11th January, 2012
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, Civil Society Organisation and the generality of Nigerians have been on a war path with the Federal Government over the removal of fuel subsidy on the first day of the new year, and so far, both sides have refused all entreaties to shift ground.
Nigerians are saying that fuel subsidy removal is just a tip of the iceberg, as so many other things are wrong and ought to be made right. Foremost is the endemic corruptin in the country.
When the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo left office, the country was no longer indebted to any country as the $30 billion foreign debt he met on ground was fully paid off. But today, Nigeria is back in debt to the tune of $41 billion and we keep borrowing.
When the Obasanjo administration left office, we were made to believe that the country had up to $80 billion as foreign reserve. We wonder that happened to that money. We wonder why Goodluck Jonathan cannot account for how these funds were spent.
As of today, our foreign reserve has dropped and according to our rulers, we have continued to pile up debts. What sort of economy do we run to make us pile up debts so much so that we cannot meet up with paying them as they pile up? After all we sell crude oil daily and we get paid for that.
When Obasanjo left office in 2007, we had $23 billion in the excess crude account but today, nothing is left in that account. On what did we squander that money?
President Goodluck Jonathan must account for how the money was spent. As the helmsman, he has the authority to decide which direction the ship of state is steered. If our money has been badly managed, the president must tell us how this happened. We cannot continue to run an administration that remains unaccountable to the people in a democracy.
If this indeed is a government of the people as democracy is often referred to, then it is time for accountability. We have been patient enough.
Year after year, we have been plagued by the fuel subsidy problem. Successive governments have always said that subsidising petroleum products has been our bane. But the reduction of the subsidy has not, in any way, helped Nigerians to live better. The pump price of petroleum products have been increased several times without any corresponding improvement in our lives, as the government had always promised.
Nigerians have always been shortchanged by those that govern them and the people have not been wiser for it. If the government is sure that a group is responsible for the mess in the petroleum sub-sector and it cannot punish the cabal for fleecing the country of so much, then it should do the right thing – throw in the towel.
Nigerians are tired of a government that is incapable of solving its problems. Nigerians cannot continue to be under a government that tolerates criminals that operate under one guise or another to undermine the sovereignty of the nation. If some cabal has hijacked the country or its resources and those we voted into public office to rule the country cannot do anything about it, then our leaders have failed and must admit this.
If President Goodluck Jonathan cannot account for the billions of naira his administration inherited, then there’s a big problem.
As it is, the administration seems confused as to how to manage the country’s economy. The economy appears to have been hijacked by IMF agents with sinister mission in government. The government appears to be confused as to how to rule this country. If we cannot tackle corruption, then we cannot progress as a country.