National Assembly, fuel subsidy and opportunism
It is a major challenge not because the policy itself is bad but because it is one that is difficult to sell even to those who are fully aware of the merit of the case. And the simple truth of the matter is that it is a part of human nature to be resistant to […]
It is a major challenge not because the policy itself is bad but because it is one that is difficult to sell even to those who are fully aware of the merit of the case. And the simple truth of the matter is that it is a part of human nature to be resistant to change, especially in the upward swing of the price of any good. No people anywhere in the world enthusiastically welcome an increase in the price of any commodity, no matter how justifiable the argument for any such increase may be.
And for us in Nigeria in particular where we have over the years grown to have a sense of entitlement to cheap petroleum products, argument for subsidy removal is doubly hard to sell by any salesman whose lot it is to sell it. Rightly or wrongly, many Nigerians have come to believe that if there are any goods that should go for next to nothing in our country, those commodities should be petroleum products because according to our thinking, crude oil is a free gift of nature to our country; therefore, its products should be extremely cheap.
Given this reality, the posture that has so far been adopted by some members of the National Assembly on the subsidy issue is not good enough for the nation. Since the announcement was made that as from January next year the government will remove the subsidy, some members of the National Assembly have been acting funny, trying to distance themselves from the government’s position. Some of them make statements and move motions which sound as if they are not members of the government but some opposition politicians contesting with the Executive Branch as to who loves the nation more. As a humble patriot looking in from the outside, I think that this type of posture is wrong. The impression some of us are having is that some smart members of the National Assembly want President Goodluck Jonathan to take the flak while they will look good as a people who care more for the ‘poor masses’ of Nigeria.
Government is a collective thing. Although it is divided into arms and tiers for smooth administration, the compartmentalization and divisions are not to suggest that when benefits come it is only the tier or arm which initiated a policy that would benefit from it.
This is not a time for some people to posture and grandstand. The subsidy issue is at the heart of our desire to make progress as a people. If it is removed and we are able to save a trillion Naira a year, we will be in a position to develop, for instance, our socio-economic infrastructures that are in a state of dilapidation across the country. It is also not without its demerits, which is why I think it is a national issue that requires careful, rational, handling devoid of political theatricals designed to impress voters out there. This type of national challenge requires statesmen and women and not politicians. This is a matter that, in an established democracy, it will be said calls for a by-partisan approach.
We require a united and common front of all the arms and operators of government because it is not the problem of the Executive Branch alone. It requires the salesmanship of all. Given that the anticipated benefits will not profit only the Executive Branch, the process of how to get to those expected positive results should also not be the challenge of only the Executive Branch. The benefits will accrue to all Nigerians irrespective of class, party, region or religion. The Executive Branch headed by President Jonathan needs support, especially because this problem we are seeking to address was not created by the Jonathan government. It is a problem created and sustained by successive administrations which has become his lot to address since government is a continuum.
Rather than castigate President Jonathan, Nigerians need to praise him for having the courage of a lion to take a step that many of his predecessors had balked at because of the huge political costs involved. In fact, by choosing to take it, President Jonathan is telling Nigerians that he does not want to be popular or to merely look good in the eyes of simple-minded folks but that he wants to do what is right even if that step will bring temporary pains in the short run. His hope and the hope of those who understand is that the measure will leave enduring benefits in Nigeria in the long run. President Jonathan is saying he wants to be a nationalist and not a populist politician. Sometimes many nationalistic decisions are not necessarily popular especially at the time that such decisions were taken.
Given this challenge facing the nation, no one needs to play politics no matter how slight. Efforts not to sound anti-masses should not blind members of the National Assembly to the merits of subsidy removal. Politics of personal survival should not be at the detriment of the survival of our country itself. These times call for rational men and not emotional politicians.
Our leaders across the various tiers of government need to come together and reason out how best to sell the idea to the people and not for each person to play politics that looks so much like opportunistic game of blame dodging. At the end of the day, such politics may consume the polity itself.
It is a severe indictment against the entire Nigerian ruling class that at a time when everybody in the polity should be swimming in some opulence because oil is doing well in the international market, the country relies on some deficit to finance some of her expenditures. We now have an opportunity to free some of the monies government spends unnecessarily to use to finance vitally needed development projects.
Some of the discordant voices coming from the National Assembly seem calculated to stir the masses against the Federal Government. This is short-sighted. Any legislator who thinks that if any trouble comes from the clear attempt to whip up sentiment against the central government, he or she may escape it is leaving in dream land.
Adamu, is an Abuja -based business man