22042019 - ACUTE HUNGER: Outrage as IDP children feed on onion leaves

Buhari is right; fuel subsidy is a fraud
PRESIDENT Muhammadu
Buhari w<strong>as</strong> Petroleum
Minister from 1976-78 and
Governor of North-E<strong>as</strong>tern State,
comprising today’s Bauchi,
Gombe, Borno, Yobe, Taraba and
Adamawa states. He w<strong>as</strong> also
Head of State for 20 months from
December 31, 1983. So when <strong>as</strong> a
presidential candidate he told the
country in 2011 that the much
touted fuel subsidy is a fraud, it w<strong>as</strong>
<strong>as</strong>sumed he knew what he w<strong>as</strong>
talking about. He <strong>as</strong>ked the b<strong>as</strong>ic
question: “Who is subsidizing
who?”
He explained the cost process
and told the public that fuel
subsidy in an oil-soaked country
like ours, is nothing but corruption;
a brazen theft of public funds. As
to how we can determine the true
cost of a litre of fuel, he worked it
out brilliantly: “the cost of one
barrel at the wellhead and then the
cost of transportation to the
refinery, the cost of refining it and
its cost at the pump.” B<strong>as</strong>ed on this
b<strong>as</strong>ic economics he concluded: “If
anybody says he is subsidizing
anything, he is a fraud.”
L<strong>as</strong>t Wednesday, April 18, 2019,
President Buhari presided over the
meeting of the Federal Executive
Council, FEC, and allowed himself
to be cowed by the subsidy sharks
into accepting the delusion that
This is Nigeria
By Oludayo Tade
THE cloud of criminality and institutional
impunity which have enveloped Nigeria
are bitter pills being forced down the throat of
Nigerians. In a country where the so-called
activists have collapsed their structures into
the ruling elite; where hitherto feared pressure
groups such <strong>as</strong> the Nigerian Labour Congress,
NLC, Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,
are prioritising the self above the rest and the
country; a state of nature is being birthed in
Nigeria where human life is worthless and there
is uncertainty about who is likely to see
tomorrow. Institutional impunity h<strong>as</strong> led to
the murder of hapless young Nigerians in the
Lagos megacity by those late Fela Anikulapo
Kuti would call ‘animal-in-human skin.’ Were
it not for ‘militarised mentality’, what would
make a ‘professional’ police officer shoot
unarmed suspect? How do you expect citizens’
loyalty when there is widespread injustice? The
objective reality of happenings in Nigeria h<strong>as</strong>
been mirrored by the hip hop artiste, Folarin
Falana also known <strong>as</strong> Falz in his phenomenal
cover song, This is Nigeria. Unlike his cohorts
who glamorise societal ills, Falze the Bahd
Guy, follows from his activism background
signposting societal ills largely domesticated
in Nigeria.
The chaotic situation in Nigeria is visually
represented in the song with one crime or social
problem commanding its own sphere of
strength. Gang fighting, Fulani herdsmen
killings, and other forms of crime occur
simultaneously while Nigerians look on or
continue with their businesses since they are
yet to be victimised. Wondering why
abnormality h<strong>as</strong> become normalised in
Nigeria, Falz x-rays Nigeria’s state of nature
wondering how humanity h<strong>as</strong> become cheap
and no one seems to be troubled. Echoing the
criminal in all of us, Falz invites viewers to
there is high fuel subsidy. He let
himself be conned into believing
the International Monetary Fund,
IMF, claims of fuel subsidy which
must be removed to allow higher
fuel prices. As in the p<strong>as</strong>t, the hike
will hurt the Nigerian people,
negatively affect the economy and
significantly incre<strong>as</strong>e m<strong>as</strong>s
poverty. Already, under the Buhari
Presidency, Nigeria, with 87
million citizens under the poverty
line, h<strong>as</strong> attained the dubious
status of being the poverty capital
of the world.
For the Buhari leadership, it is
no longer a question of whether
fuel prices will be incre<strong>as</strong>ed; it is
when. His Minister of Finance,
Hajia Zainab Ahmed, at a press
briefing said: “We need to find how
we can exit fuel subsidy. But how
do we do that? We do that only when
we have enough buffers to cushion
the effects of the removal for our
people…In some countries, they
provide buses to transport people,
in some countries they provide
subsidies for people that are
directly requiring the subsidies…
We have not found a way to do it.
What we are doing now, the subsidy,
it is everybody that is benefiting,
where<strong>as</strong> it should be the people that
are really vulnerable that need it.”
Her speech contains four main
ingredients. First, that Buhari and
his government accept the
contrived fuel subsidy. Secondly,
that the administration agrees with
the IMF that fuel subsidy is like
cancer which must be removed.
Thirdly, that fuel price would be
hiked. Fourthly, because Buhari
loves poor Nigerians, he wants to
cushion the effects of the price hike.
The issue of ‘cushioning' the
effects, is a fraudulent old trick
repeatedly played on Nigerians.
For instance, when in 1989 and
1991, the Babangida regime
incre<strong>as</strong>ed fuel prices, it introduced
“cushioning” effects by launching
a Bus M<strong>as</strong>s Transit Programme,
MTP, and establishing the
Directorate of Food, Roads and
Rural Infr<strong>as</strong>tructure, DFRRI. In the
Under the Buhari
Presidency, Nigeria,
with 87 million
citizens under the
poverty line, h<strong>as</strong>
attained the dubious
status of being the
poverty capital of the
world
examine the processes leading to what we own,
eat and the environment we inhabit. He
concludes that everyone in Nigeria is a
criminal. Criminality becomes general since
we see evil and fails to condemn it. To Falz, not
speaking and acting against evil emboldens
evil. However, thanks to the relative anonymity
of the social media, people get to report some
crimes.
April 14, 2019 marked the fifth-year evilmemory
of the kidnap of Chibok school girls.
Not even the #BBOG movement could rightly
capture the nightmarish condition of parents
whose <strong>children</strong> are yet to return home. As the
Yoruba saying goes: omo eni kú sàn ju omo eni
sonù lo, which roughly means a dead child is
better than a missing child. When a child dies,
there is finality and total disconnection. When
she goes missing, the mind is perpetually
tortured in expectations. Falz captured the
Chibok episode by representing them with
ladies dancing Shaku shaku in hijab. To him,
we focus on distractions and allow evil to thrive.
Part of the objective realities in Nigeria
includes the process of electing leaders. The
system is skewed to elevate corruption to high
pedestal. This h<strong>as</strong> mostly lowered
accountability and responsible governance. If
the structure that throws up candidates for
elections stand on corruption, it is unlikely that
such a person and the government he or she
heads will be responsive, responsible and
decent. Falz viewed this <strong>as</strong> problematic. To
him, Nigeria is a country of many troubles
and anomalies where looters and killers are still
contesting elections o. Politicians wey steal
billions and billions, e no dey go prison o. The
dangerous dimension to the problem is how
others are joining the pro-corruption movement
while the nation bleeds.
Meanwhile, insecurity is overthrowing calm
and social order with each geopolitical zone
having its own form of this national emergency.
From cult war, armed robbery and kidnapping
c<strong>as</strong>e of the Jonathan
administration, after incre<strong>as</strong>ing
prices on January 1, 2012, it
established the Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment
Programme, SURE-P, <strong>as</strong>
“cushioning” effect.
The fraudulent logic in these
cosmetic cushioning effects, is that
subsidy favours only the rich, there
is, therefore, the need to <strong>as</strong>sist the
poor to bear the pains. While the
Babangida and Jonathan
governments, were more straight
Vanguard, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019—31
forward on these issues, the Buhari
government engages in
camouflage. It is giving the
impression that it is sorry for the
people that is why it must first put
cushioning effects in place before
incre<strong>as</strong>ing the price. This does not
tally with its previous actions. On
May 11, 2016, it jerked fuel price
from N87 to N145 without any socalled
cushioning effects.
Nigerians would not be unwise if
they believe the Finance Minister
when she said: “We should not be
contemplating removing the
subsidy because, indeed when we
do, there will be people that will
suffer.” In reality, it is like the tiger
stalking its prey.
In fact, while the Buhari
government had claimed that it
w<strong>as</strong> not paying subsidy and that it
had thereby saved the country
N1.4 trillion annually, in truth, it
w<strong>as</strong> paying about that amount <strong>as</strong>
fuel subsidy.
Dr. Agbon Izielen, a Nigerian oil
expert b<strong>as</strong>ed in Tex<strong>as</strong>, United
States in December 2011, put flesh
on Buhari’s informed submission
on fuel pricing: “At the refinery gate
in Port Harcourt, the cost of a
barrel of Qua Iboe crude oil is
made up of the finding/
development cost ($3.5/bbl) and a
production/storage/transportation
cost of $1.50 per barrel. Thus, at
$5 per barrel, we can get Nigerian
Qua Iboe crude to the refining
gates at Port Harcourt and Warri.
One barrel is 42 gallons or 159
litres.
The price of one barrel of petrol
at the depot gate is the sum of the
cost of crude oil, the refining cost
and the pipeline transportation
cost. Refining costs are at $12.6 per
barrel and pipeline distribution
costs are $1.50 per barrel. The
distribution margins (retailers,
transporters, dealers, bridging
funds, administrative charges, etc.)
in South-West Nigeria; ‘bandits m<strong>as</strong>sacre in
Zamfara’; herdsmen killing in North-Central;
ethnic cl<strong>as</strong>hes in Kaduna; insurgency, terrorism
and cattle rustling in North-E<strong>as</strong>t and West;
there is a rise in insurgent citizenship, all
contesting the hitherto state monopoly of
violence in the most daring manner. Worse still,
leadership character does not show any sign
of intent to check the menace. Introducing
humour, Falz depicts the Nigeria police <strong>as</strong> lilylivered
saying police station dey close by 6 (pm),
security re<strong>as</strong>on o. By saying this, Falz shows the
helpless condition in which those who are to
secure Nigerians found themselves. Why
should a police station close by 6.00pm due to
security re<strong>as</strong>on?
While they may not be able to check crimes
This is indeed Nigeria,
where singing about societal
ills receives the ban of the
state; the same state that
allows anti social songs to
continue to air
in the neighbourhood, they are on the road
mounting illegal roadblocks where hapless
citizens become their victims, sometimes in
c<strong>as</strong>h, kind or paying with their lives. Methinks
the trigger-happy police in Lagos should be
deployed to Maiduguri or Zamfara since they
are sharp shooters. With their protruding
ègúnje bellies, these policemen misrepresent
the upright policemen. Worse are the SARS
‘killer’ squad who use crude profiling tactics
to suspect all youth <strong>as</strong> cybercriminal. Their
aim w<strong>as</strong> never to check the menace but to
har<strong>as</strong>s, extort, steal, maim and kill. Youths who
dare to protest have unfortunately paid with
their lives! Hmm...Falz documents this rights
abuse singing: This is Nigeria, SARS stop you
for road, no explanation, you go talk am for
station o.
Falz did not spare the church from
institutional impunity which characterised
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are N15.49/litre or $16.58 per
barrel. The true cost of one barrel
of petrol at the Mobil filling
station in Port Harcourt or
anywhere else in Nigeria is,
therefore, ($5
+$12.6+$1.5+$16.6) or $35.7 per
barrel. This is equal to N33.36 per
litre compared to the official price
of N65 per litre."
Armed with such scientific
analysis, the Trade Union
Movement that December 2011,
met then President Goodluck
Jonathan. I w<strong>as</strong> the Acting
General Secretary of the Nigeria
Labour Congress, NLC. The
government technical team led by
then Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, tried to
bamboozle us with all sorts of
statistics, slides, videos and subsidy
statements to justify the
administration’s claims that the
landing cost w<strong>as</strong> N141 per litre.
We punctured holes in the
presentation and showed the
statistics to be padded. We went
further to <strong>as</strong>k Dr. Okonjo-Iweala
that since the government claimed
that it had a 60 per cent local
refining capacity, she should tell
us the cost of a litre of locally
refined fuel. She flared up,
protesting that she w<strong>as</strong> not a liar.
At that point, President Jonathan
intervened, <strong>as</strong>king us to come with
our statistics to the next meeting
slated for January 2012. But that
w<strong>as</strong> aborted <strong>as</strong> the government on
January 1, 2012, incre<strong>as</strong>ed a litre
of fuel from N65 to N141. With
that, m<strong>as</strong>s street protests and strikes
swept through the country.
Although the waves did not sweep
away the Jonathan government, it
never recovered from the effects.
Except the Yar’Adua
administration, all governments
since 1987, had fe<strong>as</strong>ted on the fuel
subsidy fraud.
modern day ‘pente-r<strong>as</strong>calism’. Churches and
mosques embrace the corrupt and use
corruption monies to build cathedrals. They
both worship money and convert their
‘brethren’ to mùmú whose life must revolve
around the dictates of ‘our daddy’ and ‘our
mummy’. Falz re-echoes sexual r<strong>as</strong>cality
among demented p<strong>as</strong>tors and so-called alf<strong>as</strong>
who commit the abominable with their
members. In a country where life is almost
meaningless, religion is taking the vulnerable
for a ride. This is why the kingdom of God
suffereth violence and the clergy unrelentingly
lure and dupe their followers by force.
Hmmm....Falz says praise and worship we
singing out, p<strong>as</strong>tor put his hand on the bre<strong>as</strong>t of
his members...pulling the demons out. Chai,
there is God o!
Falz’s This is Nigeria w<strong>as</strong> unsparing of
cybercriminals who are mostly youths. He
wondered why people are no longer <strong>as</strong>king for
the source of personal wealth. Lately, undies of
women were sought after to make money. The
activities of EFCC and successes recorded have
shown the ubiquity of cybercriminals. Falz
calls for decisive action against this ill. As he
sings, Yahoo-yahoo don tear everywhere now and
we dey act <strong>as</strong> if its so cool. In the process of
trying to monitor and do the right things, he
noted that the upright may become victimised.
This is indeed Nigeria, where singing about
societal ills receives the ban of the state. The
same state that allows anti-social songs to
continue to air. Unfortunately, from Change
to Next Level, there h<strong>as</strong> been aggravated
killing, kidnapping, and rising insecurity in
general. While emboldened institutions
become active when handling hapless citizens,
they are beginning to confirm their incapacity
and lack of ingenuous way out of the woods.
For Nigerians and Falz, the desire is to live in
a country where unity, peace and progress
reside and where Nigerians can achieve their
life goals unthreatened.
*Dr Tade, a sociologist, wrote via
dotad2003@yahoo.com
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