The party is here again! All week we have been inundated with words of support for the removal of fuel subsidy. They have also “educated” us (as if we are ignorant) of the immense benefits of removing the fuel subsidy. Just who are these guys and what are they saying? Please take your time to listen to their tales.
Organised Private Sector: “That the majority of Nigerian citizens do not enjoy the benefit of the current subsidy of petroleum product today, rather the subsidy itself operate to the benefits of very few beneficiaries.That the financial burden of subsidy is unsustainable and untenable in our nation where critical infrastructure, human and capital development are in dire need of investment”.
Governor Peter Obi: “Whatever is saved from the removal of subsidy can be applied properly in rebuilding our infrastructure which will eventually bring about turn around in competitiveness and doing business in Nigeria. Busin-esses that will employ people will come in. Nigerians should hold the government accountable. Everybody must put hands together to make sure that the money is put to proper use,”.
Aliko Dangote: The subsidy does not benefit anybody. If the labour is really right in their demands they should go and fight for diesel and low fuel oil because that is really what concerns the masses, the masses are always traveling by buses. Have you ever seen the real masses traveling by air? No! The aviation fuel has been deregulated for the past 11 years, diesel has been deregulated. We are paying N160 or N140 per litre. For low fuel oil, we are paying from N25 to N90, and the same labour has not really come out to ask for subsidy which can even close down the factories in which they work. it was not wise for the government to be giving “N200 billion in terms of subsidy per month when we don’t have good roads and so many things. So let the government use the money to develop the country, provide power and other social amenities. With that we will be able to provide more jobs and a lot of them will not lose their jobs. Today, can you really tell me you are buying at N65 per liter? Even if you are, your cousin in the village is not buying at N65”.
Wale Tinubu (Oando): “The largest scale public transportation is run on diesel which is already deregulated, so who is really benefiting from this money? Now imagine if you have $8 billion invested in education, roads and health, you will have a much better society. The challenge really is that are we really sure the government will deploy this money once saved to these areas? That really is the challenge,”
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) comprising key marketing and distribution companies such as Mobil, Conoil, Total, African Petroleum (AP), MRS Oil and Oando Nigeria Plc: “the removal of fuel subsidy and perhaps an eventual deregulation of the petroleum sector of the country were long overdue, adding that MOMAN was totally in support of government’s latest move”.
36 State Governors: “agreed that fuel subsidy should be removed as it was not contributing to the expected well-being of the citizens of Nigeria.
By now you realize these are all comfortable guys. They all don’t feel the pinch of suffering that we all do. Besides the impact of an increase or decrease in fuel prices won’t affect them as they don’t buy fuel. All the promises above we have heard before. Each time there is a clamour for increase in fuel price the excuse is that they want to invest the money in infrastructural development which we are still yet to see. What they never tell us though is their desire to cut their excessive spending. These guys spend billions on estacode every year. They receive fat salaries and waste money on maintaining their opulent lifestyle.
Since they know the “cartel” benefitting from fuel subsidy, why not go after then and leave us alone? All the government is doing is transferring their inefficiencies and inability to curb corruption by inflicting pain on Nigerians. To hell with all their talk. Let the real Nigerians please stand up against this!!! I’d leave you with a quote on AllAfrica News
“It was therefore not surprising that when the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee, (PPAC), recently submitted its report of project implementation in the country, the outcome outraged well-meaning Nigerians. The report has it that no fewer than 11,886 infrastructural projects worth N7.78 trillion that would have given the nation a facelift had been abandoned at various locations across the country even though most of them had been paid for by the government, one way or the other. The report left a big question mark on the administration of government projects by those charged with the responsibility of managing them. Funds meant for public projects have been easily looted through a phoney contract system that leaves the nation worse off even though more money is being pumped into the system”.
