Our government is more humane than our people

Well, considering that some people did not in essence disagree with government on the fuel subsidy subject is it really correct to say that the issue was a battle between the people and government?  Even among those who supposedly dissented, some were on government side in principle-their grouse being only   the methodology and timing. To […]

Well, considering that some people did not in essence disagree with government on the fuel subsidy subject is it really correct to say that the issue was a battle between the people and government?  Even among those who supposedly dissented, some were on government side in principle-their grouse being only   the methodology and timing. To some people, experience as the best teacher was put into use during the crisis. Thus, bearing in mind the pains of our civil war, no one can grudge the South East people for not joining the rest of us to prosecute the fuel strike action. This is because the Igbos knows us for our ‘sell-out’ mentality. Besides, crisis disturbs private enterprise, commerce and trading. We also often forget that Nigerians who by virtue of where they live, get petrol from only jerry cans and at more than N200.00 per litre cannot rationally oppose an official price of N140.00 only. For instance, it is not only because President Jonathan hails from Bayelsa State that the people did not join the fuel protest. The real issue was that the people were not used to getting fuel at a price as cheap as N140 per litre. As one commentator alleged, the NNPC mega station opposite Asokoro Housing estate in Yenagoa, the state capital, only sells kerosene to their so-called registered customers who buy over 20 jerry cans of 20litres each at N2,500.00 and resell at N3,000.00 just by the side of the station’s gate.

There is also the viewpoint that in reality, government is far more humane in dealing with the people than how the people deal with one another. Here is a test case. On January 1, 2012 when the new pump price of petrol was announced, all dealers, marketers and their stations heard it within seconds and adjusted their pumps even before they fully assimilated the message. One full week after the price was brought down to N97.00 per litre, some dealers who are suffering from a disease known as ‘selective hearing’ have not been able to hear it. While some of those who heard are still exploring the best communication strategy for passing the message down to their workers, others are still searching for their ‘engineers’ who are the only operatives that know how to configure the pumps for downward adjustment. All other attendants are trained to adjust prices upwards.  It should also surprise no one that some dealers and their staff have since then remained utterly confused on how to quickly sell-off the old stock they would want everyone to believe was bought at the old price. To test the assertion that Nigerians often take advantage of fuel price changes to exploit their brothers and sisters, we decided to monitor media reports on the subject across the country and found the following.

In one station in Lagos, where the product sold for as high as N170 per litre, the petrol attendants confessed that they were under instructions to exhaust their old stock before reversing to N97. The situation in Taraba was the same forcing the State Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Jonah Kataps and that of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bobboi Kaigama to publicly observe that security agencies that were armed to the teeth to monitor workers’ strike could not as well monitor compliance with the new price. In Kebbi State, the NLC Chairman, Alhaji Sadiq Kaoje took the same position.  In Gusau, capital of Zamfara State, even the nearness of the Oando Plc station to the gate of the government house did not deter the station from selling at the old rate. In the federal capital territory, the selling price at the Total Filling station along Arab road, Kubwa was N140 per litre. In Enugu, petrol is still being sold at prices ranging from N160 to N170 a litre.   In Katsina, majority of the filling stations in the state have been under lock and key, while the few that operated including the Katsina mega station sold at the old price.  In Akure, the Ondo State capital, apart from the NNPC Mega and Mania Petroleum stations along Akure-Owo Road, most filling stations locked their gates to customers, while others were selling the product at N138.00 per litre. In neighbouring Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi himself accosted a petrol attendant at a filling station in Old Garage, who claimed to be selling petrol for N97 a litre whereas the price on the fuel pump was N140. The Comrade Governor reportedly did a similar monitoring exercise in Edo State.

Our premise therefore is that the same Nigerians who actively protest the sale of fuel at an inflated government price of ₦140.00per litre turn around to hoard the product so as to sell it at more than ₦200.00 per litre to their kith and kin. This is not restricted to fuel. Our people enjoy profiteering! Private sector bodies and their workers do so by the day.  In the aviation industry for instance, we no longer have government airlines, they are all private now; yet the people are exploited and oppressed in that sector by the hour. If a passenger is late to the check-in counter by a few minutes, he is surcharged but if an aircraft is late by 6hours, it was due to operational reasons.  In our clime, it is only a tenant that pays the legal fee of the agreement reached between and his landlord. This tendency of some people to exploit others is something we need to discard as a people otherwise we shall go down in history as that nation whose government is a better friend to its people than the people are to themselves.