Year 2022? Yes, it has become yesterday. Our today is 2023. We wish we won’t witness any semblance of 2022 this 2023.
What did not happen to us last year? Virtually nothing. We went into the more than 12 months now. We saw and we were conquered but not subdued. Never quietened.
Every aspect of our life was brutally bruised. The steam in us almost evaporated. We were practically breathless. We wobbled and fumbled throughout the year 2022. Just like its predecessor, 2021.
So? When it ended the way it ended. We clapped, jumped for exceeding joy. Our happiness knew no bounds. We were elated and excited all at the same time.
Honest. We perceive high hopes in 2023. We see a new dawn. It’s our very fresh day. We refuse to be dampened.
At least, we have another rare chance. It’s a lifetime opening. A golden opportunity as it were to make amends. And a life-changing choice.
But the threats are real, damning and alarming! Yet, we’ve got to confront them. Headlong? That could be suicidal.
The conspiracy is equally non-fictional. It’s factual, not fictitious. All the major presidential candidates are in this business together. It is one issue that unites them.
This roll call is not in any particular order: Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Bola Ahmed Tinubu, All Progressives Congress (APC); Peter Obi, Labour Party (LP); and Rabiu Kwankwaso, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
They are the culprits. They are unequally yoked together. For us it’s more than a plot. We see it far beyond machination. It is a cabal of deceit.
They are just playing to the gallery. Dwelling chiefly on rhetoric. It is intentional. Dancing in the market square is the game.
See them? You will marvel at the dexterity they put into it. By omission and commission, they manage to strike a common ground.
And the meeting point is the dreaded fuel subsidy removal. They are working assiduously on our intelligence. We are genuinely worried. Who would not worry?
Just imagine! How they are lending their Babel of voices on fuel subsidy removal. It’s dazing, dazzling and stunning.
They were never united like this before. And that increased our worries and concerns. And that is the huge threat to the 2023 of today.
Interestingly, the salvo came from an unexpected camp. It was Obi who first mooted the idea. He flew the kite in July 2022. Still, it caught others like harmattan fire.
He was in his usual element. Blunt but simple: “I will remove fuel subsidy.” He did a comprehensive follow-up: “I can assure you, it (subsidy) will go immediately.”
He insisted: “The subsidy, I have said before, is an organised crime. I will not allow it to stay a day longer.
“What they are telling you is not what it is. Half of what is being mentioned is not subsidy. First is that we consume the quantity that is not supposed to be consumed here.”
He came with his trader’s economics again: “Look at this year’s budget. Education, which is the highest since this government came, is about N2 trillion. Health, which is the highest since this government came, is about N1.5 trillion. Then infrastructure, like roads and everything, is about N1 trillion.”
The frightening aspect: “These three critical development areas are receiving N4.5 trillion. Subsidy is N3.6 trillion half year. So, if it’s a full year, it is about N7 trillion. Which country will invest more in subsidy than education, health and even roads? It doesn’t make sense.”
Then entered Tinubu in October 2022. Very unlike him, he trode softly: “I will ensure the stability of petroleum product supply.” How? He responded promptly: “By fully deregulating the downstream sector and ensuring that local refinery capacity will meet domestic consumption needs.”
He has more in his kitty:
“We will hasten the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act and implement favourable policies to stimulate investment in the deep-water assets such as encouraging negotiations regarding signature bonus payment and/or deferral of the payment post development and royalty reliefs.”
In December 2022, Tinubu became harsher. He completely changed his tactic. He told us without mincing or mixing words: “No matter how long you protest, I will remove (fuel) subsidy.”
His reason: “How can we be subsidising fuel consumption of Cameroon, Niger, Benin Republic?” Good question. We flow with you on this.
He, however, stretched his luck too far. He continued with sheer arrogance and insensitivity: “No matter how long you protest, we are going to remove subsidy.”
He didn’t need to be violent in passing his message. We don’t want to continue with the kind of leadership we have on our fragile laps now. You need not be brazen. You are still an applicant. We must be courted not threatened or cajoled.
Our takeaway from that: He just displayed that he is going to rule and not lead. That’s instructive enough for us. And we have taken good note of that.
We detest a government that will be deliberately deviant and eccentric. That is not our portion. Neither is it our priority.
Kwankwaso appeared non-committal. He did not tell us his whole mind. He simply said Nigeria lost billions to subsidies in the past. He spoke in November 2022.
So, if elected, his administration would assess the past subsidy regime in the overall interest of Nigeria. That is where and how he ended it.
But Atiku came with a vow in November 2022. He too saw our own brand of subsidy as abnormal, a misnomer: “It’s just a fraud.”
His explanation: “I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel subsidy committee. I recall how we removed phase one and phase two of the fuel subsidy.” He didn’t tell us what they achieved with that.
All the same, what is your stand now? “I will continue from where we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud.”
Atiku came back the following month. He gave himself a timeline: “I will remove the fuel subsidy within the first 100 days in office. We should be able to make a decision.”
These are the options before us. The candidates turned themselves to canary birds. Singing uncontrollably. The same song in different tunes!
President Muhammadu Buhari did sing the same old song. He was desperate as a presidential candidate. He was emphatic as far back as 2011. He poured out.
He swore fuel subsidy was brazen corruption. We thought he was sincere. He asked into the air: “Who is subsidising who?”
He was petroleum minister between 1976 and 1978. That was under the military junta of General Olusegun Obasanjo. He did a quick calculation to determine the true cost of a litre of oil:
“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.” His reasonable conclusion was apt: “If anybody says he is subsidising anything, he is a fraud.”
Buhari is still the oil minister. Has he walked his talk? He never did. Instead, he turned the tables against us. His government feasted on oil subsidy with utmost recklessness. They lace it with lies and falsehoods.
The deceit has not stopped. His reign of nearly eight years became our ruin. A nightmare. He never seriously tackled fuel crisis. It has been a dismal recurring decimal of his regime.
Now, do you clearly see the threats trailing us this 2023?