Five things to do before you outrightly removed fuel subsidy and where Tinubu failed
TINUBU’S SUBSIDY ERROR!
The difference between the subsidy removal promised by Peter Obi and what is currently being unleashed by Tinubu. I will go straight to the point.
There are five (5) key and indispensable issues or factors that must be taken into account or tackled before removing subsidy, and Peter Obi talked about them. Unfortunately, Tinubu did not know any of them. Here are they. First factor…
Before you outrightly remove subsidy, you must have repaired your refineries. Some people don’t really know what this subsidy is all about. And that ignorance is expensive.
Subsidy has to do with PAYING FOR THE COST OF REFINING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ABROAD. That’s all. Subsidy means paying for not having refineries. Paying for the shipping of the product abroad for refining. And paying for transporting it back to country
So, for you to remove subsidy, it means you are ready to refine locally thereby avoiding paying all of that. If you don’t have functional refineries and you remove subsidy, you will simply crash your economy.
Go to all those countries where there is no subsidy, how many of them refine their products in a foreign land? I ask again, how many countries refine their products abroad? And Nigeria has spent about N700b in fixing our refineries, yet nothing. The money was simply looted.
The first thing the government ought to have done was to repair the refineries FIRST BEFORE REMOVING SUBSIDY. Not doing that, you are just dancing with the lives of your citizens. Second factor… Before you remove subsidy, you must dialogue and agree with the labour unions. Without an agreement with AND THE COOPERATION of the Labour unions, and you embark on subsidy removal, all I’ll tell you is to get ready for humongous strikes and national protests. Right now, Labour (NLC and TUC) are planning nationwide strike even though Tinubu and co have called for a meeting of which their first conversation predictably ended in a deadlock.
This is what they should have done BEFORE that careless and thoughtless statement of Tinubu. Governance, especially at the presidential level, is much more than just stealing power. You must be competent and qualified with the necessary knowledge to deal with issues. So, calling Labour now for negotiation is like placing the cart before the horse.
Third factor… Advertisements There must be a cushioning plan ALREADY PUT IN PLACE before you remove subsidy. You don’t remove subsidy and then you START PLANNING on how to absorb and cussion the effects. What was the plan in place before that careless statement? The answer is none.
I said so because you cannot be at the venue of being inaugurated, when you haven’t even spent one day in office, and tell us your plans. Who did you consult? So, it was most reckless and inundating for Bola Tinubu to stand on his inauguration podium, where he was supposed only to thank God and Nigerians for the honour to serve them, and instead, start making pusillanimous statements without consultations. Forth factor… As you are removing subsidy, the money ploughed from it must immediately be pumped into the economy for the people to see. Mark my word “for the people to see”.
When the people can see what the money is being used for, that will give a soothing relief. I am sad to state that Nigeria is not a country where you will believe them when the leaders say they have put in this or that monies into the “economy”. In the end, the money would be re-looted by the urchins in the corridors of power. So, who is fooling who? Five factor….
This one is very simple. Before removing subsidy, a sensible government will take steps to ensure there will be no hoarding of petrol. Unfortunately, hoarding of petrol is rife today. By the way, Buhari subsidized petrol up till the end of June this year.
Tinubu was inaugurated on 29th May and he announced the removal of subsidy. So, what happens to the amount already paid for the entire June since we are now buying at mercy of the market? Why should Tinubu make that careless statement that “subsidy is gone” in May whereas subsidy will only be gone by 1st July? In summary “The points I’ve made above are all factors Peter Obi had taken into account before telling Nigerians that his administration will remove subsidy.
Surely, Tinubu knows none of those. “And it’s so sad. It’s sad that you will not only steal a mandate, but you will handle the stolen mandate with incompetence.
