Recent developments have left me startled. The quest to increase the pump price of petroleum to about N140 per litre is one of them. Of course, I have taken that claim as an unserious comment. Some one must be joking somewhere. If that suggestion came from someone with a tint of good luck in his name, he should either wear his hat or remove it. If it came on the other hand from a lady popularly known as Ngozi, she possibly wasn’t in the best of moods or possibly did not have her spectacles on. With several increases in the pump price of petroleum in the last decade for virtually unjustifiable and unbeneficial reasons, there would be no cogent reason this recent intention. The product under focus had jumped over time from N22 to N65. The reason being touted for the intended increase this time around is known as the removal of fuel subsidy.
Fuel subsidy in practical sense is the transference to the public or the public expenditure the consequences of the inefficiency of not refining petroleum products by government. Let me explain. When petrol is imported, because of the fluctuation in exchange rates, multiple issues with the conveyance of the product on the sea shore and non-dredging of the nation’s shores, added costs are incurred. These added costs are then subsidized by government to make the price of petrol reasonable and affordable. It seems however that some individuals have utilized this loop hole to smile to the bank the same number of times it takes for one to wink in a day.
For one, Nigeria happens to be the only oil producing nation that is still grappling with the problem of importing petroleum products from other nations. An easy connection with this is her rating as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. The nation’s refineries have refused to “turn around” after multiple turn around maintenance operations. It is possible that the turning around manual was erroneously placed in the anti clockwise mode by some benefiting individuals. If crude oil can be successfully extracted and then exported, the technological know how and infrastructure should also be readily available to ensure that it is adequately refined in commercial quantities.
It smacks of hypocrisy when one finds out that the recent intentions of government to place a hike on the price of petroleum products comes at the same time when recurrent expenditure is over 70 percent. Added to this is an overshot in expenditure from a budgeted N250 billion naira for fuel subsidy to an expended N1.7 trillion. If government wants to avoid unnecessary expenses, it should begin to look first at itself. Looking at antecedents on ground amidst startling revelations, tackling corruption effectively is sure to give tourism or agriculture a run for their monies as a generator of national income!
This unwholesome pronouncement about fuel price hike is also coming at a time when citizens that steal goats are locked up in prison whilst corrupt public officials gallivant the nation’s hotspots as if immune from punishment. It is interesting to note that no stiff penalty such as life imprisonment has been meted out to corrupt officials of government ever since our return to democracy. By commensurate application, if theft of a goat valued at N8,000 could land one a 3 month’s sentence for instance if one is found guilty, a N2billion thief should land a 10,000 years’ life sentence if only if he or she could live that long. In the absence of that death by hanging, shooting or life imprisonment should suffice. The theft of public fund is somewhat similar to murder and manslaughter in that it is partly responsible for accidents on roads and the, death of patients because of poorly equipped hospitals. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
The increment in the pump price of petroleum is also supposed to be coming at a time when PHCN has increased its tariff for another time running without guaranteeing commensurate increment in its service delivery. With all the monies paid the corporation even when electricity supply remains pathetic amongst income gathered from reconnection fees, one would expect by now, an excess electricity account. Yes, since every thing in Nigeria seems excess asides the prosperity of her very own citizens. People, resources, wonderful weather, oil and gas reserves, crude oil and government budgets, etc. Everything apart from good roads, health care, qualitative education, pipe borne water, infrastructure and quality of life. Every thing else has remained excess and suffice to say, the quest for a N140 pump price of petrol is also excess and should feature high up on the list.
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