After the
duel between the Federal government of Nigeria and the Nigerian Labour congress
(NLC) over the pump price of petrol which lasted six working days, federal
government eventually brought down the price to 97 Naira as against the 141
Naira which the price was inflated to before the strike.
During the
period of the strike, prices of goods and services had increased
astronomically, transportation price was neck cutting and Nigerians faced a lot
of harsh situations. One would think that the strike embarked on by the NLC,
with the noise and the level to which it was supported by the general public
would return the price back to 65 Naira, how funny is it to find out all the
noise and public display was all for nothing.
I like to
point out the fact that all services that had surged in price during the period
petrol was sold for 141 Naira would not reduce in price now that the price has
been reduced to an extent and the effect caused by the price that caused the
strike is still the same as that of 97 Naira. If the price of petrol was never
going to come down to its original price, why did we not accept the removal of
subsidy from the beginning, why did we waste our time fighting a war we cannot
win, I wonder.
The federal
government has set up a panel to investigate the petroleum sector to find out
irregularities in the subsidy issue, I am surprised we waste our time
investigating, when the people benefitting from these sector are people who are
celebrated by the system investigating them.
As a nation,
we compare ourselves to other countries that are not oil rich, we console
ourselves with the fact that PMS is still more expensive in those countries
than ours even at 141Naira, we never compare ourselves with the oil rich ones
that sells the fuel for much less than 65Naira we used to buy it for, since we
know we have failed to build a system that works and would make the product
accessible to us cheaply.
In my honest opinion, I feel the problem caused
by subsidy removal is based on the fact that a lot of Nigerians do not have
faith in the government, they do not believe that the money generated from this
avenue would be spent judiciously and towards the right course.
I would say
we should allow the government do whatever it is that they have promised with
the hope that they would do as promised this time, for we do not have a choice
in this matter. Subsidy removal has come to stay and what it is only telling us
is simple, ”HUSTLE HARDER TO MAKE ENDS MEET”.
Fakeye, Olaniyi Olatunde
President,
Neff Business Concept
