Assalamualaikum,
My write up may be bulky but please spare a little bit of your time to read through for meaningfull suggestions.
In the last decade,The nigerian governments has increased the prices of petroleum products several times,i think up to five times,in the name of removing subsidy and preventing smuggling of the products.On june 20th 2003,the ?democratically elected government of chief Obasanjo increased these products to more than 50%, the government said it was subsidizing local consumption to the tune of 250 billion naira annually,Mr president argued that the money could have been better used for more important developmental projects,that's why his government finds it necessary to deregulate the down stream sector of the petroleum industry,The only beneficiaries of the subsidy provided by the government,the president argued,are the rich who continues to get richer and not the masses.Within the said period,inflation is on the increase,virtually,the price of everything has skyrocketed-foodstuffs,transportation and other essential commodities.
In my opinion,Deregulation is not the answer,It is merciless to impose an increase in the prices of the petroleum products which is equivalent to increasing the prices of everything as i mentioned earlier.We all know the status of an average nigerian,according to a report recently released by the world bank,about 70% 0f nigerians are leaving below the poverty level -what a pity,eventhough Mr president has disagreed with the report to the extent of commiting about 200 million naira for verifying the report.Afterall,he has not tell us what he has done with the previous billions of naira from the subsidies he withdrew since 1999?How will he comvince us that the products will be available at the new rates.We all know what Abacha (R.I.P) did with the subsidy he withdrew from the petroleum products.
The major cause of this problem is the nonfunctioning of our refineries,as the sixth world producer of crude oil,sadly,nigeria is relying on the importation of the refined products,even with the importation the products are scarce, the government has refused to repair these refineries.They were pointing accusing fingers to Sani Abacha(R.I.P)that his family were obtaining profits from the business of importing the refined products that's why he neglected the refineries,now, five years after Abacha the refineries are still not working,they should tell us who the importers are and why they refused to put the refineries in order.
It is a pity that this government cannot curbe the activities of the smugglers,those smugglers,no doubt operate in collusion with NNPC and the registered petroleum marketers.It is the responsibility of any well meaning government to arrest such activities as smuggling,But this our government has already succumbed to the smugglers,which is a sign of incompetency.
We have suffered enough,the masses are already in muribund.I don't think removing subsidy at this time will solve the problem,i presume Mr president needs some more money for his globethrotting during his second tenure.(remember the most widely travelled president in the world?).Afterall,what are governments for? if they cannot subsidize petroleum products to it's masses.
What do you think is going to solve such a problem that has been lingering for decades?
