By Sunday Ani
Many Nigerians were taken aback when on May 29, during President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural address to the nation, he announced that the subsidy on fuel which has been the life blood of ordinary Nigerians over the years was gone. He cited fraud in the subsidy payment system as the main reason behind his action.
Many Nigerians, particularly the ordinary citizens cried blue murder, saying the effect would be too adverse for them to bear, and asking the president to have a rethink. Those who raised this concern were labeled the opposition members who never wanted the new government to succeed.
However, there are those who received the announcement with deafening applause, describing the President’s action as bold and courageous. They refused to accept that the move would touch the marrow of many Nigerians since the country’s economy is almost 100 percent dependent on petrol.
Less than six hours after the announcement of the subsidy removal on fuel, a litre of petrol jumped from N184 to N488 at the NNPCL fuel stations, while other independent marketers sold a litre of fuel for between N500 and N600 per litre. The adverse effect on food items, transport and other essential goods and services was almost spontaneous. And the lamentation began in earnest.
As Nigerians were still groaning and complaining, the fuel pump price was again jerked up by the NNPCL from N488 per litre to N567, while other marketers began to sell at N600 and above per litre. Expectedly, the situation became worse for the poor masses, and while the noose of hardship occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal continued to tighten around the citizens neck even to the point of asphyxiation for many, local political party panegyrists and their hirelings were stoutly defending the policy and telling Nigerians to be patient, since Rome was not built in a day.
Recall that the previous administration led by Muhammadu Buhari claimed it avoided subsidy removal to prevent electoral loss for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) but Tinubu and most of his supporters thought otherwise. When the President visited France and he was addressing the Nigerian audience in Paris, he was asked if it was impudence or boldness that brought about the subsidy removal, and he said, “when I got to the podium, I was possessed with courage and I said, subsidy is gone.”
However, as the public outcry and condemnation continued to trail the subsidy removal and its spiral effects continued to sweep across almost every sector of the people’s lives, the Federal Government quickly announced a palliative of N8000 for 12 million households to cushion the adverse effects of the subsidy removal. The money is to be disbursed every month for six months through electronic transfer.
Like the fuel subsidy removal, Nigerians went livid with anger over the announcement with many describing it as an insult to the sensibility of Nigerians. Those on this divide wondered how a responsible government would consider giving a paltry N8000 to a family of five for one month. They noted that a breakdown of the N8000 for a family of five in a month would amount to about N54 per person per day; an amount they consider as too poor to even feed a day-old baby and as the height of insult by any government on her citizens.
There are those who questioned the sincerity of the government in sharing N8000 to 12 million households since there is no database to determine the credibility of such an exercise. They wondered how the government would know who is who and posited that it is just another means to siphon the public funds and leave the masses to wallow in misery just like the previous government of Muhammadu Buhari did with the Trader Moni project. It will end up enriching some people just as the school feeding programme of Buhari administration that fed children even when they were with their parents at home, they argued.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) took a swipe at the Federal Government’s decision, saying it is an insult for the government to consider giving a paltry N8000 to a family of five per month for six months as palliative when the same government would be giving a whopping N70 billion to the National Assembly members of about 469 persons and N36 Billion to the Judiciary.
A communiqué signed by its President, Joe Ajaero on Tuesday, said: “The proposal to pay N8,000 to each of the so-called 12 million poorest Nigerian households for six months insults our collective intelligence, and makes a mockery of our patience and abiding faith in social dialogue, which the government may have alluded to albeit pretentiously.”
Also, the proposal to pay National Assembly members N70bn, and the Judiciary N36bn, is the most insensitive, reckless, and brazen diversion of our collective patrimony into the pockets of public officers, whose sworn responsibility is to protect our nation’s treasury.
These steps taken can only be described as robbing the people of Nigeria to pay and feed the rich. The government’s action shows that it does not have trust and confidence in the very Presidential Committee that it set up to take a comprehensive look at the consequences of the petroleum product price hike and make recommendations on the way forward to ameliorate its negative impacts upon the citizenry.”
Ajaero also noted that Congress does not have confidence in how the data for the never changing 12 million poorest households was generated. The Congress also does not have confidence in the mechanisms being pursued for the distribution of the cash transfers. He, however, reiterated that NLC would not want to continue to be part of the usual charade of Committees with outcomes that are never implemented.
“If the government does not want to stop these fortuitous actions that it is pursuing in the name of palliatives, we will be forced to constructively review our engagement with the government on this vexatious issue and take matters in our own hands,” he threatened.
Also, the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani has equally described the proposed cash transfer policy of the Federal Government as a scam, saying there was no accurate database of those that would benefit from the programme. He said: “My position has always been that at this critical time, cash transfer should not be something that we should bring up. I think that cash transfer, in my opinion, is a scam. I can be very certain about that because who are you transferring the money to?
“Let me give you an example, go and check the current statistics. Like I said, as the chairman, Committee on banking for four years in Nigeria, I oversight the Central Bank; I oversight all the commercial sectors of our economy for four years, and I looked at the statistics, I will be very firm on this issue and you can go and check it.
“About 70 to 75 percent of the rural population in the North West is financially excluded completely. You will have to go and check, these people we are talking about are important people in society. They do not even have a bank account, so, who are you transferring the money to.”
He stressed that the government should first ensure that the financially excluded individuals were taken care of and brought to the financial system before implementing the cash transfer programme. “Let u put more money to ensure that we open accounts for them, and get them involved. If we don’t do that, no matter what we do, and how we do it, money will go to the wrong people. That’s the fact”, he submitted.
In the same vein, the senator who represented Kaduna Central during the Eighth Assembly, also advised the Federal Government to shelve the idea of sharing N8000 as palliative for the fuel subsidy removal.
He described the subsidy regime in the country as a fraud and a cesspool of corruption, noting that while the present government had the courage to remove subsidy, it lacked a clear layout plan on what to do.
“I think we should also be clear that the past administration never made provisions for subsidies but having known that after the elections, when the winner was announced within that space of a period, there is supposed to be a plan that there is bound to be consequences after this removal, and these are the plans that we have to tackle these issues”, he said.
He noted that the previous administration embarked on a similar project by sharing money with vulnerable Nigerians, but failed and made the people poorer. He said: The palliatives of the previous administration were meant to solve the problem of poverty. How many people were poor before the administration of Buhari, and how many people ended up being poor? In fact, the money that was shared by Buhari ended up impoverishing the people more because you have 130 million people that are said to be in deeper poverty.
He warned the Federal Government against going ahead with the programme, saying, “it will be suicidal and that there’s no difference in borrowing to pay for subsidy. Rather, the money should be used to support businesses so they can grow. For things to work after the removal of fuel subsidy, the right structures must be in place, including support for farmers to produce food and an increase in the minimum wage at the same time.”
Following the barrage of negative reactions from all corners of the country, including from within the ruling party, the APC, the Federal Government, last week, made a volte face. It announced that it would suspend the disbursement of the N8000 palliative and subject it to further review.
Many Nigerians believe that the president adopted the shoot first and ask questions later approach because he suddenly abrogated the joy of millions of Nigeria through what they also called a kick and follow economic policy of subsidy removal.
Proponents of this view said the idea of subsidy removal never went through the crucible of critical assessment or well itemized provision of succour to its intended recipients. It also their opinion that the government neither made preparations nor undertook a thorough diagnosis of the existing conditions in the economy before yanking off the fuel subsidy. “Such policy needs meticulous planning, preparation and fallback measures to absorb the shocks and protect critical economic sectors and the vulnerable sections of the country. Look at the confusion the government has created for itself; announcing N8000 palliatives for 12 million households for the next six months and coming back less than a week after to suspend it and subject it to further review.
The government is always putting the cart before the horse”, he stated.
Lending his voice to the N8000 palliative debate, the President, Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Pogu Bitrus said the whole story about palliative is deceitful, stressing that it is just a conduit pipe to siphon public money. He wondered why the government has refused to fix the country’s refineries, arguing that fixing the refineries and not giving out subsidy is the only way to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians. He noted that fuel subsidy was introduced when the refineries became inefficient, and said it would be foolhardy for anybody to think of removing the subsidy without fixing the refineries.
He said: “How much did they say that they invested in the Dangote Refinery, which is not even functional yet? Why cant we have our refineries functioning? You came into office and you said you have removed subsidy, and we, Nigerians, who produce crude are paying for fuel at international price and people are suffering because there is a bandwagon effect. Everything has risen and Nigerians are suffering.
“The issue of palliative is deceitful; it is not going to address the problems of Nigerians. What we need is to fix those refineries so that they will start working and let us see whether or not petrol will continue to sell at this exorbitant price. That is the way forward, not palliative; palliative what? How much are you going to give to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians?”
In the same vein, the President of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, also described the much talked about N8000 palliative as a scam, saying the country does not have data to do that. “Already in the last administration, we were told that the e-sharing did not get to anybody. They gave the money without even bothering what Nigerians were going through in the name of palliatives. This madness cannot continue. We don’t even have the data. Wasting money in the name of sharing to 12 million household out of over 200 million Nigerians is a big joke because you have not even started anything. Who told you that the poor people are smaller in number than the rich people? The poor are over 80 percent of the population; those that can’t afford even a square meal per day. Even if they have a data to get to the people, 12 million is not enough, not to talk of when we know that it is a scam, he stated.
He advised the government to look inward and find a way of encouraging the farmers so that they could produce more food for the wellbeing of everybody rather than sharing the money that will not get to any poor person in Nigeria.