People, privations and public policy priorities [2]

By UGO ONUOHA WITHOUT any doubts whatsoever, the twin policies of the unplanned, wrong-headed, and precipitate removal of petrol subsidy and the massive devaluation of the national currency, the Naira, have at the root of the serious problems plaguing Nigeria and the pauperisation of about 200 million citizens. This regime pulled the plug on the alleged subsidy on petrol the same day it assumed office on May 29, 2023. In fact, it did so within the hour of taking office. At the time it did so, there was no full complement of the government. There were no advisers, no assistants, no ministers, no carriers of its vision and mission [assuming that it had any, really] except the structures it inherited from its predecessor, a regime that was widely regarded as a monumental failure and a scourge on our people. It was widely acknowledged that Muhammadu Buhari did not just waste eight years of Nigeria, but that it set the country back by a generation, or 30 years. Buhari’s was a sad case of serial bungling and ‘ungovernance’. He was an affliction. If corruption and industrial scale theft of crude oil in the upstream sector of the industry were the primary problems as were correctly diagnosed by successive administrations, it then follows that the right thing to have been done would have been to visit the root of the challenges with the full weight of the federal government. This regime didn’t. It was the beginning of it getting its priorities wrong. And that was understandable though unacceptable because high ranking government operatives, leading lights in the military, and other collaborators were the crude oil thieves. Those who stole Nigeria’s crude oil in handheld jerry cans or even those who move them in hundreds or thousands of jerry cans in trucks were not our problem. How much damage can they inflict on the national revenue, that’s, if this category of thieves existed? Almost zero. Stories were rife of huge and monster-size tankers criss-crossing our ocean fronts day and night, and their bellies being filled to the brim, and their leisurely sailing away to export markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The monster-like vessels were escorted by some members of the armed/security forces of Nigeria safely out of our territorial waters. The proceeds from the sales go to the global syndicate. Everybody knew that the crude was stolen. The ships’ crews were aware. Regulators and monitors of ships’ movements and registers were aware of the illicit business. The buyers were in the know that they were buying stolen products. But they did not care because it was a case of willing sellers and willing buyers. It was immaterial that illegality was written all over the transactions. Read Part 1: People, privations and public policy priorities The then new regime turned a blind eye to the bazaar in the Niger Delta and went for the jugular of the soft target-the hapless and helpless citizens of the country. It deregulated (read taxed ) the downstream sector immediately which opened the floodgates of the problems now besetting the country and her citizens. It was a petrol pump head tax. And every act of taxation comes with consequences. While the majority of Nigerians struggled with coping with basic needs of life, the privileged few with access were allowed sufficient time to clean up their act of illegally lifting crude oil to our collective loss and detriment. Because of the new tax (deregulation), the price of a litre of petrol rose rapidly from less than N200 to about N1,500 between 2023 and 2024. The bottom was knocked off our disproportionately informal economy. The impact of the ill-digested action was swift and severe and crushing. The movement of people and goods was mainly by road, and the majority of cars, buses, and trucks were powered by petrol. So the movement of people was affected. The same for goods. It was a common sight in mid and late 2023 to see trending videos of workers, artisans and traders going to and fro their various destinations on foot. Even up till today some people still cover significant distances on foot before completing their journey by bus or tricycles or commercial motorcycles otherwise called ‘okada’ or ‘inaga’. Many car owners ditched their vehicles and opted for commercial buses or even ‘leggediz Benz’ or ‘footwagon’, a deprecating description of covering distances on foot. The other day, an otherwise respected economist and public intellectual who indeed was one of my teachers during my chief executive programme [CEP] certificate course at the Lagos Business School [LBS], Dr. Bismark Rewane, was lamenting that the patience of Nigerians was being tasked, taxed, and stretched by the unintended fallouts from the policy options adopted by the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] in the implementation of its economic reforms. I was scandalised but I took solace in the suspicion that he was striving to be seen by the authorities to be politically correct in his public speech. I reminded myself that there were times during the disastrous years of Buhari that the same Rewane spoke in like manner. What could be unintended or unforeseen in inflation spiking and poverty deepening when the price of petrol was raised five fold in a country where petrol played, still plays, an outsized role in the movement of people and goods? In an environment where other modes of transportation are either underdeveloped or non-existent. Rewane’s lamentation was pathetic and patronising. It was nauseating. And an insult to Nigerians. He could not have forgotten that now Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had as an opposition politician in January 2012 or thereabout, written an epistle to the then President Goodluck Jonathan opposing the removal of petrol subsidy. Tinubu’s arguments then were unassailable about the dire negative multiplier effects of such action on Nigerians. To now say that the negative fallouts of petrol subsidy removal, and the subsequent mindless devaluation of the Naira soon after were unanticipated, would amount to a gratuitous insult

#EndBadGovernance: Why We Waved Russian Flags

Protesters in Kano who waved Russian flags during the  #EndBadGovernance protests say they took the action to challenge the Nigerian government. When a journalist immersed himself among the demonstrators in Kano City’s Kurna neighborhood to request one of the flags, he was directed to a man recognized as an Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) member. For security reasons, the journalist—who wished to remain anonymous—observed that the Shi’ite group started waving Russian flags, which other protestors later picked up on. But another demonstrator, identifying himself as Haruna, claimed to be unaffiliated with IMN when speaking with PREMIUM TIMES. He said someone brought the flags to the protest to challenge the Nigerian government. “I don’t know him, but what is the Nigerian government doing to us? The government must listen to our concerns; they must bring back the fuel subsidy. The only flag that I cannot raise is that of Israel,” Mr Haruna said. Kano is predominantly Muslim, with a large Sunni population, where anti-Israeli sentiments are common. IMN member Isah Bawa, from Fagge local council, confirmed the participation of Shi’ite members in the protests and the use of Russian flags but stated there was no directive from their leaders to do so. “Shite members took part in the protest like other Nigerians who are hungry but there is no formal instruction from our leaders for members to wave the Russian flag,” Mr Bawa said. A tea vendor, Abdullahi Maishayi, was detained by the State Security Service (SSS) on Sunday for displaying a Russian flag at his tea shop in Fagge. He was later released after denying knowledge of who placed the flag there. “It’s a tea joint, we host all categories of people. I don’t know whether the person who hoisted the flag at the joint is a Shiite because I was not around when the flag was hoisted,” said Maishayi, who is not a member of IMN. The display of Russian flags during the #EndBadGovernance protests in Kano was first noticed on Sunday and Monday in certain areas of the city. On Monday, hundreds of protesters on IBB Way in Kano took advantage of a relaxed curfew to continue their demonstrations while waving Russian flags. Several protest groups adopted the Russian flags, asserting they had no political agenda behind their actions. The Russian embassy in Nigeria stated that the Russian government was not involved with its national flags being used in the #EndBadGovernance protests. In a statement on Monday, the embassy clarified that neither the Russian government nor its officials were associated with the flag-waving. The Nigerian government condemned the use of Russian flags and calls for a military takeover by some protesters, labeling such actions as treason.