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Questions For The President: Was The 2011 Subsidy Funds Used To Finance The April Elections?

January 12, 2012

In his January 7th 2011 address to the nation, President Goodluck Jonathan appealed to Nigerians to trust him and support his decision to withdraw fuel subsidy which has had predictable multiplier effects on the prices of goods and services, and plunged the country into chaos.

In his January 7th 2011 address to the nation, President Goodluck Jonathan appealed to Nigerians to trust him and support his decision to withdraw fuel subsidy which has had predictable multiplier effects on the prices of goods and services, and plunged the country into chaos.

In that address, the President said:
 
“Let me seize this opportunity to assure all Nigerians that I feel the pain that you all feel. I personally feel pained to see the sharp increase in transport fares and the prices of goods and services. I share the anguish of all persons who had travelled out of their stations, who had to pay more on the return leg of their journeys... The interest of the ordinary people of this country will always remain topmost in my priorities as a leader. I remain passionately committed to achieving significant and enduring improvements in our economy that will lead to sustained improvement in the lives of our people… As I ask for the full understanding of all Nigerians, I also promise that I will keep my word.”
 
Also, since the debate or monologue about fuel subsidy removal began around September 2011, key government officials and supporters of the idea have asked Nigerians to trust the President and to swallow the bitter pill without questioning its rationale. The de facto “Prime Minister”, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and other members of the Jonathan’s Economic Team have traversed the length and breath of the country insisting that Nigerians just need to trust that the decision to remove fuel subsidy is in the best interest of Nigerians and that the government should be trusted to use the so-called subsidy savings to provide all the good things that are missing in the lives of Nigerians such as: quality education, infrastructure, health care, security, employment etc. ala the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE).
 
Conversely, most ordinary Nigerians and the not-so-ordinary-but-reasonable Nigerians have wondered how they can trust the Nigerian government – this one, and any Nigerian government – given that they have been down this very familiar road of endless subsidy removal and national plundering so many times. From IBB to OBJ, every fibre of trust in the government has been destroyed by persistent, flagrant and repeated disregard for political and constitutional promises to the Nigerian people.
 
As Nigerians resist the imposition of the fuel subsidy removal through protests and strikes that is now grinding the country to a halt, what is emerging from commentators and observers is that there are more questions than answers on the subject of fuel subsidy. Nigerians have lots of questions that have either not been answered or have indeed been ignored by Jonathan’s officials. Therefore, if indeed the President and his team are honest and sincere to Nigerians, and wants the trust of the people, they might want to answer the following questions:
 
    1.    Government officials including the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the CBN Governor, have indicated at several forums over the past months that the cost of subsidy during 2011 jumped from 240 billion Naira that was budgeted to about 1.3 trillion Naira. Given that this is a sudden and drastic departure from the cost trends in the immediate past couple of years; the question is, what is responsible for this jump and what effort has been made to ascertain the true quantity and cost of fuel that was imported and consumed by Nigerians in 2011? And if nothing has been done, why not?
 
    2.    Normally, if a situation arises in which the cost of a service or contract suddenly jumps by about 400%, the logical thing that “normal” people will do is to investigate the jump, find the causes and take necessary actions to identify if any wrong has been done. And if any wrong has been done, the next logical step is to identify person(s) or institution(s) responsible and seek appropriate remedy under the law. Rather than rush to remove the subsidy and trigger the attendant crisis in which we are now embroiled; why has the government not followed this logical approach by first determining the causes and culprits responsible for the astronomical cost of fuel subsidy during 2011?
 
    3.    While many Nigerians do not agree that the subsidy regime and fuel importation as constituted since 2006/2007 is the way forward for Nigeria, the annual cost of fuel subsidy from 2007 to 2010 has been “tolerable” - never rising above 240 billion Naira. What explains the jump from 240 billion Naira that was budgeted to about 1.3 trillion Naira in 2011? As many Nigerians will recall, to prosecute the 2003 Elections, OBJ, Atiku and PDP connived with Julius Berger to inflate the Abuja Stadium contract in order to fund the war chest for OBJ’s second term in 2003. Mr. President, is it true that this time around the Presidency and PDP has connived with the oil cabals to inflate and divert money from the subsidy funds to finance the PDP Presidential Primaries and the April 2011 Elections which have been adjudged to be the most expensive political exercises in Nigeria’s history? Was the 2011 subsidy funds used to finance the April Elections? Is it true that this conspiracy was supervised by the President, the Vice President, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Stella Oduah Ogiemwonyi and some other PDP chieftains?
 
    4.    Although an official investigation has not been conducted, many government officials including the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the CBN Governor have admitted in the media that the reason the subsidy cost for 2011 jumped to about 1.3 trillion Naira is fraud and plundering of monumental proportion by a “powerful cabal” – something that is radically different from the previous years. Why then, is the government reluctant to arrest and prosecute these so-called cabal instead of simply removing fuel subsidy and arguing that its removal is the only solution? Is the government trying to cover the tracks and destroy the evidence leading to the conspiracy between PDP and the cabals?
 
    5.    The President has established two committees headed by elders Belgore and Kolade to pursue what might be considered a circus of sort. Many Nigerians would agree that the services of these “credible” Nigerians could have been better utilized as co-chairs of a committee to investigate the “2011 Fuel Subsidy Shame”. The government could then take the outcome of such investigation to chart the way forward on the fuel subsidy regime as well as prosecute the culprit cabals. Why did the government failed to follow this logical approach; is it because they already know the answers?
 
The foregoing are just questions only, they do not constitute charges. And since the President would like Nigerians to trust him and his team, can he please answer these questions? And while doing that, could he also consider asking the Belgore and Kolade duo to take on a more honourable assignment by helping Nigerians to ascertain the true amount that has been stolen by the oil cabals and indicting the persons behind the cabals for prosecution? This will go a long way to boost Nigerians’ trust for the President and his government. And of course, resolving the current imbroglio. Thank you.

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