PRESIDENT TINUBU’s INAUGURATION SPEECH “Subsidy is gone”: The Abrupt Discomforts We Need To Bear For Promising Nigeria
PRESIDENT TINUBU’s INAUGURATION SPEECH “Subsidy is gone”: The Abrupt Discomforts We Need To Bear For Promising Nigeria
The May 29 inauguration speech of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR of the 16th elected President of Nigeria and 7th inauguration since 1999 may have come and gone, but the only take way of his speech by millions of Nigerians on subsidy removal “subsidy is gone” has generated mixed perceptions among Nigerians, from NLC to TUC, from oil marketers to owners of fuel stations and from commuters to commercial transporters.
During his inaugural speech after his swearing-in, President Bola Tinubu reels out the key areas his administration will focus on in renewing the hope of Nigerians as promised during his electioneering campaign. During the speech, President Tinubu highlighted areas like security, jobs, infrastructure, Economy, agriculture, fuel subsidy, monetary policy, and foreign policy but the moment President Tinubu said “Subsidy is gone” the whole venue echoed in a loud voice, as a result of the national dialogue on the issue of subsidy, that majority of Nigerians have been alluding to that the fuel subsidy has become a channel for massive corruption of some few notable Nigerians in the name of subsidizing fuel for Nigerians.
The bold move to remove fuel subsidies has been in place by previous federal governments, to sanitize the corruption embedded in the process and to divert the humongous money spent on subsidies to revamp our critical infrastructures but each time previous governments try to remove the subsidy, Nigerians always show resistant to the removal over what they depicted as excruciating pain to buy fuel at a high cost, the pay of high transportation system, food inflation, etc, which they have vehemently resisting over poor state of the economy, abysmal minimum wage.
In January 2012, former President Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of fuel subsidies in his new year-wide broadcast but the new message did not go down well with Nigerians, as a nationwide protest across the country kicked off termed “Occupy Nigeria” which the government could not thwart but to reverse the decision of the removal.
In assumption office from 2015-2023, former President Buhari systematically removed fuel subsidies as a result of pump price increments during his regime from N89 that Goodluck Jonathan left to N200 till Buhari’s last day in office as President.
During the 2023 presidential electioneering campaign, President Bola Tinubu vigorously and openly campaigned for the removal of fuel subsidies should he emerge as the winner and become the President.
PRESIDENT TINUBU’s INAUGURATION SPEECH “Subsidy is gone”: The Abrupt Discomforts We Need To Bear For Promising Nigeria
Early this year, the immediate past Minister of Finance opened up to say that if the government should continue the payment of fuel subsidies, the government might not have enough money to fund capital projects, which is disastrous to the economy of the country.
January this year, NNPC came out to say 4.39 trillion nairas ($9.7 billion) was spent on a petrol subsidy last year, based on the latest data from the state-owned firm showed a cost the government has blamed for dwindling public finances.
February this year, The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) again announced that the country is spending over N400 billion monthly on petroleum subsidies, many Nigerians believe such a huge amount of money is capable of fixing our shabby health sector which is making our doctors leaving the shores of the country for UK, USA and Canada. In the 2022 revised budget, NASS approved N4trn for petrol subsidy.
In less than 24hrs that President Bola Tinubu said “subsidy is gone”, long queues immediately resurfaced across the country, which left Nigerians in a state of a conundrum on whether the fuel subsidy has been removed total or not by the new administration of President Bola Tinubu.
The statement of the President spawned reactions from the NLC and TUC over the decision to remove fuel subsidy without putting proper palliative in place, that will ameliorate the situation, some Nigerians opined that government supposes to first increase workers’ salaries before removing the subsidy, while some argued that government supposes to develop a palliative transportation system to cushion the effect as fuel crisis away has enormous effects on the transportation system.
The GMD of the NNPC LTD, Mele Kyari on clearing the air about the on national television(ChannelsTV) yesterday alluded to it that the government stopped paying for fuel subsidies immediately after former President Buhari assented to the Petroleum Industry Act, now PIB and since then, the subsidy has become the thing of the past.
The step taken or about to take by President Tinubu in removing fuel subsidy is a brilliant move that Nigerians must embrace because it is apparent, that fuel subsidy payment is so bogus and is at the detriment of the states. The fact is, we cannot continue with the humongous amount of spending on fuel subsidy every year when our critical infrastructure that suppose to be serving as the backbone for the development of the country are beseeching for financial attention but the money is being used every year to subsidize fuel that some people are greatly benefiting from at the disfavor of common Nigerians.
The reality on the ground has shown that the money we are spending on fuel subsidies can revamp some key sectors. Just an ephemeral hardship but forces of demand and supply will standardize the price. The 2023 appropriation has N3.6trl to fund the fuel subsidy for the first half and now, the first half of the year is gone, which implies “subsidy is gone” according to the President.
Ostensibly, the increase in pump price will come with some hardship, especially on food items as a result of the cost of transportation but Nigerians must realize that the time has come to fight this hydra-headed unconventional war once and for all to revamp our economy and take away fuel subsidy corruption from the cabal who are behind this monster in disguise of been the friends of Nigerians in the name of fuel subsidy payment.
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The government on its part must immediately make provision for palliative care that will cushion the effects of the bold step taken to reposition the country on the right aisle for greater economic achievement.
Government as a matter of urgency gets our four refineries to be working, in the hands of the private sector for efficient production that will give a competitive oil market like what we saw in the telecom years back, which has now become a relief telecom market.
President Tinibu must ensure he gets his cabinet teddy before the end of this month alongside his economic team, to put the ongoing fuel crisis under immediate control.
This abrupt discomfort we need to bear for promising Nigeria.
Sam Olorunfemi Jr
Journalist/Political Analyst