By Dovish Okojie

Whether you are buying food in the market, renting a house, importing goods, securing a contract, or even seeking employment, there is often someone standing between the producer and the consumer, the seller and the buyer, the opportunity and the beneficiary.

In many ways, Nigeria has become a nation of intermediaries and nowhere is this more evident than in the food supply chain.

Across markets, consumers are confronted daily by rising food prices, which has forced many households to adjust their spending habits and dietary choices.

When Nigerians ask why food is so expensive, the answers usually point to inflation, fuel costs, insecurity, exchange rate, climate change, poor infrastructure, and government policies.

Yet another recurring explanation often emerges from market conversations and public debates: the activities of middlemen.

For many Nigerians, middlemen have become the visible face of an invisible economic problem. Farmers accuse them of exploitation, consumers blame them for price increases, policymakers frequently identify them as contributors to food inflation.

But are middlemen truly the villains of Nigeria’s economic story, or are they merely products of deeper structural failures? The answer is far more complex than many assume. Nigeria’s agricultural sector provides perhaps the clearest illustration of the role intermediaries play in the economy.

Millions of farmers across the country cultivate crops and raise livestock. Yet despite their hard work, many struggle to earn sustainable incomes. At the same time, consumers often complain about the high cost of food. Somewhere between the farmer and the family dinner table lies a long chain of traders, transporters, brokers, wholesalers, aggregators and retailers. Each participant performs a function.

Each adds a cost and seeks a profit. Consequently, by the time a basket of tomatoes harvested in Kaduna reaches a kitchen in Abuja, or a bag of rice produced in Kebbi arrives at a market in Lagos, its price may have increased substantially.

This creates a paradox that defines much of Nigeria’s economic reality: the farmer earns too little, the consumer pays too much, and yet everyone in the value chain insists they are barely surviving. To understand why this occurs, one must first understand the circumstances under which many Nigerian farmers operate.

Imagine a tomato farmer in northern Nigeria. After months of preparing the land, planting, irrigating, applying fertilizer and protecting crops from pests, harvest season arrives. The farmer’s greatest challenge is no longer production but preservation because tomatoes are highly perishable. Without access to cold storage facilities, modern processing centers or efficient transportation networks, harvested produce can begin deteriorating within days. Faced with the prospect of losing an entire harvest, many farmers have little choice but to sell immediately.

That is where the middleman enters the picture. Armed with cash and transportation arrangements, the trader purchases produce directly from farmers, often at prices significantly lower than those eventually paid by urban consumers. Critics argue that this disparity demonstrates exploitation. Supporters counter that the trader assumes risks associated with transportation, spoilage, market fluctuations and storage. In reality, both arguments contain elements of truth.

The middleman is not merely purchasing produce; he is purchasing urgency. He understands that farmers often lack alternatives. The bargaining power therefore rests largely with the buyer rather than the producer.

This imbalance fuels resentment throughout the agricultural sector. Many farmers believe they bear the greatest production risks while receiving the smallest share of profits. Consumers, on the other hand, see food prices rising beyond their purchasing power and conclude that someone in the middle must be benefiting excessively and the middleman becomes the convenient target.

Yet focusing exclusively on middlemen risks overlooking the deeper issues that create opportunities for their dominance. The truth is that middlemen thrive where systems fail.

In countries with efficient agricultural ecosystems, farmers have access to storage facilities, processing plants, organized cooperatives, real-time market information, affordable transportation, and direct access to buyers. These systems reduce dependence on intermediaries because producers possess alternatives.

Nigeria’s situation is markedly different because poor road networks increase transportation costs, inadequate storage facilities contribute to substantial post-harvest losses, insecurity disrupts farming activities and supply routes, rising fuel prices make logistics more expensive, limited access to financing constrains investment across the value chain. These deficiencies create economic gaps that intermediaries step in to fill.

Where storage facilities are absent, traders provide temporary storage. Where transportation networks are unreliable, they organize logistics. Where information is scarce, they become information brokers. Where farmer cooperatives are weak, they aggregate produce from multiple sources.

Economics rarely tolerates a vacuum. Whenever institutions fail to perform essential functions, private actors emerge to fill the void. This reality explains why attempts to eliminate middlemen altogether are unlikely to succeed.

The issue is not their existence but the extent of dependence on them. Indeed, Nigeria’s culture of intermediation extends far beyond agriculture. Real estate agents connect landlords and tenants, procurement contractors connect suppliers and government agencies, clearing agents connect importers and ports, political brokers connect citizens to power structures, recruitment consultants connect employers to job seekers.

In many sectors, Nigerians have become accustomed to operating through intermediaries. This phenomenon reflects both entrepreneurial ingenuity and institutional weakness.

The more difficult a system becomes to navigate, the more valuable those who understand it become. In this sense, the Nigerian middleman is not simply an economic actor. He is a symptom. He represents the inefficiencies embedded within the broader system.

Fortunately, change may already be underway because the rapid growth of digital technology is beginning to challenge traditional patterns of intermediation. Mobile payment platforms, digital marketplaces, agricultural technology solutions and online trading networks are increasingly connecting producers directly with consumers and businesses.

Farmers can now access market information that was once available only to traders, consumers can compare prices across locations, businesses can source products directly from producers, digital platforms are gradually reducing information asymmetry and increasing transparency.

However, technology alone cannot solve Nigeria’s structural problems. A mobile application cannot repair a damaged highway, an online marketplace cannot preserve perishable crops without cold storage, a smartphone cannot eliminate transportation bottlenecks. Technology works best when supported by functional infrastructure.

Ultimately, the debate about middlemen is not merely an economic discussion. It is a conversation about fairness, opportunity and national development. Behind every statistic lies a human story; the farmer struggling to recover production costs, the transporter battling rising fuel prices, the trader managing market uncertainty, the salary earner whose income can no longer sustain a family’s food needs, the mother forced to reduce the quantity or quality of meals she serves her children. Food inflation is not simply a number reported by economists.

It is a lived reality affecting millions of Nigerians every day. Addressing this challenge requires more than blaming intermediaries. It requires rebuilding the systems that make excessive intermediation necessary in the first place.

Nigeria must invest aggressively in rural infrastructure, modern storage facilities, agricultural processing centers, transportation networks and market information systems. Farmer cooperatives should be strengthened, supply chains should become more transparent, and competition should be encouraged across the value chain.

The objective should not be to eliminate middlemen but to ensure that every participant in the chain earns income through genuine value creation rather than through control of access. The Nigerian middleman is often portrayed as a villain.

In reality, he is neither hero nor villain. He is a mirror reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of the economy. Where institutions function effectively, his influence diminishes. Where systems fail, his importance grows.

For too long, public discourse has focused on the symptoms rather than the causes. The high cost of food in Nigeria is not the result of a single actor or group. It is the cumulative consequence of inadequate infrastructure, fragmented markets, information gaps, transportation challenges, post-harvest losses and broader economic pressures.

The path forward therefore lies not in declaring war on middlemen but in building an economy where producers have greater bargaining power, consumers enjoy fairer prices, and intermediaries compete on efficiency rather than scarcity. When that day comes, Nigeria’s farmers will earn more, families will spend less on food, and the nation’s vast agricultural potential will finally translate into shared prosperity. Until then, the middleman will remain exactly what he has always been: a reflection of the Nigeria we have built, and perhaps a reminder of the Nigeria we still need to create.

Dovish Okojie is a Management Consultant, Data Scientist, and Public Affairs Analyst. He writes from Abuja and can be reached through dovishokojie@gmail.com

By Raphael Atuu, Abuja

Since assuming office as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in August 2023, former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has remained one of the most visible and politically consequential figures in Nigeria’s current administration.

His tenure in the FCT has been marked by an aggressive emphasis on infrastructure, the revival of abandoned projects, road construction and administrative reforms.

The Federal Capital Territory Administration itself lists Wike as the incumbent minister, having assumed office in 2023.

From the early months of his administration, Wike adopted a project-driven approach, meeting contractors and setting completion deadlines for ongoing road projects.

Contemporary reporting also documented his efforts to strengthen the FCT civil service and secure greater financial flexibility for the administration.

Infrastructure as the Measure

One of the defining features of Wike’s tenure has been the scale of attention given to infrastructure.

The minister inherited projects from previous administrations and continued several of them, while also initiating and accelerating others. Roads linking different districts and satellite communities have received particular attention, alongside projects involving healthcare, security, public institutions and urban development.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has publicly acknowledged the infrastructure drive in Abuja. In March 2025, the President explained that the decision to remove the FCT Administration from the Treasury Single Account was intended to give the administration greater flexibility and speed in financing development projects. Tinubu specifically credited Wike with presenting the proposal and subsequently driving its implementation.

In July 2026, the Federal Government again defended the TSA exemption, saying it had increased the FCT Administration’s financial flexibility and accelerated infrastructure delivery. At the same event, Tinubu described the scale of infrastructure and urban renewal under Wike as substantial.

These developments have made project delivery one of the central arguments in assessments of Wike’s tenure.

More Than Roads

Wike’s administration has also involved institutional changes.

The FCT Administration has established a Civil Service Commission and created additional administrative structures, while the minister has pushed for reforms intended to make the administration more responsive.

The TSA issue is particularly significant. Rather than simply being a financial technicality, it became part of the broader debate about how the FCT should fund major capital projects. Wike has argued that the change provided the resources and flexibility required to accelerate development, while the Presidency has similarly defended the decision as necessary for faster delivery.

The FCT’s unique constitutional and administrative position also means that the minister operates in a role different from that of an ordinary state governor. According to the FCTA, the President serves as the equivalent of governor of the FCT, delegating administrative powers to the minister, while the National Assembly performs legislative functions for the territory.

The Political Dimension

Beyond infrastructure, Wike’s political activities have attracted perhaps even greater national attention.

The former Rivers governor remains associated with the Peoples Democratic Party while serving in an administration led by the All Progressives Congress. His political position became particularly prominent after members of the former G5 governors supported Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election despite remaining within the PDP political space.

That cross-party positioning has continued into the preparations for 2027.

In 2025 and 2026, Wike promoted what he calls the Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party political arrangement intended to mobilise support for President Tinubu’s re-election. In September 2026, Wike again stated that the coalition was supporting Tinubu but was not an APC organisation and that politicians could retain their individual party identities.

This is where the question of Wike’s political influence becomes particularly relevant.

Where Were the APC Governors?

The emergence of the Rainbow Coalition has also exposed a disagreement between Wike and some APC governors.

In September 2026, the APC Governors Forum stated that the governors remained committed to the APC’s own political structure and would not endorse arrangements that could create divided loyalty or competing structures ahead of the 2027 elections.

Wike, however, has maintained that his coalition has a different objective: mobilising support for Tinubu across party lines while allowing politicians to contest other elections under their respective parties.

That distinction is important. The political argument is no longer simply about whether politicians belong to the APC or PDP. It is increasingly about whether influence can be organised across party boundaries.

A Different Kind of Political Capital

Wike’s political capital comes from several stages of his career: local government administration, service in Rivers State, federal ministerial experience, eight years as Rivers governor and his subsequent role as FCT minister.

His political network has also extended beyond a single political party.

The Rainbow Coalition represents an attempt to translate that network into a broader political structure. Wike has described the coalition as involving politicians from different parties who share a common objective regarding the 2027 presidential election.

There is, however, disagreement over how broad that coalition actually is. In January 2026, the Inter-Party Advisory Council rejected claims that all political parties were part of Wike’s proposed coalition, stressing that individual parties must make their own decisions through their constitutional structures.

That disagreement illustrates the limits as well as the reach of Wike’s political influence.

Performance and Political Alignment

The Wike phenomenon therefore rests on two separate but connected developments.

The first is his record of project execution in Abuja, which has received public commendation from President Tinubu and has been accompanied by significant administrative and financial reforms.

The second is his unusual political position: a PDP figure operating within an APC-led federal government while openly supporting the incumbent president’s re-election.

That combination has made Wike an unusual figure in contemporary Nigerian politics.

Whether his political network will translate into electoral influence in 2027 remains a matter for voters and the political process to determine. What is already clear is that his activities have become significant enough to generate public disagreements with both opposition actors and some members of the ruling party.

For a politician who has spent much of his career operating within the traditional party system, the Rainbow Coalition represents another chapter in Wike’s long-running experiment with political organisation across party boundaries.

And as the 2027 elections approach, the central question may not simply be which party Wike belongs to, but how much influence a politician can exercise while standing between the formal structures of one party and the governing machinery of another.

By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

Nyesome Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will go down in Nigeria history not just as one of the nation’s most controversial politician but as one of its worst political contractor and mercenary.

He will be remembered for his selfishness, hypocrisy, sycophancy and pettifoggery; a classical case of crass opportunism. This is exhibited in all decisions, his actions and utterances. He is the undertaker hired to kill and bury the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the platform he used to climb the political ladder and which he had destroyed after climbing, and he has his leg in the ruling All Progressives’ Congress (APC), where he is enjoying an appointment as the FCT Minister.

And to continue to enjoy the APC patronage sitting on the fortunes of the PDP, the Obiakpor, Rivers State-born politician created his own hybrid political arrangement that he called the Rainbow Coalition for the 2027 elections. According to Wike, the Rainbow Coalition is a cross-party alliance for what he called the Renewed Hope Family which he intends to bring together members of his destroyed PDP camp, the decimated Labor Party group, the Action Alliance and other groups for the purpose of working to keep Tinubu in power beyond 2027. The number two reason for the formation of the alliance is to make the political parties in Rivers State, his home state, to agree to field one candidate that will succeed Governor Siminalayi Fubara in 2027.

And is usual about everything emanating from the Rivers State political strong man, his Rainbow Coalition is generating ripples in the political circles and in the public space. First, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said that Wike has no mandate to speak for all the political parties and called his claim “unfounded and misleading and exists only in his imagination.” IPAC says that the parties are independent and decisions can only come from the parties’ leadership. In the same vein, the opposition parties in Rivers State: the ADC, NDC and Labor party have publicly distanced themselves from the Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.

Furthermore, the APC political bigwigs are suspicious of Wike’s intentions. The APC governors speaking through its chairman Senator Hope Uzodinma, the governor of Imo State said that they are opposed to any political coalition or alliance that could threaten the chances of the party and its candidates in the 2027 elections. Wike was also accused by some concerned APC stalwarts of using the platform to support politicians who lost the APC primaries and are now contesting under the PDP platform. Senator Hope Uzodinma who doubles as the secretary of the Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council secretary maintained that “aligning with such a political arrangement could undermine Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid and weaken the APC ahead of the election”.

And following the APC’s governors’ opposition to his Rainbow Coalition, the former Rivers State governor reacted by describing the APC governors as “politically lazy”, stating that his Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is his own way of mobilizing support across political parties for Mr. President.

Indeed, the APC governors are politically lazy but not in the sense that Wike meant it (for he meant that they do not have the same will, the mentality and aggression to rig election as he has). They and the entire APC structure are lazy because they have never worked hard enough to better the lots of the suffering Nigerians in spite of the resources at their disposal. Yes, they are administratively lazy because they have failed woefully to provide good governance to the people. They failed woefully to deliver the dividends of democracy; their primary concern being about how to hatch plans to retain power and extend the stay of Tinubu against the will of the electorate. They have given Nigerians the worst form of leadership in history.

Talking about political laziness, Wike and his principal, Tinubu are politically lazier than the others in that they play toxic politics. Politics devoid of principles, ethics and values; politics of disservice, self-aggrandizement and primitive accumulation. They play politics of bitterness, acrimony and vendetta. Tinubu and Wike believe in do-or-die politics and they are ever ready to break the rule of engagement in other to win.

But what is the implication of the Wike’s altercation with the APC governors? Is it an indication of a crack in the APC’s wall? Is it an indication of lack of cohesion in the party? Is it an indication of discontent and disillusionment within members of the party? Is the APC heading for implosion or disintegration? What does this portend for the party that wants to retain power at all costs? Clearly, the answers to these questions would unfold as we get closer the general election in 2027.

There is no doubt that Wike is Tinubu’s hench-man. Wike was used to rig the election for Tinubu in Rivers State in 2023 and he was rewarded with the FCT Minister appointment and given full financial autonomy by removing the FCT from the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The purpose being to empower him to replicate the rigging he orchestrated in 2023 in Rivers State, in the FCT where Tinubu failed hopelessly. And now that the countdown for the 2027 has begun, Wike is obviously desperate to deliver in order to remain politically relevant being that he has no job other than politics.

Nyesome Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will go down in Nigeria history not just as one of the nation’s most controversial politician but as one of its worst political contractor and mercenary. He will be remembered for his selfishness, hypocrisy, sycophancy and pettifoggery; a classical case of crass opportunism. This is exhibited in all decisions, his actions and utterances. He is the undertaker hired to kill and bury the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the platform he used to climb the political ladder and which he had destroyed after climbing, and he has his leg in the ruling All Progressives’ Congress (APC), where he is enjoying an appointment as the FCT Minister.

And to continue to enjoy the APC patronage sitting on the fortunes of the PDP, the Obiakpor, Rivers State-born politician created his own hybrid political arrangement that he called the Rainbow Coalition for the 2027 elections. According to Wike, the Rainbow Coalition is a cross-party alliance for what he called the Renewed Hope Family which he intends to bring together members of his destroyed PDP camp, the decimated Labor Party group, the Action Alliance and other groups for the purpose of working to keep Tinubu in power beyond 2027. The number two reason for the formation of the alliance is to make the political parties in Rivers State, his home state, to agree to field one candidate that will succeed Governor Siminalayi Fubara in 2027. Design Campaign Signs

And is usual about everything emanating from the Rivers State political strong man, his Rainbow Coalition is generating ripples in the political circles and in the public space. First, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said that Wike has no mandate to speak for all the political parties and called his claim “unfounded and misleading and exists only in his imagination.” IPAC says that the parties are independent and decisions can only come from the parties’ leadership. In the same vein, the opposition parties in Rivers State: the ADC, NDC and Labor party have publicly distanced themselves from the Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.

Furthermore, the APC political bigwigs are suspicious of Wike’s intentions. The APC governors speaking through its chairman Senator Hope Uzodinma, the governor of Imo State said that they are opposed to any political coalition or alliance that could threaten the chances of the party and its candidates in the 2027 elections. Wike was also accused by some concerned APC stalwarts of using the platform to support politicians who lost the APC primaries and are now contesting under the PDP platform. Senator Hope Uzodinma who doubles as the secretary of the Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council secretary maintained that “aligning with such a political arrangement could undermine Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid and weaken the APC ahead of the election”.

And following the APC’s governors’ opposition to his Rainbow Coalition, the former Rivers State governor reacted by describing the APC governors as “politically lazy”, stating that his Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is his own way of mobilizing support across political parties for Mr. President.

Indeed, the APC governors are politically lazy but not in the sense that Wike meant it (for he meant that they do not have the same will, the mentality and aggression to rig election as he has). They and the entire APC structure are lazy because they have never worked hard enough to better the lots of the suffering Nigerians in spite of the resources at their disposal. Yes, they are administratively lazy because they have failed woefully to provide good governance to the people. They failed woefully to deliver the dividends of democracy; their primary concern being about how to hatch plans to retain power and extend the stay of Tinubu against the will of the electorate. They have given Nigerians the worst form of leadership in history.

Talking about political laziness, Wike and his principal, Tinubu are politically lazier than the others in that they play toxic politics. Politics devoid of principles, ethics and values; politics of disservice, self-aggrandizement and primitive accumulation. They play politics of bitterness, acrimony and vendetta. Tinubu and Wike believe in do-or-die politics and they are ever ready to break the rule of engagement in other to win.

But what is the implication of the Wike’s altercation with the APC governors? Is it an indication of a crack in the APC’s wall? Is it an indication of lack of cohesion in the party? Is it an indication of discontent and disillusionment within members of the party? Is the APC heading for implosion or disintegration? What does this portend for the party that wants to retain power at all costs? Clearly, the answers to these questions would unfold as we get closer the general election in 2027.

There is no doubt that Wike is Tinubu’s hench-man. Wike was used to rig the election for Tinubu in Rivers State in 2023 and he was rewarded with the FCT Minister appointment and given full financial autonomy by removing the FCT from the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The purpose being to empower him to replicate the rigging he orchestrated in 2023 in Rivers State, in the FCT where Tinubu failed hopelessly. And now that the countdown for the 2027 has begun, Wike is obviously desperate to deliver in order to remain politically relevant being that he has no job other than politics.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed, an actress, social activist, politician, London, UK. hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com