Owing largely to the
abysmal failure of democratic political
culture to rapidly improve the welfare
of man and society especially in Africa,
many have come to hate or distrust
politicians with passion. A
larger part of the African society now
frame politicians as unreliable.
Citizens now see politicians as a bunch
of unpatriotic, selfish, greedy, and
corrupt people. It is mainly for this
reason that political leaders who are
desirous of writing their names in gold
invite tested technocrats to help manage
critical sectors of state machinery.
Unfortunately however, these technocrats
have most times ended up performing far
worse than politicians do. One general
excuse they usually give for their
appalling failure is lack of free hands
to operate.
To be fair to political
leaders that do not give these co-opted
technocrats blank cheques to operate;
most of them go into government without
the slightest understanding of the
workings and foundational essence of
democratic governance. They forget that
political leadership is far different
from the conventional leadership
culture. While the later is largely
influenced by Naira and Kobo (urge to
make profit), political leadership seeks
to meet the diverse needs of the
governed. Sometimes, this fundamental
goal of democratic governance is
achieved with state accounts in the red.
It is in recognition of this fact that
the concept of Foreign Reserves and
Sovereign Wealth Fund became popular in
many advanced democracies. The idea was
to ensure that commercial concerns do
not in any way deny citizens the good
things of life. After all, democracy is
all about the people.
It is not enough to
flaunt tittles and labels as most of our
professionals do. For a country like
Nigeria where a greater percentage of
her citizens are living below poverty
line, common sense should tell us that
our economic experts and fiscal policy
formulators will need to be very
creative to be able to design
practicable fiscal templates that can
effectively fight poverty. Somehow, the
colourful debate that followed the
federal government's decision to stop
paying subsidy on imported petrol has
brought to the fore one very sad fact:
Our nation's economic experts and fiscal
policy formulators are overpaid. This is
because their output is far below what
is expected of them. Apart from their
being apathetic, they are clearly
drained of practicable ideas to
stimulate rapid socio-economic growth.
What they do is to sit in front of
internet-ready computers and copy the
fiscal policies of developed countries.
In doing this, they fail to realize
that a lot variables such as population,
technology, culture, literacy level,
unemployment rate, and even religion
influences the design and mode of
deployment of fiscal policies. The truth
is that a fiscal policy that is
successful in Europe may not necessarily
do well in Africa owing to several
factors as enumerated above. Every
country is therefore expected to study
her peculiar situation and circumstances
before designing appropriate fiscal
policies to match.
The decision by the
federal government to withdraw fuel
subsidy is one of the fiscal policies
erroneously copied from some developed
countries. We must however not forget
the fact that in those countries, the
purchasing powers of citizens are strong
enough to take care of their basic needs
such as shelter, food, transport, health
care, education, and socials. It is also
necessary to point out that in the
countries where our anti-subsidy
apostles are drawing inspiration from,
poverty level is clearly within the
limits of a single digit. More than
that, unemployment figures are tolerable
and their public infrastructures are in
excellent condition.
One question that readily
comes to mind is: how much percentage of
Nigerian workers are able to take care
of the basic needs of their families
from their legitimate income? Going by
the statement of the governor of
Nigeria’s Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi;
only about 30% of Nigerians can take
care of the basic needs of their
families. What then happens to the
remaining 70%? Your guess is as good as
mine.
Like I have, and will
continue to insist, President Goodluck
Jonathan means well for Nigeria.
Unfortunately, just as George Bush was
stampeded by faulty intelligence report
to invade Iraq in 2003; overzealous
anti-subsidy apostles have cleverly
misled President Jonathan to support the
removal of fuel subsidy in 2012. I am
very confident that my position will be
vindicated in the very near future. All
over the world, political leaders that
are known to be very keen in making a
difference were more prone to making
errors of judgment. The situation is
worse with leaders that are mostly
surrounded by people who believe a coin
has only one side. Of course, President
Jonathan has many of them around him.
The earlier he realizes this, the better
for him and the Nigerian masses.
Apart from the
conspicuous fact that Nigeria's present
socio-economic framework is too weak to
accommodate the pressure of fuel subsidy
removal, my opinion is further
strengthened by the shallow logic put
forward by the two major anti-subsidy
apostles: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the
minister of finance and economy and
Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central
Bank of Nigeria. This duo will be quick
to remind Nigerians that there is no
fuel subsidy in Britain, United States,
Germany, Spain Holland, and France. They
have however deliberately refused to
appreciate the fact that Nigerian
workers do not earn as much as their
contemporaries do in those named
countries. Without doubt, Nigerians will
accept to buy a liter of fuel for even
N150 if public infrastructures are in
excellent conditions and the salaries of
public service workers are proportionate
with what their contemporaries earn in
Europe and America.
In fact, the most
worrying aspect of the arguments in
support of the removal of fuel subsidy
has to do with how it will help curb
cross-boarder smuggling of petroleum
products and the curbing of corruption
in NNPC. It is sad that both
Okonjo-Iweala and Sanusi are convinced
about the existence of corruption at the
nation’s boarder posts and oil sector
but not interested in going after those
eating fat from it. The best they could
do in fighting those stealing our common
heritage is to punish the poor masses by
increasing the price of petrol through
the removal of fuel subsidy. Why are
they afraid of the so-called "cabal" and
not the masses? The masses are still
largely ignorant. All of these must
bother President Jonathan. This is
because should anything funny happen
today, both Okonjo-Iweala and Lamido
Sanusi will be on the next flight to the
headquarters of World Bank or IMF for
immediate engagement. We should not
forget our past too quickly.
While speaking at the 5th
Annual Microfinance Conference and
Entrepreneurship Award in Abuja, the
governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
Lamido Sanusi informed the whole world
that a staggering 70% of the Nigerian
population is living below poverty line.
It was therefore shocking when one heard
the same Sanusi turn around to argue
that 70% of poor Nigerians who are
already living below poverty line could
withstand a further weakening of their
purchasing power when fuel subsidy is
removed. Who is not aware that the
removal of fuel subsidy will translate
to an increase in the pump prices of
petroleum products? In the same vein,
the prices of goods and services that
has direct or indirect link with petrol
will jump. I do not know of any good or
service in Nigeria that has no link with
petrol.
To make the Nigerians
look stupid, the anti-subsidy apostles
have been arguing that the poor do not
benefit from the fuel subsidy regime. My
not having a car does not mean I will
trek to the farm, office, market,
hospital, school, or church. We all know
that transporters fix their fares based
on how much they buy petrol. I therefore
consider it as an insult for anyone to
argue that it is those who own jeeps and
SUVs that enjoy the benefit of fuel
subsidy. The rich actually enjoys more
of the subsidy but the truth must not be
sacrificed on the platter of
insensitivity. They only want to play to
the gallery by attempting to paint the
picture that government is against
Nigerians living above their income. Let
me remind the anti-subsidy apostles that
millions of hairdressers, bar owners,
restaurateurs, taxi drivers, internet
café owners, ferry operators, bakers,
and technicians etc spread across the
country all benefit from the fuel
subsidy regime in their own little way.
With an increase in the
pump price of petrol, the prices of
goods and services will jump. This will
force more Nigerians into poverty as
their purchasing power will be weakened.
Families that for instance survived on
N10,000 monthly will need between
N20,000 and N25,000 for same purpose.
Those that are already deep inside the
mud of poverty will in this circumstance
have no better options than to either
starve to death or take to crime or
prostitution in order to survive. While
governments in advanced countries are
busy designing policies that will
strengthen the purchasing power of their
citizens, the direct opposite is the
case in Nigeria.
No one is arguing the
fact that money saved from the removal
of fuel subsidy can be ploughed into
creating new jobs. It will however turn
out to be a case of one who cares more
about quantity and not quality. Of what
good is it for government to produce a
poor and wretched working class? I am
referring to a working class that cannot
rely on their legitimate earnings to
take care of the basic needs of their
families. This is one reason why
corruption is gaining ground in Nigeria.
Apart from the unemployed, even the
working class citizens are so poor that
everybody wants to raise extra money to
meet the basic demands of life. Corrupt
practices are the usually the best bets.
Furthermore, let me
remind the anti-subsidy apostles that
the new roads, health care facilities,
schools, and rail lines that will be
built with proceeds saved from the
removal of fuel subsidy will not offer
free services. Frankly, these projects
will make very little or no sense if the
citizens are too poor to pay for the
services they offer. I am challenging
the governor of the Central Bank, Lamido
Sanusi to tell Nigerians what it means
to live below poverty line. He and his
co-travelers believe a coin has only one
side. That is the only reason why they
can afford to reason the way they do.
After all, they do not fuel their
official jeeps and generators from their
salaries.
Sanusi had last week
warned the masses that Nigeria will
collapse in two years if fuel subsidy
was not removed. To me, this is the
greatest lie of the century. The lie was
only aimed at instilling fear and
stampeding unsuspecting masses to
surrender their conscience to a bunch of
unfeeling technocrats that have cleverly
misled the presidency to accept to
remove fuel subsidy. Their real
intention is to blindfold and rob poor
Nigerian masses to pay a few rich ones
like them in the corridors of power. I
am convinced that they will not clamour
for the removal of fuel subsidy if their
salaries were between N18,000 and
N50,000 monthly. 70% of Nigerians earn
just this much. My only consolation is
that the masses are no longer as
ignorant as they were ten years ago.
President Jonathan must not allow any
person, no matter his or her pedigree to
put a hedge between him and the
electorates.
Without doubt, President
remains the most widely accepted
Nigerian head of government since
independence. For the first time,
Nigerians ignored religious, tribal, and
party sentiments to vote for a man the
electorates believe has answers to the
problems of the country. Unfortunately,
he has allowed some persons to poison
the trust and confidence the masses had
for him.
While the west, through
the World Bank and the IMF will make us
believe that subsidy regime is
unhealthy, critical sectors of American
and European economies are subsidized to
protect their citizens. As you read this
piece, the EU is subsidizing agriculture
and fisheries. Other developed countries
subsidize housing, health care,
education, or transport. It is left for
each country to choose critical areas to
intervene. These interventions, in the
form of subsidy are aimed at protecting
the purchasing power of citizens.
History will hold the
anti-subsidy apostles responsible if
Nigerian masses are forced to go out on
the streets to protest government’s
insensitivity. With the little I know
about Okonjo-Iweala and Sanusi; it will
be difficult for them to swallow their
pride. This is because they have
invested the whole of their pride and
ego in the subsidy campaign. The truth
is that, Nigeria is bigger than every
individual. I therefore urge them to
make the noble choice by retracing their
steps and join minds with the masses.
In the first place, we do
not have any good reason to import fuel.
The federal government, like is in other
OPEC countries should ensure that our
refineries are operating at maximum
capacities. With this, the pump price of
petroleum products will drop. At N65 per
liter, there are already credible
insinuations that Nigeria’s petrol is
overpriced. Among all the OPEC
countries, it is said that the pump
price of petrol is highest in Nigeria.
This has left a huge question mark on
the mangers of our oil industry. While
insiders will not want the president to
give a thought to all of this
information, he must not stop asking
salient questions such as: why are our
refineries not working at optimum
capacities? Why is petrol cheaper in
other OPEC countries? He can get genuine
answers from his lieutenants. There is
therefore the urgent need for him to
assemble stakeholders from the private
sector to proffer solutions to the
lingering crisis bedeviling the nation’s
oil sector.
In order not to see fuel
subsidy removal as a do-or-die thing,
government should look for alternative
means of raising money to service its
budget. It can do this by reducing the
number, salaries and allowances of
government officials and their
over-bloated aides. In addition to
strengthening the anti-corruption
agencies, a Wealth Verification (WV)
legislation should be put in place to
compel citizen to disclose their sources
of wealth. Whoever that wants to build
or buy any property worth N5m and above
should first be compelled by legislation
to file documents with the anti-graft
agencies detailing the sources of the
fund. This will make the job of the
anti-graft agencies easier.
While in the developed
countries, the rich make major
contributions to the development of
national economy, same cannot be said of
Nigeria. All of the nation's
transformation agendas have been built
on the frail backs of poor Nigerian
masses. The time has come for the rich
among us to contribute to the
transformational agenda of the present
administration. From henceforth, a 5%
annual national development tax should
be placed on every luxury car, water
craft, or mansion costing N5m and above.
Local and foreign air tickets and
accommodation in 3/5 star hotels should
also attract a 5% national development
tax. Through this way, the wealthy among
us can be specifically targeted to
contribute to national development. I
have no doubt that Nigeria will save
more than N1.3 trillion annually if the
above suggestions are embraced. Poor and
unemployed Nigerian should be spared
further hardship that will arise from
the planned fuel subsidy removal. Those
in government must learn how to
appreciate the feelings of the masses.
In advising the
president, co-opted technocrats must
bear in mind all that were promised the
electorates during the campaign season.
In case they do not know, the president
promised to stand with the masses-not
the rich, Okonjo-Iweala, Lamido Sanusi,
World Bank, or IMF. This is one simple
way most technocrats destroy political
leaders. We must not stand by and allow
them destroy President Jonathan! If we
do, we would end up hurting ourselves.
KALI GWEGWE
CEO, Nigeria Democracy Watchtower
2, Greenvilla-Customs Link Road
Biogbolo-Epie
Yenagoa
Bayelsa State.
0806 407 4810
kaligwegwe@yahoo.com
nigeriademocracywatchtower.blogspot.com
Published
January 4th, 2012
