March 2, 2009
Nigeria’s current minister for finance, Dr. Monsuh Muktar is an accomplished technocrat. There is no doubt that he has the pedigree for the job having served only recently as an executive director at the African Development Bank. He must have been used to some politicking perhaps on a small scale of board room politics at the bank or elsewhere but not anything to be compared with the scale his present position has put him.
He really has a lot of learning to do unless his job does not matter to him which is most likely. His former position at the ADB might have put him at table with men who are fairly sincere in their actions for whom principles and policies must, and should be respected but now he is on a different playing field completely. He will soon learn that in politics, and most especially Nigerian politics, two plus two is not equal to four and this precisely is why Nigeria is how it is today.
The issue of the removal of fuel subsidy has been a recurrent decimal since the time of the erstwhile dictator Ibrahim Babangida. It was then touted as one of the conditionalities of the IMF in giving us a loan. Nobody was sure whether it was removed then, but the general understanding was that, while the conditionalities will be kept, the loan would not be taken. The issue again resurfaced during the Obasanjo government but difficult as the former President was, he could not remove it because he knew the consequences would not be unpalatable as it was capable of causing massive unrest.
One must praise the Yardua government for even slashing the price of petrol by five naira even though it should have been more taking into consideration the crash of the price of crude oil in the international market. However, the decision by the government’s technical committee to remove fuel subsidy recently is one that portends trouble for the poor and middle class. These aforementioned people who are in the majority in this country today are on the wrong side of most of government’s economic policies. The removal of fuel subsidy will only deepen their economic woes. The transportation sector will be most hit and this will have a rebound effect on the transportation of goods and persons.
It is gladdening that labour and other groups are beginning to challenge government over this new policy. It is a hard sell for government as workers in the public sector today are being paid unrealistically poor wages. This is largely responsible for agitations all over the land for salary increase. The real issues why people do not want fuel subsidy removed have not been unmasked and it is important to do this. The wealth of this country today circulates among less than ten percent of the population. For the rest, to survive each day is real hard work. The cost of everything is going up everyday from food stuff to house rent to transport. How I wish those in government could really see how many poor Nigerians are living. If they do, no matter how hard-hearted and insensitive they are, their perception of everything would change. What labour and the masses of this country are saying is, the poor people are not enjoying anything: no good roads, water, electricity, cheap and effective transportation system and the list is endless. What they are therefore saying is, the moment fuel subsidy is removed, there is nothing more they are enjoying. They are therefore saying it doesn’t matter whether the rich are also enjoying this subsidy, but for the sake of those living below poverty line, this subsidy must be kept in place.
The other issue which is germane to this whole discussion is that government is not doing enough to expose and punish corruption while putting in place strict fiscal discipline. It is not also doing enough to provide necessary amenities for our people to justify huge sums of money being announced in the budget every year. Someone must be fooling some people otherwise what did we do with what we saved when the price of crude oil was shooting through the roof? Like the prodigal son, government blew everything and now they are crying thanks to the global economic meltdown. A reckless government that did not save for the raining day cannot punish poor people who have no way of affecting the policies of government. I know the excuse of government is hinged on the simple economics of it that government can use this money which is like money thrown down the drain for other developmental projects. This can only fall on deaf ears because the masses of this country have been here before. They have been fed with lies over and over again that they can’t take it anymore. Up till today, those governors who stole their states blind have not been brought to book.
Instead of them being consigned to the rubbish bin of history, they have become opinion leaders. What has happened to those funds Obasanjo cannot account for? If only government could retrieve and repatriate our stolen funds both within and outside the country, there will be no need to remove fuel subsidy. It will be unfair and inhuman of government to punish the masses of this country for its failure to do its work. This is why I am strongly of the view that the removal of fuel subsidy is like dancing near the precipice which is fraught with grave dangers. It is a dance we can ill-afford. The pent-up anger and frustration all over this country today is almost unmeasurable and care must be taken not to over-stretch the patience of Nigerians. Our people say ‘when you chase a goat against the wall, it will turn round and attack you.’ I don’t think government will expect people not to react. The reaction of the people is certain. We may be in for another season of strikes and demonstrations all over the land. Apart from this, when the chips are down, the minister of finance could be sacrificed to pacify different interest groups whose reactions to this unreasonable decision will only grow by the day until there is a redress. Then, and only then would he have learnt the right political lessons.
Fr. Emmanuel Ogundele is with the Department of Philosophy, Ss. Peter and Paul Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan.
He really has a lot of learning to do unless his job does not matter to him which is most likely. His former position at the ADB might have put him at table with men who are fairly sincere in their actions for whom principles and policies must, and should be respected but now he is on a different playing field completely. He will soon learn that in politics, and most especially Nigerian politics, two plus two is not equal to four and this precisely is why Nigeria is how it is today.
The issue of the removal of fuel subsidy has been a recurrent decimal since the time of the erstwhile dictator Ibrahim Babangida. It was then touted as one of the conditionalities of the IMF in giving us a loan. Nobody was sure whether it was removed then, but the general understanding was that, while the conditionalities will be kept, the loan would not be taken. The issue again resurfaced during the Obasanjo government but difficult as the former President was, he could not remove it because he knew the consequences would not be unpalatable as it was capable of causing massive unrest.
One must praise the Yardua government for even slashing the price of petrol by five naira even though it should have been more taking into consideration the crash of the price of crude oil in the international market. However, the decision by the government’s technical committee to remove fuel subsidy recently is one that portends trouble for the poor and middle class. These aforementioned people who are in the majority in this country today are on the wrong side of most of government’s economic policies. The removal of fuel subsidy will only deepen their economic woes. The transportation sector will be most hit and this will have a rebound effect on the transportation of goods and persons.
It is gladdening that labour and other groups are beginning to challenge government over this new policy. It is a hard sell for government as workers in the public sector today are being paid unrealistically poor wages. This is largely responsible for agitations all over the land for salary increase. The real issues why people do not want fuel subsidy removed have not been unmasked and it is important to do this. The wealth of this country today circulates among less than ten percent of the population. For the rest, to survive each day is real hard work. The cost of everything is going up everyday from food stuff to house rent to transport. How I wish those in government could really see how many poor Nigerians are living. If they do, no matter how hard-hearted and insensitive they are, their perception of everything would change. What labour and the masses of this country are saying is, the poor people are not enjoying anything: no good roads, water, electricity, cheap and effective transportation system and the list is endless. What they are therefore saying is, the moment fuel subsidy is removed, there is nothing more they are enjoying. They are therefore saying it doesn’t matter whether the rich are also enjoying this subsidy, but for the sake of those living below poverty line, this subsidy must be kept in place.
The other issue which is germane to this whole discussion is that government is not doing enough to expose and punish corruption while putting in place strict fiscal discipline. It is not also doing enough to provide necessary amenities for our people to justify huge sums of money being announced in the budget every year. Someone must be fooling some people otherwise what did we do with what we saved when the price of crude oil was shooting through the roof? Like the prodigal son, government blew everything and now they are crying thanks to the global economic meltdown. A reckless government that did not save for the raining day cannot punish poor people who have no way of affecting the policies of government. I know the excuse of government is hinged on the simple economics of it that government can use this money which is like money thrown down the drain for other developmental projects. This can only fall on deaf ears because the masses of this country have been here before. They have been fed with lies over and over again that they can’t take it anymore. Up till today, those governors who stole their states blind have not been brought to book.
Instead of them being consigned to the rubbish bin of history, they have become opinion leaders. What has happened to those funds Obasanjo cannot account for? If only government could retrieve and repatriate our stolen funds both within and outside the country, there will be no need to remove fuel subsidy. It will be unfair and inhuman of government to punish the masses of this country for its failure to do its work. This is why I am strongly of the view that the removal of fuel subsidy is like dancing near the precipice which is fraught with grave dangers. It is a dance we can ill-afford. The pent-up anger and frustration all over this country today is almost unmeasurable and care must be taken not to over-stretch the patience of Nigerians. Our people say ‘when you chase a goat against the wall, it will turn round and attack you.’ I don’t think government will expect people not to react. The reaction of the people is certain. We may be in for another season of strikes and demonstrations all over the land. Apart from this, when the chips are down, the minister of finance could be sacrificed to pacify different interest groups whose reactions to this unreasonable decision will only grow by the day until there is a redress. Then, and only then would he have learnt the right political lessons.
Fr. Emmanuel Ogundele is with the Department of Philosophy, Ss. Peter and Paul Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan.
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