During the opening session of the maiden Presidential retreat
with selected business moguls of the private sector held at the Banquet Hall of
Aso Rock recently, the president assured the nation in a tentative policy
statement that generated furore, that
the proceeds from the planned fuel subsidy would be invested in creating an
abundance of ‘tangible infrastructure’ and the provision of ‘social safety nets and other
mechanisms to moderate the impact of the reforms on the most vulnerable
segments of our society’. On paper, this is a
fine, open-ended statement! In
reality, it sounds like a comedy of error. It is a daunting task to attempt to
conceive the viability of this political statement and how it can kick-start
our crawling economy.
President Jonathan’s predecessors at various points sing-sang
the harsh and unpatriotic song of fuel subsidy with attendant repercussions. Retired
president Obansajo, following Babangida’s
trail, increased the pump price of fuel five times. He took the nation through
a labyrinth of incessant fuel increase during his tenure. It has become
something akin to a political jamboree for our leaders to tinker with, and
politicize the issue of fuel subsidy. One cannot help but wonder why fuel subsidy
has become a recurring phenomenon and propaganda tool in our political history.
The argument advanced by the government is that fuel
consumption is so heavily subsidized that our economy is operating at a
zero-deficit. According to the government’s economic forecast and calibration,
about N1.2 trillion would be saved if the revenue-draining subsidy is removed.
It is interesting to note that this is coming up as an issue in the wake of the
clamour for the legislated N 18,000
national minimum wage benchmark. Again, one is forced to wonder if this shoddy
arrangement is government’s brazen attempt to source the alternative fund that
can be channeled towards the minimum
wage cause! Is this campaign about the redistribution theory of national
resources?
Nigerians have been assured that the subsidy will be removed
in phases to cushion the effects. Proceeds from the exercise would be used to turn-around
the economy, build more refineries [perhaps in Indonesia, as the grapevine
suggests] and provide safety nets for the poor segment of the society.
In view of our antecedents, how safe is the safety nets? What happened to the
Petroleum Trust Fund that Abacha instituted? Was it prudently utilized for the
common good in all ramifications? What about the 12 billion dollars oil
windfall from Operation Desert Storm? Your
guess is as good as mine!
It is a frequent and sorry sight to see Nigerians queue under
inclement weather conditions at filling stations to buy kerosene which always
hovers between 85 naira and N100 per litre, against the approved 50 naira litre price. By
all standard of decency and justice, does this scenario look like the ‘safety nets for the poor’? The proposed
subsidy removal, if it is implemented, will certainly lead to inflation! It
will make utter nonsense of the minimum wage and will send the economy on a downward spiral. The cost of transportation
and other daily necessities will skyrocket
out of the reach of the common man who is always at the receiving end
of anti-people policies such as this.
Rather than rely on the perpetual importation of petroleum
products by the fuel cartel who feed fat on the populace with Machiavellian
propensity, our dislocated and non-functional refineries should be resuscitated,
as a matter of urgent necessity, to the point where they can roar back to life.
Unfortunately, this could be a gigantic expectation with dismal prospect due to
the dearth of maintenance culture in our public and private lives as a people.
The monthly N20 billion allocation approved for domestic fuel subsidy for the
NNPC and the N8.8 billion earmarked for
the independent marketers as stipulated by the 2011 Appropriation Act, will no
longer be needful or necessary when the comatose refineries are back on their
feet, working alongside new ones . When the refining of petroleum product
becomes wholly indigenous, more jobs will be created, through the process, for
the ever-expanding soldiers of unemployed Nigerian graduates. The only
impediment against this is the institutional corruption ravaging the NNPC, the
government’s vested interest in the oil sector. Nigerians are wary with
government’s never-ending roller coaster
pledge to use the subsidy reserve to
build more refineries. These are blurred and indistinct statements of
intention that have never seen the light of day because of the mountain of
corruption inherent in the system.
One can only agree with senator Abubakar Saraki who called for an investigation into the
management of fuel subsidies, past and present. As long as the cartel within
the petroleum industry controls the playing field, Nigerians will not benefit
from the deregulation exercise, even if government justifies the need for its
execution. The implementation of the subsidy policy has always been grossly
abused as statistics reveals. The
import-driven deregulation is not a palatable panacea for our national economic woes. Deregulating the downstream
petroleum sector will only worsen the living conditions of the already
impoverished masses.
As an oil- producing country, Nigerians are entitled to
subsidy. In Libya for example, fuel pump price currently stands at N22 in spite
of the political skirmish that enveloped
the country during the dying days of the late Gaddaffi junta. Agriculture, electricity and other social
utilities are heavily subsidized. Before the war, the country had an
uninterrupted power and water supply while the government-supported medical
facilities ranked among the best in the world.
Libya’s foreign reserve stands at
a whopping 165 billion US dollars, in
spite of the ongoing political transition campaign.
If the deregulation programme must be implemented in good
faith, government must present a blueprint, a workable and feasible action-
plan on how the fund will be judiciously utilized for the benefit of all
Nigerians. Nigerians must be given the opportunity to debate the nitty gritty and gray areas of the project
before its passage into law. We need to see the
time table for the proposed subsidy, with pertinent details of the
timeline for the actualization of the people-oriented, beneficial programmes of
the subsidy. For instance, wouldn’t it be a proactive thing to do if the
government can build functional and effective refineries for all the six
geopolitical zones? The benefits of the proposed subsidy must be concrete and
palpable, not something trapped within the realm of guess work and political
statement that can fizzle out with the passage of time.
It would seem to any
cursory observer of national issues, that the fuel subsidy matter, like
the proposed, now still-birth one-term
tenure of political office holder is an ill-thought out policy statement bereft
of popular appeal. It is an ill wind that will not blow us any good. As the leader of a responsible government,
GEJ must settle down to the credible art
of governance with the concomitant responsibility and commitment to the
provision of good roads, stable power supply, functional education, massive
employment opportunities for all and sundry, and the enabling environment for
self-actualization to every Nigerian citizen. These, and not the degradation of
the masses through this draconian policy, should be his primary objective and
focus towards the electorate that voted him into power. With the vast human and natural resources at our
disposal, there are a thousand and one ways to source for funds to manage and run the economy of this great
country without putting the people at dire straits. Where is the benefit of GEJ’s transformation
agenda if this proposed subsidy became a reality? The transformation agenda
would inevitably become a deformation
agenda in the final analysis if the subsidy on fuel is effected. It will
certainly represent a sad commentary on GEJ’s efficiency, proficiency and
integrity in managing the affairs of the ship of state. Is this a
dark patch on his plummeting profile in the Nigerian political space, or
a political move devoid of rational logic and social responsibility?
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