By Moses Ochonu
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) Here’s the raw truth that the Buhari administration is dithering on and would not confront. If you’re incapable of fixing the refineries to wean us off imported fuel like you promised during the election campaign, at least have the humility and empathy to pay the difference between the new landing cost of fuel importation and the pump price (aka subsidy) in order to keep the supply flowing.
Yes, you deceived Nigerians two years ago that increasing the price of fuel would end fuel subsidy and scarcity forever, a blatant lie since the payment of subsidy is inevitable in the context of importation, crude price fluctuation, rising landing costs, and absence of full deregulation. You’re now a victim of your own propagandistic, wholesale demonization of subsidy.
Scarcity is inevitable in these circumstances too unless you establish a permanent subsidy fund that kicks in automatically to offset upward fluctuations in crude price and landing costs.
You were probably banking on Dangote’s refinery project to come on stream and bail you out of your odious propaganda for fuel price increase. It hasn’t happened.
None of that matters at this point. You got away with the deception and got your hefty price increase. Now, the inevitable, foreseeable shortage is here and it is your responsibility to fix it.
There are only two realistic choices in the short term: let the shortage linger or swallow your pride and your deceptive promise of ending the subsidy regime and pay the subsidy. Doing the latter should be no big deal, since you announced only a few months after the fuel price increase that you were back to paying some subsidy because, as you claimed, the N145 Naira pump price was no longer sufficient to keep fuel importers in business.
Transferring the subsidy to Nigerians in form of another pump price increase is a non-starter.
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