NIGERIA is back in the throes of fuel crisis which, for decades,
has been a periodic and poignant evidence of a nation in distress. The
impression initially given to the Nigerian public was that the oil
workers’ strike was the cause of the problem when fuel shortage started
in Abuja. The end of the strike did not, however, bring a lasting
respite to residents of the capital city. The problem has since spread
to other parts of the country and valuable man hours are being lost on
fuel queues which have become a common feature at filling stations in
different parts of the federation. Different reasons are being adduced
for the persistence of the scarcity which, as usual, has been having a
harmful effect on the social and economic life of the people. A
spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has
attributed the problem to the closure of a vandalised pipeline at Arepo
in Ogun State. There have also been altercations between the government
and fuel importers on the usually contentious issue of subsidy payment.
AS experience has shown, the slightest interruption of fuel supply
creates a disproportionate disruption in the various facets of economic
activities. Profiteering has become the order of the day as petrol is no
longer being sold at the approved pump price of N97 per litre at the
distribution outlets. Repair work on the vandalised pipeline was
reported to have been stopped when three NNPC engineers were killed by
suspected vandals on the site. The usually lethargic response of the
government to issues that are critical to the interest of the public
has, no doubt, contributed to the prolongation of the fuel crisis.
IT is not a pleasant surprise that the payment of subsidy still
remains problematic between fuel importers and the relevant agencies of
government. The subsidy probe carried out by an ad hoc committee of the
House of Representatives uncovered various avenues being exploited to
defraud the government in the process of fuel importation.
THE committee exposed the gulf between the quantity of fuel being
imported and the quantity on which subsidy was being claimed and paid.
The general expectation is that the revelations made by the ad hoc
committee and the lessons therefrom will be utilised to draw up
fool-proof guidelines which will check fraudulent tendencies on the part
of importers by relevant agencies of government. The marketers are
reported to be asking for N200 billion which they claimed to have spent
to subsidise imported fuel. They have threatened to stop bringing fuel
into the country if the refund was not made. The government, on its
part, has been contesting their claim. This is a controversy that should
not have arisen if the agencies of government entrusted with the
authorisation and verification of fuel importation have been discharging
their duties thoroughly and conscientiously.
WE do not expect the people in authority, for whom everything is
free, to feel at ease seeing the people they promised to serve going
through agonising experiences at filling stations where they are being
exploited by both the dealers and their attendants. Based on previous
experiences, it is being conjectured, that the lingering fuel crisis is
being used by the government to gauge the likely response of the public
in case of another hike in fuel price. The seeming helplessness of the
government lends credence to such a conjecture. The resilience and
docility of the people should not be misconstrued as acceptance of
avoidable hardship and endless suffering.
IT is common knowledge that Nigeria remains a country where virtually
nothing works because successive governments have failed to manage the
lifeblood of its economy — oil — responsibly. President Goodluck
Jonathan does not need to be told that the realisation of his
transformation agenda depends largely, if not solely, on a turnaround in
the management of the single product on which the economy of the
country depends. It is unfortunate that Nigeria has continued to
maintain the dubious distinction of being the only major oil
oil-producing country that lacks the refining capacity to meet its
domestic requirements of finished products.
IT beats the imagination that the management of importation of
refined petroleum products has remained an intractable problem and it is
unjust that the ordinary people are being made to bear the brunt of the
ineptitude in high places. It should be obvious to the government that
the longer the fuel crisis lasts, the more will be the dislocation of
the social and economic life of a substantial percentage of the
country's population. In a country in which electricity supply is most
unreliable, the government should see it as a bounden duty to ensure
availability of fuel on daily basis and at affordable price. It should
be obvious to the government that fuel shortage — any time it happens —
puts a question mark on its competence because it is a problem that
Nigeria should not have.
THE failure of the government to put an immediate end to the needless
fuel crisis will further diminish its credibility in the eyes of right
thinking members of the society. The government should wake up to its
responsibility by taking all necessary steps that will ensure
uninterrupted supply of fuel without further delay.
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