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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Fuel Subsidy A Scam: Not Nigeria Problem – By Isong Isong Egbona

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Any government in Nigeria mentioning fuel subsidy is irresponsible, callous and unfit for governance. It’s a clear demonstration that the masses were not the pivotal for their seeking of leadership position but rather it is their selfish interest. Permit me to use the words of the fuel subsidy advocates: “I decided to pen down this article in view of the economic reality of the obnoxious statement (since is not yet a policy) made by the presidency (he was not the scribe writer) which has brought about adverse suffering to millions of Nigerians”.

I will first of all define fuel subsidy. According to keypoint.ng, fuel subsidy can be properly defined as government effort in paying for the difference between the pump price of fuel at the petrol station and the actual cost of importation of the product. This definition already has indicted all and prospective Nigeria leaders because we are not supposed to be importing fuel. I got pissed up by statement made by the Group Managing Director of the NNPC that even if Dangote refinery comes on board or even if the country’s refinery is functional to its optimal capacity, the price of fuel will be sold based on the international pricing system. This statement is a very shameful, unprofessional, corrupt and disgraceful to be made by an administrator who does not have an ulterior motive. Meaning that, a yam farmer before eating his yam must go to the market and pay the market price before he consumes the yam. The reality is government don’t have the poor masses at heart, if not they should be talking of cut in the running of governance and productivity as a priority and not the scam called subsidy. Presently fuel is not only been subsidized for few but is been paid for completely for some few individuals (Government vehicles don’t buy fuel and are never affected by scarcity), at the end, it is millions of the poor masses that are suffering it.

FACTS

  1. According to Premium news a liter is subsidized at 202 naira and our daily subsidizing rate is for 66.5 million liters. This figure is supported by Aljazeera who puts Nigeria daily fuel consumption rate at about 70 million liters. Therefore using these figures we will agree that Nigeria average fuel consumption rate is 68,250,000 liters per day. These therefore translate to 13,786,500,000.00 spent daily to subsidize fuel. So in a year 5,045,859,000,000.00 is spent.
  2. In 2020, Nigeria modular refineries was said to be producing 8.5 million liters of fuel daily. Therefore 3,111,000,000 liters of fuel was produced saving Nigeria 628,422,000,000.00 naira from the amount budgeted for subsidy that year.
  3. Right from president Jonathan regime the Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Ltd in Ogbelle, River State was operational refining 1000 barrel of crude oil a day. A barrel when refined produces 159 liters so the refinery was producing 159,000 liters daily saving Nigeria 11,755,188,000 naira yearly.
  4. Over 10 million of subsidized fuel is smuggled on a daily basis across our border which translates to losing 739,320,000,000 naira every year as a result of porous border. Main while millions are voted into security.
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Therefore every successive government has failed this country because the ulterior motive behind their quest for power is not for the betterment of the common Nigerian but purely for their selfish gains. Presently from United Nation statistics, 133 million Nigerians are living in different forms of multidimensional levels of poverty and these figures will continue to rise with the introduction and implementation of bad policies.

WAY FORWARD

Every successive government in Nigeria knows the way forward but has refused to address it because their ulterior motive is to amass more and more wealth for themselves and their cabals. The NNPC GMD made another statement that reveals exactly where this whole fictitious fuel subsidy removal is heading, according to him government will introduce palliative to show how corrupted their reasoning is. Has anything like palliative ever worked out in this country without anybody benefiting from it. Who has bordered to ask how much the minister for disaster and humanitarian services and her ministry made in the last administration?  I will therefore end by making some few suggestions that will be helpful to this administration if they have us at heart.

  1. Declaration of a state of emergency in the oil sector. The oil sector is the most corrupt sector in Nigeria. In 2012, a parliamentary inquiry uncovered 6 billion dollars fraud linked to officials of NNPC. Government should therefore put their search light on that sector because no oil theft, either crude or refined that they will claim ignorant of.
  2. Security should be a priority. Insecurity has hampered development of the oil sector. Refineries are been burnt even though it is in connivance with those benefiting from fuel subsidy of which NNPC are supposed to be indicted ever since. Also our border security need to be checked and a trust worthy monitoring team put in place to check the activities of security men and smugglers. There is no effective smuggling that the security men at the border are not aware of.
  3. Cut in government expenses. This will include cuts in the number of SAs &PAs, appointees, domestic staffs and vehicles used by both past and present government officials. It should also include a drastic cut on salaries to serving and past political office holders. More worrisome is the amount paid to past presidents and their vice, governors and their deputies. Finally legislators should have nothing to do with constituency allowance. They should only come up with projects that equate the amount located to their constituency, supervise the biding process and also supervise the project itself. Their salaries and allowances and other benefits need to be cut in line with economic reality.
  4. Diversification of our economy. ADB president Dr Akinwumi Adesina said the oil sector only account for 15% GDP in Nigeria. By implication this country is only striving with only 15% of its GDP and had completely abandoned the other 85% because of blunt refusal to harness it. This goes to collaborate Al Mustapha revelation of the huge solid mineral deposit spread across the northern part of the state which is even used to fuel the insurgency. And we also have abundance agricultural potential.
  5. Building more refineries. It is shocking to note that CBN borrowed Dangote group of companies 2 billion dollars to build his refinery while Nigeria cannot build a standard and secured one to meet the fuel demand of this country. Is CBN now a lending organization and what was the interest rate and will they account for it? The government should build more refineries to meet both domestic use and export.
  6. Address leakages in tax collection and nip corruption from it very bud.
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After all been said and the only suggestion this current administration has to put forward to Nigerians as the solution to our problem is fuel subsidy then let them all just resign and leave governance to pragmatic citizen as it clearly showing that they are visionless. After all, they are all wealthy individuals and by implication of their swearing-in will still be addressed as past or former this or that.

Finally I will asked the present administration to study how Gaddaffi succeeded economically (not dictatorially) and was even paying unemployed youth still from the country’s resources which is not up to 1/10 of our resources.

Isong Isong Egbona

lordisong@yahoo.com

08063652652

 

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