It has been a long while I wrote something of this length. Maybe during my days as a beat reporter at The Guardian and The Punch and some other newspapers, years ago.
But I woke up this morning by 3am in darkness, soaked in sweat, no thanks to the usual darkness that Nigerians have been consigned to by failure of successive administrations to tame the power sector, despite selling the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and constantly asking us to keep paying more for supplying us with darkness. May God visit those who plunge us into pitch darkness with eternal darkness.
This piece, which I wrote on the spur of the moment, is occasioned by another failed promise by the Buhari administration to tame, once and for all, the evil spirit affecting the chain of supply of petroleum products in Nigeria for which he asked us to pay so much for. From N97 to N145! Today, the fuel bogey has resurfaced and there are discordant tunes as to its cause.
Nothing, perhaps, is more succinct of the situation in this country of recent, than the assertion of the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Abubakar Saad III, two days ago, that part of the ills plaguing the nation was an admission that government has failed. The position of the royal father, whose remarks are never to be trivialised, is also a direct indictment of the inability of government to discharge its obligation to protect citizens.
The current situation is a far cry from the promised Eldorado of sorts with the Change mantra that pervaded the airwaves close to three years ago, when the current administration was on the soap box.
Today, events have gone full circle. The situations have not been too rosy with even many saying that the handlers of the nation are at their wits’ end to make a positive change, almost three years on the saddle.
In several parts of the nation, killings and bloodletting are almost a daily occurrence while we watch helplessly. The economy is still much in the woods while orchestrated propaganda of “things are better off” is the order of the day; a situation that contrasts sharply with the real situation on ground.
Even our Minister in charge of Works, Lands and Housing, Power, etc., says Nigerian roads aren’t as bad as being portrayed, a sure sign that he hasn’t been on those roads much, since he travels by air and maybe carries out his inspections from the sky. In simple language, the masses are suffering. Who cares?
Perhaps, nothing touches the lives of the people than the adequate supply of fuel; be it petroleum, kerosene or diesel. They all make use of these products on daily basis; another salient and sad development symptomatic of failed successive administrations.
The masses need these products, which they get at great costs, to power their own electricity (since the electricity companies have failed), to power their cars, water boreholes, and to move around in public transport as government has, over the decades, failed to tame the transport sector by providing a credible transport system that would help the people to move around without stress, like what operates in saner climes.
Thus, any hitch in the chains of distribution of these precious liquids ultimately affects the masses. And there are the usual panic buying, hoarding and ‘shylockery’ by marketers, etc., whenever there is scarcity.
Expectedly, the masses bear the brunt; many even lose their lives and property to the scarcity ( fire, accidents, etc.).
The hiking of pump price of fuel from N97 to N145 by the present administration, which assured the people that the hike might be painful but necessary if the nation must end the ills plaguing the petroleum sector and end scarcity once and for all, has, at best, ensured that we are in the woods again
And, sadly enough, this has been the trend for ages. More painful of all is the silly and trite excuses usually given by successive governments as to the cause and possible solution whenever the fuel glitches occur. The excuses are not only a cacophony of discordant and often banal reasons, but an expose’ of the gross incompetence of those manning the nation’s treasure throve.
It is simply sickening. You get a situation where the NNPC and its officials on the one hand, and the marketers and the tanker drivers unions on the other hand, would be pointing fingers in various directions while the masses suffer.
The fuel bogey has, thus become a spirit that has defied exorcism and usually rears its ugly head around yuletides, especially at Christmas periods.
The hiking of pump price of fuel from N97 to N145 by the present administration, which assured the people that the hike might be painful but necessary if the nation must end the ills plaguing the petroleum sector and end scarcity once and for all, has, at best, ensured that we are in the woods again.
Nigerians, in the wake of the euphoria of a new government that promises to change the hitherto manner of doing things and bring about a new order, accepted the initial assurance.
Today, the fuel bogey has reared its ugly head and it is a few days to Christmas.
As it was before, the reasons for the present scarcity is blowing in the winds. Long queues of vehicles have resurfaced while filling stations that hardly sell suddenly have no fuel to sell again.
And, as before, fingers are pointing all over the place; nobody has ever been able to point directly at the real cause.
Shamelessly, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has been up to its usual fire-brigade approach to the matter. Only last week, the Daily Trust newspapers reported that the Department of Petroleum Resources said it was intensifying monitoring and surveillance to curtail excesses by petroleum marketers ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano.
So, what happens when Buhari leaves Kano? What about all over the nation? Who controls the excesses, if there are indeed excesses from petroleum marketers?
There are questions that beg for answers on the fuel palaver. And even if asked, the answers would never be given with a definitive response, given the nature of our leaders.
But in all, there is limit to the patience of a traumatised people. Salaries are not being paid as and when due at the state government levels, Paris Club refund or not. News abound of harried Nigerians committing suicide on a daily basis. School children are being driven home over non-payment of school fees, as parents could no longer meet their basic responsibilities. Stealing, kidnapping, brigandage, Boko Haram/Fulani headmen attacks are second nature in the land. And now, fuel, even so expensive without scarcity, has become another problem on the plate. Reports say that currently, there are pushes by the Independent Petroleum Marketers to increase the price to N160!
May God help us in this country.
*Olabisi, a journalist and lawyer, lives in Akure, Ondo State
