Re: Petrol price hike: Time to occupy Nigeria again

A one-time American women’s suffrage leader, Olympia brown once said, “He who never sacrificed a present to a future good or a personal to a general one can speak of happiness only as the blind do of colours”. This quote is a motivating factor to the response to Farook Kperogi’s feature captured in Daily Trust […]

A one-time American women’s suffrage leader, Olympia brown once said, “He who never sacrificed a present to a future good or a personal to a general one can speak of happiness only as the blind do of colours”. This quote is a motivating factor to the response to Farook Kperogi’s feature captured in Daily Trust of Saturday May 14, 2016.
Kperogi observed that his appeal to reoccupy Nigeria will not resonate with many. That president Buhari’s emotional grip on the middle class is still firm. This conviction is true because Buhari has demonstrated the will to tame corruption and drive Nigeria to greater heights and I appreciate that defeat owned up by Kperogi for the global picture is a reference for us all.
The facts he presented could also be termed transposition, unequal and even lopsided. To compare pump price in Nigeria and what obtains in the United
States can’t stand. If we must look at it from that perspective, it should be holistic. Why not also consider GDP, infrastructure, main-stay of the economy, among others. No sector of the economy is independent.
Many of us face the harsh reality, especially those present in Nigeria and it equally makes us sad, but we must look beyond now and fix tomorrow. All developed societies have had to part with goodies to secure a better future. In fact, others have had worse – China, Japan and even the United States. What Nigerians need more now is that kind of sacrifice.
He also noted the poor minimum wage in Nigeria and yes that’s true. N18,000 is terrible but it’s not as if government can just give directives to increase digits. What we have is what we can share. This country is simply not earning enough. The GDP of United states per capita today stands at $54,421 and Nigeria with $2,640, why the comparison of the two economies?
I am also not an economist but to agree a country spends up to 20% of its budget to subsidize a single product is unwise. Last year, over a trillion naira was spent on subsidy, if same is wasted this year then how do we crop with our bantam N6tr budget? To be pro-fuel subsidy isn’t a bad idea but in this situation, who subsidizes other sectors of the economy like manufacturing, agriculture, housing, ICT?
If the global market takes a plunge, the best a regime can do for its people is to restructure just like UAE did with tourism, Saudi is doing with its new technical universities, cities; Kuwait and Bahrain are doing by cutting subsidies. The challenges are daunting and require bold and sincere response.
What fuels our hope in Nigeria today is the 2016 budget and what it holds.
What else can we hope for other than fast-tracking proper implementation of this budget? We have a leader that has demonstrated the will to retrieve stolen funds, end insurgency and diversify our economy. It’s a golden opportunity we can’t afford to miss and Mr Kperogi should not encourage undecided fellows to support unsustainable programmes.
And if we resolve to “gobbledygook” over our today as Kperogi just did, our tomorrow will fall the way of Venezuela.
Abdulkadir Isa, Gombe.