The seed of discord has been successfully planted among
Nigerian masses by the government over the night unnoticed. In
as much as I have mixed feelings about the removal of fuel subsidy, my heart
bleeds for the division in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC president Ayuba
Wabba and Joe Ajaero factions) and Trade Union Congress due to the
manipulations of the Federal Government.
The reality of this is that
the masses are losing their most potent megaphone of speaking out in the face
of oppression and intimidation from governmental forces. The masses have become a house
divided against itself which is a back-breaking move on the part of the Federal
Government whose agents enjoy formidable unity in diversity to loot
the state's treasury. We have unconsciously been divided into two groups namely the
pro-subsidy removal group and those against.
Double standards should never be encouraged. It’s an
indication of impunity and high level corruption in the polity. What am I
trying to say? Why will President Muhammadu Buhari be applauded for the same
decision that made the government of his predecessor, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
unpopular in 2012 within a period of 6 days of national protests that cost
Nigeria a whooping sum of about N2 trillion due to the shutdown of economic
activities throughout the country? Why will a leader who has severally denied
the existence of fuel subsidy with the advantage of his time as the Petroleum
Minister in 1976-1977 finally come out to remove what he claimed never existed
in 2016? A leader that sacrifices the truth as well as remedies for cheap political points is not worthy
of promising 'change'.
Nigeria in 2012 witnessed an array of protests that were so
potent that the United States of America Embassy in Abuja urged its citizens to
stockpile food, conserve fuel and delay travel while the strike and protests were
ongoing. Political analysts pictured another Kigali, Rwanda 1994 magnitude of
crisis in Nigeria if appropriate steps were not taken by the government.
I have followed diverse views of prominent Nigerians on the
highly celebrated fuel subsidy removal issue in the last one week. I must admit
that every contributor made sense speaking from his
or her own economic circle. From the onset of the scheduled strike by the leadership of
the organized Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, I perceived
strongly that the advocacy against the fuel subsidy was a fight that was lost
before it started on the basis of 5 cogent points which were well articulated
in my previous article. The major basis of my argument is the popularity of
President Muhammadu Buhari which he has exploited to take 'hard decisions'. Nigerians
were caught speaking in different voices as against when we stood as one within
the 6-day near-revolutionary struggle against the hike in fuel at the MKO
Abiola garden, Ojota park in Lagos where Nigerians poured out en masse to
register their displeasure in January, 2012. The hike in fuel price which is
used interchangeably with the term 'deregulation' of the downstream oil sector to
probably conceal the potency of the bad news has led to a close comparison
between former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and President Muhammadu
Buhari considering the fact that both parties made the controversial decisions in the first year of their
administrations after being elected. Activists and writers who crucified
Jonathan's dramatic decision are finding it uneasy to come out plain to justify
Buhari's removal. The heroic Occupy Nigeria civil society has confirmed
insinuations that it’s under the payroll of a prominent member of the All
Progressives Congress, APC who unleashes them at will as democratic political
attackers on his opponents. This is a real close shave!
This is like a tug of war between the government and the Nigerian
people. I just have to admit that there is a need to restructure the Nigerian
political system as there is a clear disconnection between the government and
its people on the grounds of greed and office structure. It
amazes me how government officials lose the understanding of the language of
the people they represent as soon as they assume power.
Prominent Nollywood actor and
lawyer, Kenneth Okonkwo in an interview on a programme on the African
Independent Television named Focus Nigeria envisaged that Nigerian leaders are
disconnected from the people by the numerous security officials guarding them
which is causing inaccessibility as well as governmental protocols attached to
their offices. This he termed a 4-year 'imprisonment' while in power. What is being practiced in Nigeria
today is not democracy but a mere 'demonstration of craze' just as the late Afrobeat legend,
Fela Anikulapo Kuti reiterated in a song. If indeed the major political
parties in Nigeria namely the All Progressives Congress, APC and the People's
Democratic Party, PDP duly represent the interests of the people
and not elitist agenda, then why should we the masses bear the consequences of
the grave sins of our leaders and other privileged few who became affluent
signing bogus financial documents in the name of Nigerian masses? We are always the soft targets of trial and error economic politics
because a few privileged people that have bled or bleeding the economy are too
big to be questioned or brought to book.
Fuel subsidy in Nigeria has been seen as a demonic
machination of the devil to foster corruption. Subsidy in the oil sector has
been seen as a conduct pipe for corruption due to the failure of successive
administrations in Nigeria who have been either clueless in approaching the
situation head-on, 'fantastically' corrupt or being insensitive to the
state of development of the country. According to the
Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Nigeria paid N219.72 billion
in 2006, N236.64 billion in 2007, N198.11 billion in 2009, N416.45 billion in
2010 and in 2011 through corruption abracadabra rose to N1.9 trillion which was
the most colourful red flag in the history of the world.
According to Frederick Fasheun, the founder of the Oodua People's Congress and national chairman of
the Unity Party of Nigeria; the essentiality of subsidy on a core commodity like fuel in
Nigeria can't be overemphasized. The United States of America subsidizes
agricultural products heavily which has made food the cheapest item in the
country.
The European Union and China also subsidize their rail system
for affordability purposes. Britain and Australia subsidize coal and gas
exploration. U.S subsidizes football and ethanol production. Why should Nigeria
be indifferent about subsidizing a common product whose fate is tied to the
entire economy of Nigeria? This is a rhetorical question by Fasheun. Why can't
the government of Buhari that frowns at corruption exhibit the effrontery to salvage the policy
of government from abuse by a so-called oil cabal? Is Buhari scared to confront
some of the most
connected men in Nigeria, Africa and beyond? Can it be true that
this cabal can ground Nigeria if they fight back? My head is filled with too many rhetorical
questions right now as I pen down my views.
An influential Islamic cleric
from Kaduna state, Sheikh (Dr) Ahmad Gumi drew my attention to the
unquestionable status of some 'big men' who have the sources and influence to destroy
Nigeria if the search-light of anti-corruption is beamed on them.
PDP federal lawmakers of the green chamber have reiterated
that Nigeria has lost nothing less than N9 trillion to the payment of fuel subsidy
in the last 4 years specifically from 2012 to 2016. In 2011, the Goodluck
Jonathan administration of monumental corruption budgeted the payment of N245
billion for oil subsidy and ended up unexplainably expending N1.9 trillion at the end of the year.
Why is Buhari reluctant to go
after the actors of the subsidy scam? Have the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission, EFCC auditors and fraud investigators turned intellectually lame
overnight that the fact and figures of the heist have become elusive or
incalculable?
The leadership of the All
Progressives Congress, APC should be reminded that government is a continuum.
You collect the baton and continue the race from where your predecessor halted.
Jonathan's administration in all fairness and truth should never be regarded as
at utter failure. The Bayelsa man recorded some massive achievements that would
forever linger in the hearts of people. The fact that Nigerians took to Twitter
to trend the hashtag #BringBackOurCorruption confirms the obvious.
I digested the views of
Nigerian professor of Literature and African studies in Carlton University,
Ottawa; Canada in the person of Pius Adesanmi who wrote on the Nigerian masses
being 'soft targets' of successive administrations in the face of cash crunch.
Why should we always be victims of the ineptitude of our leaders? Is it because
our voices are cheap to buy or forcefully suppressed by security operatives?
What is the essence of
governance without the people? Governance isn't a ‘hustle’ or better say a
gateway to wealth as our 'retired governors' in the senate perceive it.
A leading Nigerian Economist,
Paul Alaje who passed through the same school with me, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Osun state during my first degree days made a valid
contribution on the subsidy removal saga that kept me awake all through the
night considering my high and undying hopes in Buhari.
In his words:
''I
support removal of subsidy but not transfer of government failure to the
citizen. We don't need to subsidize government. Subsidy rate is N12.5.
Add
it to N86.5 it would be N99. What we should be paying now is N99 but not N145.
The remaining N46 is subsiding government failure in exchange rate gap"
A reader might be forced to
conclude that I have missed the point of the argument which is that Nigeria is
currently broke and the economy is shrinking as the Minister of Information and
Culture, Lai Mohammed put it. In figures, this administration made us to
understand that foreign earnings from oil has plummeted to $550 billion in a
month and the Federal Government expends $225 billion on fuel importation per
month which is milking the treasury dry considering the burden of monthly
allocation to states. This is a valid excuse but a brief history of the APC
administration of almost a year right from the failed campaign promises has
been ridden with propaganda, empty promises and locally-refined excuses from
high places. This current administration has a weakness of speaking in
different voices on the same issues which is an indication of falsehood.
I will not go far in history
to back up my view, I will simply make reference to the case of the Minister of
Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola who before now boasted about
revamping the power sector within 6months in 2014 while he was the governor of
Lagos state. His ministerial screening at the senate was celebrated and
Nigerian blogs made quotable quotes out of his speech.
A few months later, the
popularity dropped, he was nicknamed the honourable Minister of Darkness and
Dark Forces. The uniqueness of Fashola's leadership is that his kind of
darkness is highly expensive. Fashola gave the efficiency of the power sector
as the reason behind the 45% increment in electricity tariffs to enable the
electricity distribution companies secure investment loans from banks as they
were running at a loss. He even boasted he could provide electricity for 24hrs
in a day if Nigerians can afford the accrued massive bills like it’s
experienced in developed countries. Now what do we get? The resultant effect
was a record low power generation of zero percent earlier this year and
currently 1400 megawatts in a country of over 170 million people that requires
a minimum of 25,000MW to fully illuminate the country. Now Fashola has shifted
his blame to the Niger Delta Avengers blowing up oil and gas facilities in the
South-south region. That's a very thoughtful escape route. We need to assist
Fashola to perform. We will abandon our jobs, form a paramilitary body,
relocate to the Niger Delta area, and help him secure all the gas pipelines as
Buhari's media adviser, Femi Adesina suggested on national TV.
I am a staunch supporter of
the APC and an enduring lover of Buhari but to help this government perform, we
need to confront it with the truth at least one in a while. The irregularities
are too glaring that even Stevie Wonder could see them clearly with his lost
sight. If this administration can be bold enough to inflict the plague of fuel
hike on the masses in the face of economic downturn with a record high
inflation rate of 13.7% according to the National Bureau of Statistics report,
then the executive and legislative arms of government which consume about 40%
of Nigeria's annual budget should also bear the brunt of the hard decisions.
The impact of the ' negative change' should be universally felt without the
masses as soft targets.
I appreciate the fact that
Buhari and Osinbajo slashed their salaries but there is more to be done. The
Aso Rock feeding cost should be neck of the presidency and not the state just
like the United States of America president, Barack Obama, reduction in the
number of aides of public servants (I personally think Buhari's media aides are
too much to curtail propaganda), FG's plan to renovate Aso Rock villa which is
obviously unnecessary should be shelved aside to assist budding entrepreneurs
who can create jobs and help the economy, some of the 11 presidential jets which
costs N5.3 billion to maintain per annum should be sold off to ease the
prodigal costs of maintenance, the huge funds earmarked for the upgrade of the
State House Medical Centre should be cut since Buhari publicly admitted his
doctors are abroad and also, it’s of public knowledge that most of his
colleagues in the presidency loathe local treatments, security votes of state
governors which they are not obliged to account for should be scraped, every
foreign trip by the public office holders should be subjected to scrutiny to measure
the gains and losses in order to avoid another occurrence of a startling
proposed trip of N13 million trip Lai Mohammed to China in a period of
emergency, Buhari should curtail his incessant foreign trips in consideration of
public perception as we pass through murky waters, the salaries of our
lawmakers should be slashed by half and other unnecessary allowances like
wardrobe, estacode, furniture and others scraped for now (what have they done
to be the highest paid lawmakers in the world in a poor country like Nigeria?),
the N200 billion earmarked for the constituency projects of lawmakers should be
strictly monitored by anti-graft agencies to ensure transparency and
accountability, members of the House of Representatives must be stopped from
buying the proposed 360 brand new Peugeot 508 vehicles costing N8 to N10
million in order not to send the wrong message to Nigerians licking their wounds
as inflicted by Buharinomics, each federal ministers in Nigeria have 3 exotic
official cars on the account of the state which should be reduced to one to
save costs and several other areas time
and space will not permit me to mention.
Buhari, known to be a brave
leader that commands the obedience of his subjects should express no fear or
favour in implementing these austerity measures on the privileged class who
have the economic capability to cushion the effect of the hardship unlike the
masses that are badly exposed. They should be included in the hard decisions.
As soon as the economic forces normalize, the old ways maybe reverted to just
as the Minister of State for Petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu has promised a
possible reduction in fuel prices after 6 months of the current price
modulation. And also FG's promise of creating 200,000 jobs from the proceeds of
the deregulation of the downstream oil sector including the building of
refineries, N500 billion intervention funds that will see the 'vulnerable' Nigerians
be given a minute amount of N5,000 monthly which they will spend and be back
again for more even before they left.
In conclusion, austerity
measures and experimental policies shouldn't be designed for the impoverished
masses alone which is an act of cowardice on the part of this current
administration. The upper class should be confronted with the hard economic
decisions just like the ill wind of Buhari's anti-corruption fight that
emasculates the big men after all we have a leader that ''belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody''.
Osayimwen Osahon George
Associate Writer and Editor @ Tori.ng
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