There
is a paradox governments have built around fuel price— they spent billions of
Naira on fuel subsidy year-on-year, yet the queues at the petrol stations are
getting longer by the day. Insasmuch as most of us craved for the subsidy
removal, we did not see this coming- N145.00 NAIRA/LITRE!
The
subsidy removal is only one of many matters that are dogging our economy and effective
circulation and pump price of petrol. All these happened amidst endless pleas
from the ruling party that the wailing masses should give them time. Our
president pushed the responsibility of announcing the new price to his vice and
Tinubu quickly rose to their defence in less than 24 hours after the
head-hammering announcement. We all know how things are run in this dear
country of ours because he who pays the piper will forever continue to dictate
the tone.
Government’s
supposed interests in negotiating with independent marketers, the speed being
applied, and the uttermost neglect of other aspects of economy confirm the
diminishing importance that governments attach to our gloomy economy. Expectedly,
little wonder why the opposition party (PDP) hurriedly politicized the issue.
More
painful is the domino effect -in less than 48 hours, the fuel price hike has
made our Naira to tumble against Dollar(N341), increase in transportation fare,
food stuffs and etcetera. Now the news is going round that NLC are in a
closed-door meeting- a sign of impending strike. Is this really the way out?
Without
the NLC strike, the failure of governments and their programmes are obvious.
Governments sign agreements they do not intend to keep. There is urgent need
for Buhari to reduce the new, pocket-tearing fuel price.
He
also knows that the cries for reduction are inevitable. We have a goverment
that plan for immediate needs, if they ever do. Buhari would be exhausting
himself if NLC should announce a strike action to meet demands would resolve
the challenges that our economy is facing.
How
do governments spend billions of Naira they budget annually to salvage the
economy? Bureaucracy consumes the bulk of the money. Duplication of agencies
that manage Nigeria is the biggest cost centre in our national management.
Governments are running up new costs.
We
never stop dreaming of building big refineries everyday, considering government’s
lack of vision and never acting the talk. It is absurd that government — a
driver in the economy — would need an NLC strike to determine the amount of
pain the masses are going through.
What
plans does government have for us? How would they tackle sustainable funding so
that we are not soon back to another wave of strikes in a matter of
months? Would governments ever consider
our welfare as important enough that it should run without disruptions from
strike?
There
would be no easy solutions. Many of the federal agencies on petroluem just
drain resources that should have been invested in improving drilling facilities.
States imitate the federal waste, making nonsense of basic infrastructures one
of governments’ cost centres, without commensurate value for the expenditures.
Government
can save itself from another global disgrace (refer to the
“fantastically-corrupt” statement by David Cameron) by reducing the fuel price
to N99.00. The time to act is now. The
future of Nigeria is too important to be left to any ill-advised, anti-people
group.
MIKEL FADEYI
CREATIVE
WRITER / BLOGGER
081-8449-0903
081-7444-0364
TWITTER: @mikelfadeyi
EMAIL: mikelfadeyi@yahoo.com
BLOGAZINE: www.mikelfadeyi.blogspot.com
