FUEL subsidy? Again? What fuel subsidy…!? Well, the Nigerian Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun explained what has been happening with the fuel subsidy and related issues. But we are still not clear with his massive grammatical rigmarole and home-made financial jargons. In short, Wale Edun along with this government of theirs is confusing us. We are in a fix. Some of the supporters of the administration too are in the same boat with us. We all are no longer at ease even with all the assurances of President Tinubu that we should relax.
On 3 June 2023, this column discussed fuel subsidy in Nigeria under the topic: “Fuel subsidy: What new are we talking about?” There is hardly anything new to hear about fuel pricing and the subsidy jumble other than the fact that we now have a president who is doing it in his own way. And it is still confusing.
Wale Edun too could also be in a fix. Twice this week, stories around his propositions on the economy and related hot topics in the country have been denied. The first was the huge sums he said were spent on subsidising petrol while the other is about the proposed new minimum wage for the country’s government workers. Edun is in a type of situation Oga’s aides find themselves in when Oga has messed up big time… deliberately or otherwise. Story was told of one “His Excellency the Governor” who had an axe to grind with one of his old political rivals. Upon becoming HE the Governor, he felt one of the best ways to show “the bastard” who is the boss was to descend on him with the power given him by the state. You know, that thing which you couldn’t ordinarily do when you were two men in a pit, you now hide in the power given to you by the people to do it.
HE the Governor went one night to demolish the house of this unfortunate political rival. He was said to have gone there without the knowledge of his aides, except for a few key security personnel. Immediately afterwards, he went to the homes of his media appointees and to that of his Commissioner for Information. He told each one: “I have just gone to demolish the house of Mr. Lagbaja. You have the mess to clear because I know that the media will be on it from tomorrow.”
The appointees who were woken from their sleep were aghast. Each, as he received his one-sentence briefing, was confused. No, they were gobsmacked actually. But they must shake off their sleep, come out of their stun and come up with something plausible as the reason for the governor’s nocturnal transgression. Minister Edun is in that kind of situation and I want to make an excuse for him. He must be in the same situation as a man handed the leash of a spontaneous large pet. The man who handles an energetic masquerade must not be less energetic himself, shouldn’t he?
Subsidy was pronounced as gone on May 29, 2023? But it was reported that indeed, it has not gone anywhere. But the government said we must not say that, that it is gone indeed. E shock you? E no suppose shock you except if you are one of those who believed that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would do things differently. And we have been warned by the conclusions of simple analyses of the cost of fuel vis a vis the weakened Naira. There are two different things however, going by the submissions of some observers. The pronouncement on fuel subsidy of May 29, 2023 is different from the actual activity in the sector. One is meant to divert attention from the many issues that clogged that year’s election and its aftermath while the real action is that subsidy is still being paid. Nasir El-Rufai of the APC and PDP said so and added that we don’t know what is going on.
So, if subsidy is being paid, how come we still buy fuel at around N700? What is the subsidy for? Who are these faceless people the government is paying subsidy to? Since the time President Tinubu was a candidate, he had maintained that subsidy was a rip off, that it’s a way through which Nigeria’s money is being stolen by a few unscrupulous people. He has remained resolute with this contention about the fraud called subsidy. So, there are more questions than answers as sung by Johnny Nash. However, he has never for once mentioned names of people who are involved in this fraud, obviously midwifed for the government by the NNPC. He has not for once said ‘now that I have the èkù idà (the sabre by its hilt), and I have stopped the subsidy payment, I think we should go after the people stealing our money through subsidy.’ Why is he doing none of these?
Have we also noticed that the IMF has been the one telling us more seemingly reasonable things about our economy than Mr. Wale Edun and his compound Ministry? The organisation said recently that the Nigerian economy was growing and had gained traction. Good. Only on Thursday, it was reported that our economy had a surplus of $1.43 billion. The meaning of these is of great interest to Nigerians who don’t understand how an economy performing to the satisfaction of IMF is not meeting the most basic of the needs of the Nigerian populace. We need a serious interpreter to help us make sense of the IMF postulations.
As a layman, I know that many businesses still cannot get off the ground after the Tinubu administration ignited the current super inflation through taxes and hike in basic consumer goods like electricity. Many like me are still wondering what it means for a country’s account balance to record $1.43 billion surplus while indeed, the same country’s economy is not supporting the development and growth of micro, small and medium scale enterprises. The nearest thing to getting financial support is your bank status – not like what the CBN recently did with Heritage Bank. And to get a loan in a commercial bank in Nigeria is like trying to disentangle mating snakes. If you don’t have the knowhow and the requisite collateral, don’t just bother. Then, don’t even think that a commercial bank in Nigeria will help you as a startup… you’d be like a groom at his in-laws’ with none of the bridal necessities.
However, there are many people who, in their muted and muffled support for the administration, want us to exercise patience and repose in hope of a better tomorrow to be brought about by the Tinubu administration. There are claims that Tinubu has chosen a tough and difficult path to economic recovery. The questions are not about hope or about belief in their ability or absence of it. We are already in a difficult and challenging time, but what is that theoretical framework or model the government has put forward through which they would lead Nigeria to the path of economic recovery? Where are these models? If there was a model, Nigerians would say ‘okay, let’s see how Model A works or how Model B works’ while the administration takes care of the expedient issues. If any theoretical economic recovery model is available, perhaps the government should educate Nigerians to understand it and sensitise us to key into and support it. This will ease the pressure on both the government and the citizens.
Now that the government has warned us against this line of reportage, what can we do? Shall we just fold our arms and wait for their statements? Okay, let us say they urged us not to discuss the submissions of Mr. Wale Edun since they are still drafts and proposals. Mr. Bayo Onanuga is trying to dissuade us from doing the kind of things he would do with so much relish and vigour as a journalist. I bet he would query (and might even sanction) his reporter who misses such a story. But tables have turned… And we are even unsure of what the Chief in the Villa, Ajuri Ngelale, will say regarding the same issue.
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