When Fuel Price Is Beyond Cost Of Bread

Nigerians woke up to rude but sad news of another increase in fuel price in less than two months, when workers and ordinary Nigerians were trying to adjust to the new increase, this week’s increase was seen by many as unjustifiable and calculated to cause public insurrection. The reaction was as spontaneous as it was predictable. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) instantly declared a “war” against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), threatening to order its members into the street if the increase is not reversed.

In what many described as not entirely true, the federal government through the minister of information and national orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, absolved the government of blame, stressing that the incumbent administration has no hand in the increase. The reaction to the minister’s claim is fraught with discordant tunes as some Nigerians can’t see the difference between the government and the NNPCL, with the latter being another name for the former.

Partly Public-Private?
The major reason in absolving the government of the new increase is hinged on the fact that NNPCL has become a privatised entity and not under the control of the government. How could a private company be in charge of a nation’s main revenue earner and be reclusive of being accountable to the people upon whom sovereignty resides? The fact is that NNPCL is largely more public than private. When it plays the role of a private entity, it does that for the interest of certain interests endorsed by the government.
As a private entity, as we are made to believe in the present status of the NNPCL, it cannot be enmeshed in the pursuit of profit while keeping thousands of refinery workers on its payroll that have not produced a litre of fuel in the last two decades or more. The claim that NNPC is now operating as a private company is not only preposterous but also devoid of any form of rationality.

National Or Private Corporation?
NNPCL’s management of the nation’s oil sector has not been commendable, taking into cognisance the footprints of the past. The mud with which the affairs of the corporation was managed and currently being administered did not start with Engr Mele Kyari. The rot is as old as the oil corporation. However, the rot became visible when there were deliberate efforts at stultifying attempts at reviving the collapsed refineries. The latest being endless postponements for the commencement of production by the Port Harcourt Refinery, among others, that have gulped billions of dollars. Despite several years of re-assurance, the hope of resuscitating these moribund refineries grows dimmer at the passing of each year.

It’s quite unreasonable for a country to surrender its national wealth to an oil company that has continued to be run under explicable circumstances that grants the company the rights to assets and not liabilities. No matter what happens, the Nigerian government would ultimately come to the realisation that subsidy on petrol products must be brought back in order to provide short-term reliefs such as access to cheap transportation and arrest galloping inflation shredding the citizens’ living conditions.

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As it stands, constant increase in the price of fuel has driven many families into the bottomless pit of poverty. The poverty index for the citizens has assumed a horrifying spectre, with over 70 percent of the populace entrapped in the circle of multi-dimensional poverty. The windstorm of hunger and youth restiveness is mostly felt in every part of the country, especially in the North where poverty has left many in constant disillusionment.

Rejigging Oil Sector
The fundamental problem of the oil sector is corruption. There is nothing with subsidies provided for by the government. What is troubling is the monstrous corruption that has trailed the management of Nigeria’s oil sector. We can’t cast a blind eye to the underbelly of rot and expect to have better results for the development of the country.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should accept the fact that the burden of providing good governance lies squarely on his shoulders. The buck stops on his table. Surrendering the management of the oil sector to NNPCL is akin to surrendering the sovereignty of the nation. Amidst the strangulating cost of living, there is a need for the government to act fast. Allowing the cost of fuel to the vagaries of factors prevalent in a competitive market will expose the unstable economy to the wind of uncertainty.

Even in developed economies of the world, subsidies are provided to cushion the high cost of essential commodities. In both the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA), billions of pounds and dollars are appropriated yearly as subsidies to the citizens. The essence is to allow for stable economic growth and provide a shield against winds of economic uncertainty. All we need now is for the government to get the real data for our daily consumption to return subsidy payments.

Nigeria cannot be left out in providing cushioning measures for hapless and helpless citizens who are increasingly driven into deprivations on account of high cost of living due to spiralling cost of fuel. At the root of the high gale of poverty ripping across the land is the cost of fuel that has been identified by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) as a major driver of inflation. There’s a need to extricate corruption in the subsidy regime in order to provide for the survival to combat the vulnerability of poverty-stricken citizens.

When the prices of crude in the global market eventually rise to $100 per barrel or falls to $40 per barrel, then, we shall be availed of yet another moment of public anxiety and threats.