The psalmist probably had our public officials in mind when he wept that “truth has gone from the sons [and daughters] of men; falsehood they speak, with lying lips, with false hearts” [Psalm12:2]. Beyond the outright lies, half-truths and truths out of context, evidence of insincerity, acute unseriousness and tokenism abound.
The palliatives are tokenistic and deceptive. 25% salary cut for the president will save about N600,000 which may not cover the daily cost of periodicals and newspapers in Aso Rock; the 1,600 Good-Luck buses are grossly insufficient, [when 2000 buses are not enough for Lagos!] and they were alleged to have been ordered on loan by TUC, very few people have seen them and Abuja residents complain that the ones they have seen are refurbished [See Guardian Special Report, 5/12/12].
Kaduna state set up a 60-man committee on palliatives [60 whole members; another come and chop outlet], and Rivers introduced subsidy [N4 per litre], while the whole process was about subsidy removal! But we all know how Cameron has executed his own austerity, including travelling with public transport during his last visit to the USA. We also have the example of Italy where the president invited only 12 people to his austerity presidential Christmas party and he paid from his own pocket.
But while the fuel subsidy war was at its ‘occupy’ phase, the president sent a delegation led by the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, to the USA to gauge the mood and views of Nigerians about fuel subsidy, and that is a country where we have our highest diplomatic outpost in the world.
Furthermore, the size of President Jonathan’s delegation to the recent AU summit is still a subject of disputation as we have the official delegates and those who ‘just happened’ to be there. But we may pardon him because over-bloated delegation is in our character. In 1962, a delegation of 132 went to sell the country to the outside world, even though the guests had requested for 15 delegates.
We also sent a delegation of 120 to the 1983 Commonwealth meeting while Australia had indicated a size of 5. Singaporean PM, the legendary Lee Kwan Yew, came in with 3 people and was joined by his country’s ambassador. [O. Dada: “Looking back in anger at my nation”, Guardian, 23/1/11].
It was also on record that while governors were promising to provide palliatives and cut costs, the 29 members of Benue House of Assembly went on strike during their budget retreat at Obudu Resort on January 19, 2012 because the governor failed to give them the yearly gift of SUVs! It was also good to see Neighbour-to-Neighbour [N2N] back in action with their well-crafted aggressive propaganda. Who or what is N2N and how do they source all the money they are throwing about? Are they a part of the subsidy magic? Anyway, I do not want to address N2N but for now, I align myself with Taiwo Obe’s advise to them:
“How N2N can help the president”, [Guardian, 15/1/12]. Maybe in this era of committees, we may need to set up one on N2N to be chaired by Tunde Bakare. It has also become necessary to address the numerous questions that arose in the course of the fuel subsidy wahala.
It is a biblical and general truth that a servant is not greater than his master [John 16:20]. In a democracy, the roles and statuses are clear; we know who the masters are and who the servants are. But the recent fuel war has raised the question: Who is the master and who is the servant in Nigeria: the electorate or the elected? But the key question is if there is actually any subsidy, or do we agree with Jeyifo that “there is and there is no oil subsidy? There is subsidy because actual sums are paid out by the government and there is no subsidy because the mathematics and the logics of operations indicate that the subsidy is pure fiction.” [Guardian, 15/1/12].
Why is Nigeria always eager to increase fuel prices while Ghana is cautious about it – even before they struck oil? Their recent outing was a mere 20% hike while Kenya just reduced fuel prices by 7.11sh. The House passed a motion during the crises and the government dismissed it as mere opinion that is not binding [though Jonathan became president by the doctrine of necessity, a mere motion]; the public spoke across many cities and they were branded miscreants and hoodlums; certified elder statesmen spoke and rallied but they were tear-gassed.
How then does the government gauge public opinion-only by its own voices? Banking, aviation, broadcasting, and telecommunications sectors have been deregulated in Nigeria. Why are people always opposed to the deregulation of the oil sector, despite all the rosy pictures? Because of past lies? Because these pictures are not realistic? If we have deregulated, what is PPRA still doing, fixing prices and setting templates?
The government received the KPMG report detailing gross manipulation of the system, criminal over deduction and deliberate miscalculations. Why did the government refer that report to the drawer? Governors insisted on subsidy removal to be able to pay N18,000 minimum wage but the current situation has made nonsense of the wages and workers are already asking for increases; how will the governors argue this time?
Why was the Nigerian Governors’ Forum [the actual ruling party in Nigeria] loudly silent during and even after the crises while they were the ones who started this fire? If President Jonathan had succeeded his father as shoeless fisherman from Otuoke, how would he have managed this government inflicted suicide? If we are among the fastest growing economies in the world [never mind the increasing unemployment, poverty and inequality], how then can we suddenly collapse within a year?
Was the growth real or was the scaremongering justifiable? What should be the government’s priority: to save the money or to save the people; to save those alive today or to save those yet to come? Our people say that one has to drink tea before drinking over-tea [Ovaltine]. People have to survive today before thinking about tomorrow. Why have we not built any refineries in recent times and what is the big deal? After all, Biafrans had mobile refineries, built and rebuilt anytime the ‘enemies’ struck while militants have ‘pure water’ refineries doing good business in the creeks [JTF claimed to have destroyed 6,000 of such in 2011].
IMF/WB used the price-gap approach to subsidy but IEA/OPED/OECD argued that this approach won’t work and that oil producers should use domestic cost for their computations. Why did Nigeria, a major OPEC member, reject the OPEC perspective? Why is it that whenever governments want to increase prices, it is always in multiples of 100% and above [like Lagos State University fees]? Why can’t we try 5%, 10% or 19%? How come that Reginald Stanley, who resumed at PPPRA on November 16, 2011 and admitted that PPRA had bad public perception, announced 100% increase as his first act? To what extent was the PPPRA board [which includes NLC, TUC, PENGASSAN, NGE and NACCIMMA] involved in the January1 madness? How far has he gone with his promise of a cartel-free downstream operations before dabbling into the deregulation morass? [ThisDay, 18/12/11].
The Petroleum Subsidy Fund was limited to bona-fide firms with storage facilities and outlets but was changed in 2007 to encourage briefcase importers. In 2006, claims were based on duly verified volume lifted out of depots, but from June 2009, it became based on duly verified shore tank volume [quantity imported or declared imported]. Who engineered and authorized these satanic amendments?
The PSF was expected to be temporary and funded by government during periods of under-recovery and by oil companies during periods of over recovery; how many periods of over-recovery have we had and what have the oil firms contributed? How come the temporary programme has become permanent? Why is the government using N134/barrel in its subsidy calculations while the budget is based on N70-75/barrel? Why are there various versions of the PIB to the extent that we need a high-wired committee to sort that out?
