In an era of change, nigerians expect to see credible, measurable changes
It is obviously not worth
her oily concern that the Nigerian poor, who literally never get to see
kerosene, are still made to part with N150 for a subsidised product
expected to sell at N50 per litre
With Dikki’s down-to-earth views on the
Nigerian economy, no time can be more opportune than the imminent
inauguration of the Buhari administration to blow off the lies and
stunts Nigerians have been fed with these past 16 years; especially in
this current regime, be it in its lodestar Ministry of Agriculture,
whether in its glamourised ‘transformation’ in the railways which was
hardly anything more than repainting old wagons or whether in a promised
forensic audit into the NNPC cesspit which turned out to be a none
audit.
Any keen observer of the Nigerian
economy, especially in the 16 years of a now haemorrhaging PDP, must
have seen that it is nothing more than a kalokalo, generator economy, underpinned by a gripping renteer-sm that kept that largest ‘rally’ in Africa going.
One such keen observer has been former
U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, who, in his: Nigeria: Dancing
on the Brink explored the country’s post colonial history, offering a
nuanced explanation of the events and conditions that have severally
propelled it to the edge. Central to his analysis are oil wealth,
endemic corruption, and elite competition, all of which have combined to
undermine her nascent democratic institutions as well as alienated its
increasingly impoverished people. That last bit, the alienation, no,
pauperisation, of the Nigerian people, more than anything, accounted for
the ouster of President Jonathan whose tenure had been largely
corruption-ridden and effete.
As a result of the president’s listless
approach to governance, all manner of crass opportunists carved out
empires from which they rummaged on the Nigerian economy. Ex-militants,
who most probably browbeat the president, became proud owners of
multi-billion naira oil pipeline security contracts which recently saw
total illiterates in professional arms-handling, like the Odua Peoples
Congress (OPC) emerge one such beneficiary. The direct result of that
was the unfortunate, fatal shooting of a young pregnant lawyer, Mrs
Adebimpe Fajana, at Arepo, near Lagos, only this past week. However,
none of these ‘empires’ would compare with the NNPC where all manner of
cabals mushroomed, literally economically killing off Nigeria. On the
first day of January, 2012, an ill-thought through removal of subsidy
on petroleum products had led to an unprecedented mass protest which on
being probed further, led to the exposure of a multi-billion dollar
cabal oil subsidy fraudsters who were paid billions of dollars for
petroleum products that were never delivered. Quite unsurprisingly,
children of two former PDP Chairmen were named among them.
But the mother of PDP’s inhumanity to
the Nigerian poor, planned and executed under the watchful eyes of a
complicit Goodluck Jonathan government, is the fleecing of poor,
helpless Nigerians through the kerosene subsidy. This ungodly scam,
responsibility for which must go directly to the Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Diezani Madueke, is a double jeopardy because just as it
defrauds the Nigerian poor, who hardly ever gets kerosene to buy even at
between N120 – 150, so does it cream off a monthly $100 Million from
the Federation Account. The former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi, testifying at the resumed Senate Investigative Public Hearing on
un-remitted oil revenue in Abuja,had told the panel that the $20
billion spent on subsidising kerosene, belonged to the Federation
Account. Relying on data from the National Bureau of Statistics which
confirmed that kerosene was not a subsidised product he also produced
evidence to the effect that former President Yar’Adua, indeed, issued a
presidential directive eliminating subsidy on kerosene, effective from
July 2009.
Speaking on the same issue at another
occasion, Dakuku Peterside, Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum
(Downstream), said: “In 2010, we spent N110, 068,533,988 to subsidise
kerosene. In 2011, the government spent N324, 089,961,319 and N200bn in
2012. So, in three years, we spent a total of N634bn, subsidising
kerosene. This is a third of what we spend in a year on capital budget.”
In a statement that would be extremely
difficult to surpass in its outright vacuousness, Diezani
Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources, claimed before a Senate
Committee hearing, that the Jonathan government could not implement
President Yar Adua’s order to remove subsidy from kerosene because, hear
the kind mum: “it would be inflicting hardship on the citizens,” as if
she did anything else in all her yeas in public service. As you read
this, Nigerians are buying a litre of petrol, fixed by government at
N87, at more than N150. It is obviously not worth her oily concern that
the Nigerian poor, who literally never get to see kerosene, are still
made to part with N150 for a subsidised product expected to sell at N50
per litre. In case it could still be of any help to Mrs Madueke on her
way out, let me quote her the words of Beatrice Kelvin, a restaurateur:
‘‘the last time I bought kerosene, it was as if the commodity was going
to be sold for the last time in Nigeria that day. Every space in the
filling station was occupied by intending buyers. It was indeed a sight.
Many people buy kerosene at a rate higher than N50 and I know that it
is not also available.’’
President-elect, General Muhammadu
Buhari, must see the above as only the tip of the ice-berg in the
economic ruination President Jonathan would be handing over to him on
May 29th. The entire Nigerian space is crawling with evidences of
despoliation by a PDP that survived almost solely on corruption.
Reacting to one of my articles recently, a reader from tel. no
080523631- – wrote: “My theory about the PDP being a criminal
organisation is proven now. It is one thing for a party to harbour
criminal elements, quite another for the party itself to be criminal
like those mafias in Southern Europe. For better, for worse, it seems
good now that that organisation has been dislodged from Abuja. In a
society where nation building is taken seriously, it ought to be legally
disbanded, criminalised and banned like the Nazi party.”
That, Mr President-elect, is the picture
of the ruined country you will be confronted with on May 29, 2015.
Nigerians are eagerly waiting to see decisive and measurable changes
from that date. And you can, the very minute President Jonathan bows
out, promptly stop this scam which was put in place for the presidency’s
‘weeping boys’ and its other cronies, some of who practically owned the
NNDC.
The Nation
No comments:
Disclaimer:
*Don't Forget To Drop Your Comments After Reading
*Comments on this blog are NOT posted by Agbo.
*Agbosblog Readers are SOLELY responsible for the comments they post on Agbosblog.com
*Follow On Instagram @agbosblog
*Follow On Twitter @agbosblog
Thank You