many press releases celebrate “progress.”
The Tinubu administration and its supporters should stop treating governance like a public relations exercise.
Stop celebrating small achievements while the country burns. Stop distributing fertiliser to 0.3 percent of farmers and calling it a success. Stop “progressing” on projects that do not reach the people. Stop borrowing the country into oblivion and pretending it is development.
Start governing.
Start securing the land so farmers can farm. Start protecting Nigerians so they can sleep without fear. Start investing in agriculture -not as a photo opportunity, but as a national priority. Start holding yourselves and your security forces accountable for the billions allocated and the lives lost.
The Nigerian people are tired of PowerPoint. We want safety. We want food. We want to live without fear.
And until this government delivers that, all their presentations will remain what they are: propaganda dressed as performance.