The Wrong Subsidy Debate

I saw her before her eyes locked in mine.

It was close to midnight as the Carnival party gradually gave way to pairs of shuffling feet and heavy legs in Calabar. There she laid on the sidewalks of one of Nigeria’s foremost tourist cities, drained of all energy, exasperated, hopeless and giving up on life. She was as pretty as they came in Calabar—right curves in the right places and naturally endowed (apologies, D’Banj). It became evident as the glow of the street lights accentuated her features, that the colour had been eroding from her eyes for a while.

But Affiong had a gripping story to tell, as I hopped out of the car to ask what she was doing alone on a somewhat eerie Marian Road. “ I work as a Hospital Nurse in Calabar, but I live in Akamkpa. I earn N5,000 (five thousand naira) as monthly salary….but by the time I finish paying my transport fare in a month, I would have exhausted my salary and in most cases would have to borrow more money to keep working….I can’t seem to get another job elsewhere, no matter how hard I have tried. I have been on Day duty today, but don’t know how to get back to Akamkpa this night. Please, sir, can you help me with N500 (five hundred naira) for my fare?.....”

Chinedu works a tight shift as a Security guard in the family home where I pitched tent during my two week ‘Canaan City’ holiday. He rides a bicycle to and from work everyday. As I engaged him in a little chatter one evening as he made to get on his bike to return home, he told me his mode of transportation was something of a last resort, reverted to as a way of cutting down on high transportation fares in around the metropolis. His gasoline free bicycle, he stammered, remained his best friend. One morning, Chinedu almost lost his life as he swerved his bicycle into the compound to resume work. He landed on the tarmac face first and had to be rushed to a nearby clinic, a big gash now leaving an indelible scar on his face. As I pen this, Chinedu recuperates in pains in a private hospital in Calabar.

Affiong and Chinedu alongside so many others I get to meet in the course of my work naturally streamed to mind as President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) embarked on what has turned out an infamous policy decision which has understandably dominated the airwaves and cyberspace. The endless chatter on Facebook and twitter has been rather boisterous and spiteful. And it is not difficult to pinpoint why the announcement has been trailed by a sea of angry voices: Nigerians like Affiong and Chinedu who make up more than seventy percent of the country’s population are wondering how they would cope in the coming months with a hike in Fuel price that could see them clutching for survival straws in the face of meagre earnings.

Watching the protesters who have taken to the streets in the last couple of days on Television, that thread of poverty, hunger and low income rates, runs through their faces and remains etched there like a tattoo long after the TV Cameras have panned away. Government talks about the rationality of making tough choices and how Fuel Subsidy has only served to line the wallets of a few rich and powerful people, but it is not difficult to fathom that the Chinedus and Affiongs of Nigeria hardly made it into the President’s projections as he stewed over the policy, and that once again, that seventy percent of the population, has been handed the short end of the stick.

We live in a country where Government officials and operatives live like Kings: Senators cart home millions of Naira annually, cars of Ministers and their aides are fueled at an astronomical cost to the state coffers and tending the lawns in the president’s home reportedly gulps several millions. And when Government climbs the high horse to reel the Chinedus and Affiongs with familiar tales of the Federal Government been so broke that only the removal of fuel subsidy can save the country’s economy from devolving into a tailspin and total collapse; little wonder that sounds so janus faced and deceptive—little wonder that would ring very hollow in the ears of the poor protesters on the streets of Lokoja, Lagos and Kano.

Distrust of Government did not begin with GEJ’s ludicrously named ‘Transformation’ regime. Nigerians have been down this road before, multiple times under different regimes. The Affiongs and Chinedus have watched helplessly as prices of petroleum products were spiked up since they were babies; with Government spewing forth the same mantra of re-investing the proceeds from the hike in prices to build roads, schools and health facilities. Now in their thirties, the Affiongs and the Chinedus are old enough to realise that the only differences between succeeding Governments lie in the names of the presidents; that the modus operandi and mendacity flows from the same microphones. They have watched with despair as their roads and schools have dilapidated and how their health centres, where available, have turned into consulting clinics.

I have told a few of my ‘Pro-Jonathan’ friends that I am yet to see anything in the President’s body language and style of governance thus far to suggest he would be any different from his predecessors. If anything, he has been unable to imbue any kind of ‘Fresh Air’ into a Government that has looked anything but Transformative. His admirers say he has been too distracted by security challenges to focus on other aspects of good governance; an argument that on the surface may sound credible but one which only serves to underscore his unpreparedness for the role of Commander In Chief of Africa’s largest enclave.

The argument going forward, and with Nigerians now baying for blood on the streets, should not be whether Government was right to announce the removal of subsidy on petroleum products or not. No serious country can go on subsidising all products germane to the survival of its economy forever. The debate should centre around removing the subsidy on the high cost of running our Governments at all levels. The debate should revolve around Government appearing more responsive, trustworthy and actually getting to work and delivering on myriad failed promises. The debate should be whether Government could at long last extricate itself of corruption, deceit and unhealthy propaganda. Had the consultations and the town hall meetings gone full circle before the ill advised hasty announcement on the first day of the year? What are the palliatives in place to cushion the inevitable economic effects of the subsidy removal?

I have told some of the GEJ apologists who are close friends of mine that all of the above would appear to be asking for too much from a man who has never inspired any Nigerian by speech or performance since his Party’s rigging machinery saw to his emergence as Nigeria’s number one citizen. But then, I could be wrong. If GEJ needs the money accruable from the Removal of Fuel Subsidy to finally get a somnambulist Government cracking to life after all, the likes of Affiong and Chinedu would not mind a wee bit.

Nigerians are yearning for a Government they can trust with all the money in the Federal coffers. They wouldn’t  mind paying an extra N90 ( ninety naira), if that would be what it takes to get that type of Government. But that Government would have to show before hand that it would be up to the task. We haven’t seen that yet from the Regime with a hidden ‘Transformative’ wand. Besides, surreptitiously inserting a controversial policy during the yuletide celebrations and in the middle of national security challenges is not exactly how presidents and their aides earn their stripes and the people’s trust.