It is difficult to justify the removal of this subsidy. Personally, I
believe that the Nigerian government can afford the 220billion or so
required to sustain it on behalf of its people. That is just about $1.4
billion or less, just a fraction of the commission (or earnings) it
makes from oil companies annually. That the amount has reached over a
trillion naira is not our fault, but that of the government that
deliberately fails to carry out its responsibility of checkmating them.
Incidentally, two weeks ago I was listening to a friend from CBN who was
trying to educate me on the necessity of removing the subsidy. In the
end his explanation boiled down to the sad truth that people benefiting
from the subsidy cannot be confronted by the government. They are big,
he said.
I told him the government is not honest. I then asked him a simple
question that sealed the discussion: "Kai Kabiru! If the government
would appoint someone like Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to head the NNPC, will
he be able to check this corruption and maintain the subsidy at the
reasonable level of N200+ billion?" He said, "Yes, he can."
"In fact", he added, "the realization of the extent of extortion came
when Sanusi started to question the storage capacities and other
facilities of some oil companies whose claims were submitted to him for
payment. Sanusi refused to pay them."
I said, "there you are. Let Jonathan be more courageous and have more
Sanusis in government. If you want government to work, you must have
corruption-free people in it. But removing the subsidy will definitely
court trouble in this now highly inflammable country, so big that we
cannot even imagine. Allah ya sauwake."
While we do that, we must keep vigil on some novice politicians that are
now trying to ride on our anger to gain cheap popularity and access
power. This is not about PDP. It is about our being. Other parties will
do the same, given the antecedents of their leaders. Every past
government since 1984 has visited us with its own version of heartless
economic policies without consultation, leading to the ruin of so many
homes forever. Though he is the present, Jonathan is not the first and
if we will allow some manipulators power, he will certainly not be the
last. The difference here is that, like citizens of the 21st century, we
are now standing up to it, saying enough is enough.
Some of these politicians were the architects of World Bank sponsored
privatization policies that were ill conceived and ill managed. They
also designed the present deregulation in the early 2000s under Obasanjo
in concert with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The records are there and the
memory fresh. Like Jonathan today, they were deaf to the criticisms we
wrote then. How would they gain our support today when we know they will
do worse if allowed power again? They have written their records in our
minds with indelible ink. They masterminded our present state of poverty
and insecurity. Their children are abroad studying; ours are here
wallowing at home. We will be reckless to trust them.
In fact, the mere participation of such politicians carries the fatal
virus that will divide us, with the government and PDP members labeling
it as a machination of the opposition. Then the government would buy
some people to claim that Muslims and Northerners are plotting against
their 'God-sent' Jonathan. In Nigeria there are always an infinite
number of people that would swallow that argument, hook, line and
sinker. At that point, many of us will withdraw and the government will
have its way.
The labour is meeting today. Their resolution will determine when the
real protests will start. This nonsense must stop.
I will appeal to Sanusi to please stay off this debate. Yesterday I
travelled to Bauchi - a distance of just 100km - and had to use the fuel
of N6,500.00 on the bus I carried my children back to school. This is
madness and sheer wickedness. We the people are really angry. We can go
to any length on this matter, and genuinely for that matter.
The only thing that would quench our fire is for the President to back
down. Otherwise, we are ready to take the country high and wild. If this
is a joke, please stop it SLS. "The people are like a river," if I must
borrow from the wisdom of al-Mutanabbi: "cross it when it is calm, but
avoid it when it is violent."
Aliyu