Smouldering Embers Of Subsidy Removal

 By Adekunle Adekoya

“No politician can sit on an issue if you make it hot enough.” — Saul Alinsky(1909-1972

Well, the subsidy removal issue is clearly a very hot one for all Nigerians, and if I may add, irrespective of status. This is because costs have not just risen, they have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in a space of less than 30 days. May 30, the day after President Tinubu announced removal of subsidy on petrol, prices of everything, from food items to services hit the roof, burst through, and headed for the sky.

That was when petrol sold in the Lagos area for N488 per litre and N537 in farther areas like Damaturu and Maiduguri. Then, barely 20 days after, new prices of petrol took effect — now N568 in the Lagos area and N617 in Abuja. Again, prices of items took their cue, left the sky, and headed for outer space. We are all affected since we all buy in the same market; the difference is that our shock absorbers are not of similar strength.

Given the way the Naira is performing against other global currencies, especially the US$, it is not impossible that higher prices of petrol will materialise before the end of the year, in reaction to rising value of the US Dollar against the Naira. So, in practical terms, it is reasonable to expect that the ability of most Nigerians to feed, and live at the level they had been used to before May 29, 2023 (which was bad enough) would be further wickedly tested towards the end of the year and into 2024.

That is what makes the subsidy removal issue a very hot one. To all intents and purposes, Mr President is sitting on a brazier of hot, smouldering charcoal that may burn through his chair to his backside. Well, the president had said that nobody should pity him, since he asked for the job.

We will take his advice because we, ordinary Nigerians ourselves need pity, because our options at making ends meet are fast thinning out. But pity will not solve our problems, pity will not bring down the cost of petrol and the attendant rise in the prices of goods and services, food items inclusive. What is needed right now is concerted action towards making life easier for all Nigerians. It is the power elite that has the responsibility to do this, since they are in charge of our affairs. But what we have seen so far leaves a lot to be desired; we all may actually be sitting on balloons floating above a field of thorny shrubs.

First, and again, the palliatives. It is benumbing to discern that no original thinking is attending this issue. It is nice that the idea of sharing N8,000 to 12 million vulnerable families seems to have been jettisoned for now, at least by the Presidency, which kicked the assignment to the National Economic Council. The NEC, at its last meeting seems to still be eyeing the palliatives as earlier conceived.

This is because there was more fixation on the reliability of the National Social Register than on what to do with the $800 million obtained from the World Bank. At the end of the day, the strongest take-away from their deliberations was that Buharis’s social register lacked credibility, and thus could not be used for the palliatives. To say the least, this is very disappointing. Among the governors at the NEC are engineers, economists, and other technocrats, including a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Is this all they could come up with?

I think they should go back, put on their thinking caps, and come up with real, sustainable solutions that will reduce the hardship currently being faced by Nigerians. Could it be that the sub-national potentates are already eyeing palliatives as largesse to be shared and do with as they wish? I pray not.

Right now, the only sub-national doing anything cogent for its population is the Ogun State Government, which has commissioned an engineering firm to help people convert their petrol/diesel engine vehicles to run on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). That is the kind of initiative that can help our fellow compatriots deal with rising costs occasioned by subsidy removal. More of such are needed in other areas, not sharing N8,000 to people dubiously listed on an equally dubious register.

As regards the hardship, Mr President must take full responsibility for making a pronouncement without a thorough appraisal of the effects of his pronouncement. Clearly, the President did not commission an EIA (Economic Impact Assessment) of the removal of subsidy before announcing it. By so doing, President Tinubu merely foisted undeserved hardship on hapless Nigerians whose quality of life had been geometrically degraded by eight years of misrule under his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. Further to this, the President must also take responsibility for Buhari’s eight-year misrule.

The Daura General had been weeping after serially losing election, and then the Jagaban deployed his political wizardry to burnish Buhari’s political misfortunes, making him a two-term president. Given what we all went through under Buhari, 2015-2023 were years of pestilence. President Tinubu need not worsen our circumstances, he actually promised to improve them. He should do the needful by revisiting everything about subsidy. For us, it’s very hot!

*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues