Duke says Nigeria's middle class has vanished as he launches 2027 bid

Donald Duke, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) candidate for the 2027 presidential election, says the squeeze on Nigeria's middle class is proof that the economy is not working for most people.

Speaking in an interview reported on Tuesday, the former Cross River State governor said households that once felt secure now live hand to mouth, and one emergency can push them under.

"The so-called middle class does not really exist anymore," he said, describing a country where about one per cent are truly wealthy while a huge number hover around or below the poverty line.

Why it matters

For an ordinary Nigerian, Duke's argument is about the things that decide whether a family sleeps well at night: a job after graduation, a business that can grow, and safety on the road.

He said companies are shrinking and new ones are not opening fast enough to absorb the graduates turned out every year, leaving a growing workforce with little to do.

He also tied insecurity to the economy, saying kidnapping and banditry feed on poverty and joblessness. In his view, government keeps responding to each crisis without asking what keeps producing them.

"We are too reactive in our governance," he said, arguing that leadership should be about building for tomorrow, not only managing today.

Duke went further, saying Nigeria already shows the marks of a failed state. He defined that as a government that cannot protect its people or give them room to live productive lives, even when institutions still exist.

He said a kidnap victim does not need a textbook explanation of state failure, because the experience has already taught them what it means.

On the economy, he compared oil output in 1980, about 2.5 million barrels a day, with roughly 1.7 million barrels now, while the population has tripled. He asked whether the economy had grown enough to carry the people, and answered that it clearly had not.

He said Nigeria's large population should be an advantage, but only if people are educated, employed and productive.

Duke said he entered the race because he could not keep watching from the sidelines. "Either I walk away, or I do something," he said, adding that he does not want to look back and say he did nothing.

He said his campaign will press candidates on how they plan to fix the economy, insecurity, poverty and unemployment, rather than trading attacks on personalities.

He also recalled choosing to return home from the United States in his twenties, and said the same belief in Nigeria's possibilities took him into the 1999 Cross River governorship race.

What happens next

Duke's comments set out the ground he wants the 2027 contest fought on. Whether other candidates take up the same issues, and whether voters judge them on plans rather than personalities, will shape the campaign ahead.