Too Little, Too Late

On Saturday 7 January, President Goodluck Jonathan hastily offered some concessions to stave off the planned nationwide mass action by labour unions and civil society groups on Monday 9, January to force the Federal Government revert to the N65 pump price of premium motor spirit, otherwise called petrol.

The removal of the subsidy on petrol by the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, on New Year day has sparked protests across the country, with organised labour announcing that it would shut down the country beginning from Monday 9 January.

Though the Federal Government rushed to the industrial court to obtain an injunction restraining labour from going on strike, it insisted that there was no going back. The stance of labour may have compelled Jonathan to offer the concessions, which to many Nigerians, seems like a knee-jerk reaction to the impending mass action.

The concessions, which include slashing of public office holders’ salaries by 25 per cent, reduction of overseas travels for the president and political office holders, provision of 370,000 jobs, and provision of mass transit buses nationwide, appear to be offering too little, too late. These cannot prevent the inflation the subsidy removal will engender. These palliative measures amount to nothing. The president cannot take Nigerians for a ride or ask them to make sacrifices while political office holders live opulent lifestyle.

For so long there has been a clamour for a drastic reduction in cost of governance at all levels – federal, state and local governments. This clamour has been ignored until this tokenism Jonathan is dangling at Nigerians. The so-called palliatives are not far-reaching enough as they will not ameliorate the poverty the fuel subsidy removal will unleash on the people.

President Jonathan cannot convince Nigerians to swallow the bitter pill because of the profligacy in government and the massive corruption in the petroleum industry, especially the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The corporation cannot account for the huge revenue accruing to the nation from the sale of crude oil on a daily basis. Can the government explain to Nigerians what the NNPC does with the 445,000 barrels of crude oil allocated to it per day?

Because NNPC’s activities are shrouded in secrecy, it is difficult to say how much Nigeria earns a day from the sale of crude oil. This has encouraged corruption which stinks to high heavens.

The lack of sincerity and transparency on the part of government has left bewildered Nigerians with no choice than to treat government’s promises with scorn. Such promises have never been kept. It is time Nigerians aligned themselves with labour and civil society groups to ensure that the pump price of petrol is reverted to N65 per litre. Nigerians cannot continue to pay N141 per litre of petrol and subside the corruption of a few people in government who live in affluence at the expense of the ordinary people who have been pauperised.

It is time for all to stand up to be counted. Thanks to the House of Representatives which has passed a motion asking the executive to revert to the old pump price of N65 per litre of petrol. Nigerians await the Senate’s position on the matter.