BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
The removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on the day of his inauguration has, no doubt thrown Nigerians, especially the downtrodden, into immeasurable hardship because fuel marketers cashed in on the policy to amass more wealth and make life more miserable for the masses.
However, this is the first time a President would summon courage to utilize his political will to take a decision that his predecessors had hitherto desired to implement but lacked the political will.
This decision that brought the subsidy scam to an end was a populist decision applauded by high and low, those in authority and those always referred to as ordinary Nigerians. The applause was well received from the international monetary policy formulators.
An economist, Ambrose Ezewunwa, while commending President Tinubu for taking the decision, condemned the man-made hardship Nigerians are passing through as a result of the removal of the fuel subsidy.
“We should all embrace this policy and learn to live with it because it has come to stay. It’s a good policy no doubt, but the process of implementation is having serious challenges. This is because the beneficiaries of subsidy are working hard to sabotage it by introducing throat slicing prices to make Nigerians reject the removal. Unfortunately, they are around the presidency.
“They had the privilege to advise the President on how to implement the policy but will never because they want to project the President as a hater of Nigerians. In implementing the policy, there should have been a process of getting Nigerians involved but they did not do that,” Ezewunwa said.
However, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel as the National Economic Council has thrown its weight behind the planned distribution of grains and fertilizer to Nigerians by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
NEC said this step was to mitigate the impact of the removal of petrol subsidy on the citizens.
“We should stop misusing the word palliative. The N8, 000 is a carryover from the existing 2023 budget; it is the byproduct of the plan that the Muhammadu Buhari administration left behind as to how they would manage the subsidy removal”
The decisions formed part of the resolutions reached at the 4th meeting of the National Economic Council chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the State House in Abuja last week Thursday.
The decision was taken after a presentation by Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, the NEC Ad-hoc Committee on cushioning the effect of petrol subsidy removal.
Beyond the proposed distribution of grains and fertilizer, the council also resolved to support enhanced engagements between governors and the leadership of the labour unions across the states, and proposed the provision of the cost-of-living allowances to be paid to civil servants at state and federal levels.
The council also agreed among others, to support the Federal Government’s efforts to scale up infrastructure development in the country, especially fixing dilapidated highway roads.
Before now, the President Buhari-led government through the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Shadiya Umar Farouq, had introduced national social register of the poorest of poor which they claimed was used to transfer money to them, but the NEC unanimously resolved to do away with it, saying beneficiaries of the supposedly transferred cash could not be identified.
Speaking after deliberations on the presentation, Vice President Shettima said the government would vigorously pursue the mass deployment of CNG-powered vehicles and establishment of auto-gas conversion plants and or kits in all the states of the federation in the short-term and the deployment of electric buses and cars with charging infrastructure across the country.
Assessing the policy and government’s palliative measures, a Chieftain of the APC and lecturer in the University of Abuja, Athanatius Okon, said the decision could have been with good intentions but the implementation falls short of the tenets of democracy.
Okon said the primary definition of democracy which is government of the people, by the people and for the people simply means that the government comes with deliberate policies to protect the interest of the people by caring for their welfare.
He noted that this aspect was missing in the decision to remove fuel subsidy which is why the masses the government should protect and provide for their welfare are now at the mainstream of suffering.
“Subsidy, whether fuel or any other item or product, is under dividends of democracy and the countries of the world, be it developed countries like US, UK, Europe, Asia and even African countries provide it for their citizens. But Nigeria abused the subsidy by turning it to scam. By this the people at the lower rungs of the ladder that should benefit from it do not benefit. Only the high and rich benefited and are still benefiting from the subsidy even with the removal,” he said.
The University of Abuja don said that the NEC has taken a better step towards cushioning the biting effects of the policy, adding that the government should have toed this line before pronouncing the policy thereby saving Nigerians from the hardship.
NEC said the Federal Government would distribute 252,000 metric tonnes of grains to states at a subsidized rate to cushion the effect of subsidy removal. The National Emergency Management Agency would also make its package available to the people.
On the transfer of money to the poor, Governor Soludo said contrary to what the previous administration projected, it was impossible to digitally transfer money to the poorest of the poor because they are unbanked.
He said the council agreed that state governments should generate registers of the poor people that are comprehensive and verifiable.
“Now in thinking through that, we felt that sitting in Abuja and calling on somebody in Anambra to compile a list and send it to you and then the person depends on who he brings, and the registers are generated and people go to those villages and ask where those people are and they don’t show up. This is stress-testing. And we think that we need to go back to the drawing board.”
The former CBN Governor who brought his expertise to bear said, delivering any such national or federal programme from Abuja, needs to be delivered via the governments that are there using their own format and mechanisms to generate the register that is comprehensive.
But the suggestion has been x-rayed by a social critic, Fabian Egberem who said governors should not be the last on the chain of delivering such programmes to the poor. His argument is that the governors will use it to settle their political loyalists.
“On the surface, Governor Soludo’s suggestion on how to distribute the monetary and other palliatives is fantastic, but I am afraid that if these things are left in the hands of the governors, they will hand them to their political aides who will in turn use it to settle their loyalists leaving the people they are meant for. We all were here and saw what happened during COVID-19 pandemic. I believe the best way to reach the poorest of poor is through the religious and community leaders. They know who is who and if they embezzle what is meant for the poor, the scar will live with them. So the Federal Government should think twice on this, this is my humble advice”.
Egberem applauded the governors’ stance on cost of governance which the council also resolved that at all levels should be cut in view of the current economic realities in the country.
Governor Soludo said in relation to the cost of governance, he thinks it’s an omnibus concept, and it’s not something one sits down in a meeting to legislate for each and every state but the fact that the council recognizes that this is an issue that each tier of government should now focus on as an area of concern.
Egberem said if the governors would adopt reduction of cost of governance, states in particular and the country will come out of the woods.
He said the Anambra State governor was right because some governors go with over 20 vehicles in a convoy and all these have to be fueled, and maintained.
Egberem insisted that the government that is asking Nigerian masses to tight belt must lead by example by being sensitive to the times and live within the average of the people that they are governing.
However, a cross section of Nigerians have lambasted the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, over his comments on the removal of fuel subsidy and its attendant hardship while receiving the governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji.
Akpabio was quoted as saying that the whole Nigerians accepted to suffer the consequences of the removal of fuel subsidy so long the scam does not exist again. He equally said “all of us are suffering the pains”.
A tricycle (popularly known as “Keke”) driver, Johnbull Dolung said “the Senate President has only spoken in the manner rich politicians who are milking our country to death always speak. He is a former governor, former minister and now the Senate President. What do you expect from him? He has amassed wealth such that his children yet unborn cannot suffer that is the reason he is mocking the ordinary Nigerians as they call us.”
Dolung, a graduate who took to Keke driving due to unemployment ravaging the country said, “I don’t know why these politicians are taking us for a ride. Imagine Akpabio’s comment when Nigerians are suffering. There is hunger everywhere. I decided to drive this Keke because I must meet up with my responsibility. This Keke is not my own, I am driving it on hire purchase. Imagine as a graduate where I have found myself driving Keke and Akpabio and his co-travellers politicians who have stolen our common wealth are insulting us with insensitive comments.”
He said it was only those heartless politicians that would pretend that all is well when most families go to bed on empty stomach.
“Sir, Nigerians are really suffering. I know how many people beg to pay what they can afford. Now we are charging N200 from Nyanya to Jikwoyi, some are charging N250. It is not everybody who can afford to pay. Many are trekking, even elderly people. I deliver N25, 000 every week, with the price of fuel at N645. Tell me how I can make it. We have lost passengers and if we must have them, we have to accept the amount they can afford but are the filling stations concerned about that? There are problems,” he said.
A trader, Uchechi Okikechi said when she heard the Senate President made that statement on television, she knew that Nigerian politicians are heartless.
“I’m not surprised that he made such a comment. It is those who don’t know his antecedents that will be surprised. Is he not the man who boastfully said, what money cannot buy, more money can buy it. Nigerians are expecting a man who made such a statement to feel the pains of the suffering Nigerians”
“In fact, when I heard Akpabio say that Nigerians accepted to suffer when fuel subsidies are removed I wanted to cry. Is this the kind of person they made Senate President? I thought they said he was a good man when he was governor of Akwa Ibom but with this his comment on sufferings of the common people, all those things they said about him are lies. How can he be a good man and he is happy with our suffering. You people, press men should tell him that we ordinary Nigerians are crying and God will surely hear us.”
An artisan, Ibrahim Godspower, accused the Senate President of laughing at suffering Nigerian masses who are always at the receiving end of every bad government.
He said, “If truly Senator Akpabio said that, then there is no hope for us ordinary Nigerians. We are crying about what former President Buhari did to us, now in less than two months we are in hell. I am a vulcanizer. For three days I have not patched any tyre, it’s only five tyres I pumped and that is N500. My wife is roasting corn, that is how we are feeding and somebody said we accept suffering. These politicians are wicked. God will judge them. Instead of him telling President Tinubu that we ordinary Nigerians are suffering, he is deceiving the President.”
A civil servant who preferred anonymity said he was not surprised that Senator Akpabio could say such a thing.
“I’m not surprised that he made such a comment. It is those who don’t know his antecedents that will be surprised. Is he not the man who boastfully said, what money cannot buy, more money can buy it. Nigerians are expecting a man who made such a statement to feel the pains of the suffering Nigerians. The most annoying thing is that those who helped themselves with our money are the same people who will look into our eyes and mock us because we cannot do anything for them. How much did they give them at the National Assembly as palliatives? Palliatives for what? Do they need it? Now for us in the civil service, they are coming up with ridiculous ideas. Most of us can only come to work twice or even once a week because we cannot afford the transport fares.”
He said the less than two months of this government has devastated Nigerians and made them poorer.
“We were crying that our salary could not sustain us during Buhari’s administration but now, the situation is worse. Our naira has become more worthless than ever. If I take my salary to the market, I cannot buy food that will keep us for one week. What was helping us before was to buy things on credit but the sellers are no longer granting us any credit facility because they said where they are buying the food items the prices have gone up and they must pay for whatever they want to buy. Senator Akpabio should tell the President to give that N70 billion to the civil servants. They are talking of money to buy exotic vehicles while ordinary Nigerians are dying of hunger. God will not forgive them,” he said.
A social critic and political analyst, Silver Emeka condemned the Senate President and demanded an apology to Nigerians for his comment.
Emeka said the comment of the Senate President as the number three citizen of the country left more than to be desired.
“That is the height of insensitivity from a high ranked government official. He was a governor for eight years, a minister of the Federal Republic, so he has presided over the poor masses and should feel what they are passing through now. I get pissed off when the government claims that fuel subsidy is a scam and its removal will favour the poor masses. How? Who are those scamming Nigerians with fuel subsidies if not the same people that have been ruling us? He said Nigerians accepted the suffering that will follow the fuel subsidy removal, is it without cushioning effect and who are the Nigerians, is my question. This is the continuation of oppression and we are seeing only the sign. Since the Senate President has shown us that his Senate will also be a rubber stamp, Nigerians should prepare for the worst,” Emeka lamented.
