FG, Independent Marketers and Politics of Petrol @#1000 Per litre, By Reuben Omotayo Hopo

Petrol, diesel and kerosene including gas have become a tale of woes nationwide since the Federal Government rescinded payment for subsidies to independent marketers of petroleum products. The corresponding effects have led to a rigorous struggle for survival by both the poor and the rich. However, can anyone justify the current price of petrol including its scarcity on the subsidy removal by the Federal Government? I don’t think so. Rather, we must blame the exorbitant cost and hoarding of petrol in the filling stations on individual natural dispositions to always milk the Country to the marrow.

Nigeria is a great Country with the potential to become Africa’s superpower that would always attract respect across the globe if not for the penchants to sabotage the economy from thriving and agile into comatose. Recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR was heard in a video clip on social media sharing his experience on why the four refineries owned by the Country cannot work profitably when he narrated what the experts told him. The Federal Government together with petroleum marketers before this era had plunged the Country at the expense of paying subsidies to import fuels into a Country experiencing a growing population at all times. Why the Federal Government before now failed to apply international best practices for maintaining oil refineries and augment them to date remained debatable.

Now that the straw had broken the camel’s back, the Federal Government must be speedy in its decision-making to stem the tide of untold hardships that  vested interests have imposed on the entire population of this Country. The cost of petrol which initially cost between #600 and #700 after the subsidy removal ought to have had a stable price control between #400, #450, and #500 to enable the poor households to feed with a little ease. That motorists and other consumers are now buying the product as much as #1000 is aggravating the endemic poverty already known to the international communities, and this trend needs to be reversed urgently, to save the image of the Country at home and abroad.

Let us come to think of it, if Federal Government is destroying illegal refineries built in the Niger Delta subregion, then, the Country so blessed with different human resources and capacity requires intellectuals to form think tanks to assist the Federal Government in providing alternative decisions for a medium and long-term solutions to making petroleum products available, affordable and as means of earning more foreign exchange. Except the Federal Government can solve this single, most hydra-headed problem, it is not likely that any of its actions meant to yield positive results for the populace would turn out to achieve the desired common good.

Till date, the Federal Government has achieved mileage in its efforts to turn around a virile economy for all Nigerians to achieve the “Renewed Hope Agenda” However, the Federal Government must change the gear to target a reduction in the price of petrol and its availability to save millions of people from going into the abyss of poverty at this most pressing moment of most Nigerians. The distribution of palliatives has only soothed a few people momentarily, as the distribution cannot go round all vulnerable Nigerians, hence it should be considered secondary.

The issue with the Dangote refinery that is making it impossible to boost the domestic supply of petroleum resources after a year target has been witnessed in the recent Dangote-NNPC saga as another sad reminder of how people at the helm of affairs have wasted the nation’s huge resources without any iota of sense of remorse. So, Nigerians are eagerly waiting for a speedy resolution of the differences publicly between Dangote and NNPC, using a roundtable approach to resolve the hues and cries. By now, this private refinery should be stable to meet a certain percentage of demands at home daily to save Nigerians from more agonies.

Apart from this, petroleum resources are the primary products that dictate the prices of all other products in the Country. Therefore, consideration for domestic supply should not be monopolized for a single entity, given its overridden importance to the survival of the nation’s economy, hence the Federal Government should come up with plans to fully deregulate the petroleum sector to achieve the revolution of per second billing introduced by Glo, an African investment in the telecommunication industry that fred all Nigerians from economic exploitation of foreign merchants till date. The truth is that Nigerians may not likely enjoy a reduced and stable price in the sales of petrol and other similar products if the Country’s crude oil is allowed to continue to be subservient at the mercy of petroleum marketers and other external interests.

On these premises, the Federal Government should halt the politics that has led to the ongoing sales of petrol at #1000 per Litre. The only thing that the common people know is how the value of the Naira impacts their living  determines the opinions and views that they would always form about the Federal Government. The higher cost presently calls on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the petroleum sector to achieve a stable price, economic growth and prosperity in the land.

The removal of subsidy from day one by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR has been the first step in the right direction to renew our collective hope back into prosperity, as a major economy in Africa. Nevertheless, the Federal Government must rise to the challenges to prevent more casualties at the expense of its unique economic reforms. In a couple of days, it would be good to have the ongoing rampages and long queues at the various filling stations reduced drastically.

Reuben Omotayo Hopo, a Public Affairs Commentator and Brand Strategist writes from Badagry, Lagos.