 Published
October 19th, 2011
I have, over the last twenty-four months
written severally on the need for government to maintain the
current fuel subsidy regime. My main argument has been that
Nigeria’s socio-economic framework is still too fragile to
absorb whatever shock that may arise from further increases
in the pump price of petroleum products. I am not unaware of
the fact that the income and welfare of Nigerians have not
improved for a long time.
As at March 2009, the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) reported that about 10m Nigerians were
unemployed. This figure is disputable. It reported a mere
19.7 employment rate. Sadly, unemployment has continued to
be on a steady rise in the country owing to a number of
critical factors. The volume of economic expansion has not
been robust enough to correct the causes of growing
unemployment in the country. Some of the major factors
contributing to high unemployment figures are pandemic
corruption in private and public sectors, high cost of doing
business, poor power system, insecurity, lack of access to
financing, high interest rate, and dilapidated public
infrastructure among others. All of these have in turn
helped to promote the negative culture of poverty, hunger,
crime, disease, and underdevelopment.
It was in the midst of this sad reality that
Goodluck Jonathan contested and won the 2011 presidential
election. For one very simple reason, Nigerian masses
wholeheartedly welcomed with both hands, the
transformational agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan. It
was aimed at alleviating the long time suffering of more
than 60% of the nation’s population that literally sell
their own blood in order to provide food, clothing, housing,
transportation, education, and health care for members of
their families.
The transformational agenda started well with
a “zero tolerance for corruption” posture. For the first
time, a large cache of “untouchables” were arrested
and docked for issues bothering on graft. Deliberate efforts
are also being made by government to diversify the nation’s
economy through practical steps to discontinue our reliance
on the unpredictable revenue from oil and gas. Another
highpoint of the transformational agenda of the Jonathan-led
administration is the renewed vigour towards fixing the very
important power sector through increased funding and other
complimentary instruments and policies. To crown it all,
government found it wise to increase the basic salaries of
workers after coming to the realization that the nation’s
present socio-economic framework was too weak to support
majority of households in the country meet their statutory
obligations.
Owing to the ignoble activities of a few but
powerful persons working with foreign collaborators, four of
the nation’s refineries located in Rivers, Delta, and Kaduna
States were systematically sabotaged in order to promote a
needless fuel importation business. As the world’s sixth
largest producer of crude oil, we have no reason to import
petroleum products at all. As a matter of fact, Nigeria is
importing petrol and kerosene today because government has
lost the battle of “will” to a tiny group of people that
feed on the common blood of Nigerians. Instead of
going after these enemies of the nation, government is being
stampeded into harassing hapless citizens through the
arrogant attempts to remove fuel subsidy.
Signs suggesting that government have lost
the soul of the nation to a small clan of greedy and
heartless Nigerians and their foreign accomplices emerged
when the governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Lamido Sanusi
called for the immediate withdrawal of fuel subsidy shortly
after resuming office. His major plank of argument was that
only a “tiny cabal” was benefiting from the huge subsidy
paid by government. I strongly disagree with Sanusi’s
opinion.
It is quite regrettable that the CBN governor
will in a cheap attempt to push his opinion through, dismiss
and bury the fact that millions of Nigerians benefit from
the subsidy government pay on petroleum products. For the
few people like him that does not dip hands into their
bottomless pockets to buy petrol, he may find it convenient
to deny the benefits of fuel subsidy. This kind of attitude
displays the mien of the average top government official.
The truth is that, there are millions of Nigerians,
including bus/taxi drivers, small scale enterprises, Okada
riders, hair dressers, restaurateurs, hoteliers, and even
religious organizations that save about N90 for every liter
of petrol they buy. No person or amount of propaganda can
drown this fact in a pool of insensitivity of a few
well-heeled government officials. A lie will always remain
a lie, no matter who tells it. This clarification is very
important because of the high amount of respect President
Jonathan has for his aides and other top government
functionaries.
Sometimes, government officials acting the
script of third parties, can deliberately give counsels that
will put their principals in problem. The president should
therefore take heed of this and ignore any policy that will
put more holes in the pockets of ordinary Nigerians. In
everything, let him stand with the masses. Events around the
globe have shown that power actually belongs to the masses.
I am tempted to believe that the enemies of Nigerian
democracy (they are many) will take advantage of the
expected uproar that will greet the removal of fuel subsidy
next year to incite the masses to ask for the resignation of
the president. These are some of the reasons why the
president must be very cautious with the suggestions he
receives from his advisers, ministers, and other top
government functionaries.
The unilateral position of Sanusi concerning
the removal of fuel subsidy was emboldened by the coming of
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as the Minister Finance in August, 2011.
She too has been in the forefront of calls for the removal
of fuel subsidy. I am not surprised owing to her background
as a senior World Bank staff. The World Bank is a tool used
by the West to promote and protect their economy. Unknown to
many, the economic independence of Africa will be a threat
to the West. They will hide behind any veil to
destabilize the continent’s polity and economy. Some of
these veils include Austerity Measures, Structural
Adjustment Program, and Currency Devaluation.
Currently, attention has been shifted to the
National Assembly. The minister of Finance is investing so
much energy trying to convince the legislators on the need
to remove fuel subsidy. Let them not be deceived by paper
logic. Governance is more of a practical thing than paper
logic. They should not be swayed by the beautiful pictures
Okonjo-Iweala usually paints about Europe and America. If
Nigerian workers earns as much as their contemporaries in
those countries, nobody will complain about buying fuel even
at N200 per liter.
Sadly, the latest call for the removal of
fuel subsidy came from the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
According to its chairman and governor of Rivers State,
Rotimi Amaechi; the fuel subsidy was enriching only a few
people. I strongly condemn the series of lapses that have
led to Nigeria becoming a petrol-import-dependent country.
However, there is no way those who import petroleum products
will not make profit. It is the huge profits these importers
make that cause Sanusi and Amaechi to argue that only a tiny
number of Nigerians are enjoying the benefits of fuel
subsidy. This is a very faulty way to analyze issues and
draw conclusion. It will be too wrong for government to
sacrifice Nigerian masses just to “fight” those who milk
Nigeria through the subsidy they receive from importing
petroleum products to service the high demands in the local
market.
There is also this suspicion that some
persons and companies involved in the importation of
petroleum products do collaborate with some government
officials to engage in sharp practices that is costing the
country trillions of Naira. There are also cases of
smuggling of petroleum products out of the country. All of
the factors enumerated above are reasons why the CBN
governor, NGF, and minister of finance want fuel subsidy
removed. If our refineries are working at optimum capacity,
we would have no reason to import fuel and spend huge amount
on subsidies. The Nigerian masses should not be forced to
pay for the inefficiencies of government officials and
organizations.
One fact that has emerged clearly from all
the calls for the removal of fuel subsidy points to one
direction. The nation’s fiscal policy formulators and
advisers do not have regard for the Nigerian masses. They
are therefore easily persuaded to take a pro-elitist stand
each time the need for national transformation arises. In
fact, they see the masses as inconsequential in the greater
Nigerian Project. This is one strong reason why President
Jonathan must be quick to dismiss whatever idea or
suggestion that will cause him not to stand with the masses.
It is also a huge fact that the nation’s
policy formulators, special advisers, and senior special
assistants to the president are either lazy or ran out of
ideas. The only option left for them is to take hold of the
jugular of hapless masses by rooting for the removal of fuel
subsidy. They see it as a short cut to fixing the nation’s
frail socio-economic framework. Like I have suggested
elsewhere, the phase has come for government to make the
affluent bear the burden of nation’s transformational agenda
for the first time in the history of the country. Since
independence in 1960, it has been the suffering masses that
carry the burden of the nation’s political and economic
experimentations.
There is no doubt about the fact that the
withdrawal of fuel subsidy will save billions of Naira for
government to invest in other critical areas. However, the
other side of the coin is that majority of Nigerians are too
poor to buy a liter of fuel at N150. These are persons that
earn less than $2 a day. It is with this $2 that they pay
for the feeding, rent, clothing, education, and medical
expenses of their family members. Withdrawing fuel subsidy
at this time will definitely increase the level of poverty
in Nigeria. The gains of the new minimum wage of N18,000
will be rubbished by the hike in the pump price of fuel.
Like I have suggested in my other write-ups
on this same issue, those pushing for the removal of
petroleum subsidy would sing a different song if they were
earning even N100,000 a month. Many persons in the
“president’s team” are not on the same page with him.
Ordinarily, their opinions are supposed to be shaped by the
pledge of the president, which is to “stand with the
masses.”
Instead of strangulating the poor and hapless
masses to raise additional money to service the nation’s
socio-economic framework, government should pay more
attention to the development of the non-oil sector of the
economy. This should be done by energizing the private
sector to perform at optimum capacity. This will however
mean having a robust power groundwork, cheap access to
credit facilities, lower interest rates, improved security
of lives and property, friendly tax regime, and a sound
transport infrastructure among others. With these fiscal
policies, the economy will pick up and help create jobs and
improve the welfare of the citizenry. It is at this point
that government can contemplate the removal of fuel subsidy.
By then, the nation’s socio-economic framework would be able
to absorb the shocks that would come with it.
Kali Gwegwe
CEO, Nigeria Democracy Watchtower
2, Greenvilla-Customs Link Road
Biogbolo-Epie
Yenagoa
Bayelsa State
0806 407 4810
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