OBSERVATION: Activating Misery In The Midst Of Plenty

By Yaya Ademola

WE have arrived at an age where ideology in governance and all -isms matter less and the difference today is simply between those who care and those who do not care (about humanity). Yet, without humanitarian principles, on which the concept of democracy is based as the best form of government on earth to deliver the wishes and aspirations of the majority, universal chaos is inevitable. Today, regional conflicts, anomy, wars, crime, banditry, terrorism, corruption, etc are more predominant than during the so-called “cold war” era.

The escape from sharp divides and contest between governance doctrines of those who love the people and those who don’t give a damn about them has not helped the world a single bit. Accordingly, in Nigeria today, we all seem to have been scammed into agreeing to the fact that subsidy on PMS in Nigeria is a scam that must go without any regards to how it should go, simply on account of the fact that sharp practices of oil marketers and smuggling of subsidized fuel across our borders have made continuous subsidy on petrol unreasonable.

Capitalizing on this pedestrian mentality without interrogating why and how we have failed to refine locally or man our borders – with billions of dollars committed, a very clever Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu in his inaugural speech on the 29th May, 2023 as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, pronounced, “the fuel subsidy is gone” and two days after, 31st May, a new regime of subsidy removal commenced with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as fuel/petro started selling for N500 against the earlier N195 per litre. 

Before the eventual subsidy removal, there were no examination and queries on the state of our four refineries that produce no single drop of fuel while huge money is regularly injected into them tagged “Turn Around Maintenance” with their workers collecting salaries and allowances every month for fuel not refined. It is a shame that Nigeria, a leading member of OPEC, could not have a functional refinery for its local oil consumption.

Rather than a declaration of state of emergency in the oil sector with processes initiated to make people in charge accountable for national economic sabotage, and a holistic overhaul for effectiveness of border controls with zero tolerance for corruption, the easiest and most anti-people, pro-elite, pro-foreign masters option was adopted and because of partisan and primordial dispositions rooted in ignorance, most citizens are railroaded through vile propaganda into senseless and self immolating acquiescence, resignation or helpless agonizing and grumbling, presently, all of which will inevitably lead to a ghastly unravelling unless the regime retraces its step and embraces some social protections and social engineering that will allow it achieve its elitist ends but with a human face.

Of many possible options for ending the subsidy as soonest as possible in a way that punishes the guilty and makes live easy for the innocent, the ruling elite couldn’t even contrive some possible and temporary logistic arrangement with the Dangote refinery, which had been commissioned, and the public made to believe it is almost ready for local fuel refining and supply. 

This, among many humanitarian options, was not considered by the new government but an offensive was launched on the people, especially the poor, with government allies in the media churning out blackmails and sentimental propaganda that focus only on one side of the story (subsidy is overdue for removal), appealing to people to persevere and make sacrifice with the new painful reality (the same of the same appeal since the age long “austerity measure”) while the ruling elite continue with their flamboyance – moving with fleets of convoys and appointing numerous aides with juicy salaries and allowances, junketing around the world.

As against the seemly commendation from some quarters praising President Tinubu for taking a bold step in removing fuel subsidy which the former President Buhari couldn’t do, we are now informed that Ex-President Buhari delayed fuel subsidy removal to allow APC win the 2023 general elections. Otherwise, protest against its removal would have made oppositions win.

This revelation alone reveals the low level of thinking of the ruling elite. In 2016, we were told the fuel ‘subsidy is gone’ when President Buhari regime jacked up the price of PMS from N87 to N145 which immediately catapulted inflation into double digit, depressed the economy and forced it into recession, ruining lives of many poor people who were already overburdened and traumatized as a result of successive ruling elite neo-liberal policies. At that time, we were told the price of fuel would come down once there is competition among the marketers like it’s happening in the telecommunication sector as if it’s same with energy.

The above situation will again revisit us, as the price of petrol will keep increasing (never decreasing) as it is let loose to the vagaries of blind international market forces. We may witness as high as N1,000 per litre even before end of the year! There is no date in sight for stable and improved electricity supply, the tariff is being proposed to be increased; the Naira has been let loose to find its values, and it’s on its way down too; and the funding of public tertiary education is about to be abandoned while selling an improbable and doomed-on-arrival students loans scheme. The implication for knowledge and skills acquisition, all imported goods and services, international flights and others are clear, as well as consequent flare-up in criminality and insecurity that has already reached a grave proportion.

No government, globally, allows its citizens to bear full cost of energy especially as no economy can survive high cost of energy borne by the people. For productivity and economy stabilization, over $1 trillion was spent on subsidy on fossil fuel consumption internationally in 2022. In 2022 alone, China subsidized energy with $130 billion and this year 2023, it will spend 5billion Euro to subsidize energy for its industrial output aside independent subsidy budgeted on housing and food. When a government subsidies energy, it’s not playing to be a Father Charismas to its citizens; it’s only shielding its citizens of pain and at the same time boosting the economy which will eventually translate into socio-economic upliftment and happiness of its people. It is a major social protection programme.

In Nigeria, the opposite is the case. If there is corruption in the administration and implementation of subsidy of fuel, is decapitating the common man’s head the antidote to that headache? Which area of our lives is not corrupt? Why should the poor be made to bear the brunt of the corruption of the elite in oil sector? By far, the money stolen from government purse and the humongous cost of running an over bloated government (executive, legislature and government agencies) is far in excess of the amount being used to subsidize petrol import that should never be imported in the first place but for the same government and elite corruption! Will the Custom Service that is not able to stop smuggling hitherto now be able to stop smuggling when petrol becomes N700 in Cotonou, Lome and Cameroon; and when we raise it to N700 in Nigeria it gets to N1,000 equivalent out there, and we keep chasing the outside price because of smuggling that Custom cannot stop? What manner of governance sense is that? 

Our economy is majorly informal with small scale business dominating. What do you use to run this business in the absence of stable and affordable electricity? Petrol and diesel. Oil subsidy removal is like removing from the people the only important government intervention in their lives as it is almost the only area where government subsidies everybody. Now, people could not go to work every day again because of prohibitive transport fare; there is inflation and high cost of living; companies are shutting down, small scale businesses are finding it difficult to survive.

Dr. Femi Egbesola, the President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON) has lamented that the hike in the pump price of fuel has led to a sharp drop in sales and production, decrease in liquidity as small businesses no longer running at profit level, resulting to job losses and closure. According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), these small scale businesses being threatened by fuel subsidy removal are critical to Nigeria’s economic development as they have contributed over 48% to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last seven years. How could a blessing we are endowed with – crude oil – be turned curse? Unfortunately, amidst this suffering and radical push of more people into the poverty index, the poor working people are stranded as traditional trade unions like NLC and TUC who used to organise and lead them to protest against such an evil policy have hibernated.

As things stand, no amount of billions of naira deployed in palliatives or percentage increase in workers’ salaries could obliterate the pain inflicted on the people. How many people are workers placed on salaries? What becomes of non-salary earners – artisans, farmers, students, unemployed, etc? If the truth must be said, hunger, anger and frustration are rapidly on the rise but are being bottled in the absence of leadership; they will definitely explode at a particular stage as nothing can stand on nothing. Civil Society Coalitions must brace up to fill the vacuum created by the capitulation of traditional trade unions so as to be in charge when the bubble eventually bursts to avoid acephalous situation that characterized #EndSARS Protests.

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not represent the opinions or views of OSUN DEFENDER.