Now Our Suffering Begins

The sudden removal of the subsidy on premium motor spirit, also known as petrol, by the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, came as a shock to many Nigerians on New Year day as they had earlier been made to understand that the removal will take effect in April this year.

The action of the Federal Government came at a time many Nigerians had travelled to their homesteads for the Yuletide and New Year celebrations and they now have to contend with the high transport fares triggered by the increase in the price of petrol from N65 to N141 per litre.

The Federal Government has come under severe knocks for removing the subsidy in total disregard of the feelings of the majority of Nigerians who will bear the brunt of the effects of the removal.

Already, Nigerians are groaning as transport fares have suddenly gone up by about 100 percent. Other attendant effects of the removal of the subsidy will be felt in the days to come and these may cause social upheavals across the country.

More shocking is the deception by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She had told Nigerians that consultations on the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry that would invariably lead to the removal of the subsidy on petrol were on going and that the implementation may take effect in April. Nigerians are taken aback by this callous act and now question the sincerity of government on this thorny issue.

The action of the government is a clear demonstration of its insensitivity to the plight of the people as it did not put palliative measures in place to cushion the effect of the removal of the subsidy. The people are now left in the lurch, totally confused and angry.

The National Assembly has not even approved the removal of the subsidy, so why this indecent haste by PPPRA, a totally discredited organ?

It remains to be seen how long Nigerians will swallow this hemlock. The Trade Union Congress, TUC, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, are already warming up for a massive nationwide protest against the oil subsidy removal.

For a nation already on tenterhooks following bloody attacks by the Boko Haram fundamentalist sect, President Goodluck Jonathan will have his hands full trying to prevent the mass action that could shut down the country in the days ahead.