Tinubu Needs Caution Against Bad Governance And Its Multiplying Pains on Nigerians, By Sola Olatunji

There is palpable fear enveloping the entire air space in Nigeria at the moment. It is so thick that you can cut it with the knife. Fear of subsidy removal. Fear of poverty and want. Fear of security and hunger. From North to South, East to West, Nigerians are in pains gnashing their teeth.

There is fear over the fate of the country’s education sector with the new increase in the school fees of all Unity Schools and even the astronomical jerk up of University of Lagos fees. Electricity lords are also warming up for a showdown as they are poise for tariff hike.

And one starts to ruminate allowed if there is a calculated gang up against the President Bola Tinubu new regime aimed at provoking mass revolt against the government.  Well, the President needs to act fast and douse the tension on the land.

In one of my recent articles, I spoke extensively about good governance as the panacea to earn the trust of citizens by this new administration. I also emphasised the need for synergy and inclusion as the ultimate way to guarantee a peaceful society for accelerated growth.

It is obvious that government exists on behalf of the citizens and to deliver the dividends of democracy to the citizens.  The need for constant conversation between the citizens and government on public issues especially policies can’t be over-emphasized.  This keeps the citizens abreast of new public policies.

Since the inception of the Tinubu administration, certain harsh economic decisions have been taken and public opinions have been divided over some of these policies. But the mother of them all is the petrol subsidy removal.

While some celebrated the policy of petrol subsidy removal, others were against the president’s action. This group believes that the President ought to have designed a road map that would have outlined details of how the new petrol subsidy removal will be executed.

Well, the two opinions might be right but honestly speaking, Nigerians are not against the removal of petrol subsidy, even the most vociferous voices over the years have never objected to the removal of subsidy but have been demanding for removal with human face.

The labour unions have however insisted that the government must get our refineries refurbished so as to refine petrol in our country since we have the raw materials back home. Labour unions also warned that continued importation of fuel after subsidy removal will promote foreign economies. They also argued that because of the volatile nature of foreign exchange markets, the price of petrol will be out of the reach of Nigerians. It will also lead to skyrocketing of prices of goods and services which may be unbearable for Nigerians.

This is the reason why Nigerians are in pains today because their perception of subsidy removal is different from what they are faced with today.

Before the removal of petrol subsidy, the understanding was that petrol will be refined locally either by Dangote Refinery or any of our local refineries. But the reality today is that none of our refineries is ready so we are left with the unfriendly option of importation.

I think we need to manage the optimism and hope with which Nigerians embraced this new administration when it came on board in May. It will be a dangerous game to allow improper management of public policy to set the citizens against the government this early time.

Although, it might be too early for anyone to complain against this administration but it’s also impossible to look elsewhere when citizens are faced with unfriendly public policies especially as related to petrol that affects every citizen of this country directly or indirectly.

We are very hopeful that the president will soon crystallize his renewed hope ideology on Nigerians.

I mentioned earlier that looking at the track records of our president from the public and corporate background, he is known for his diligence on issues.  One would have thought that the president would draw up a road map to subsidy removal when he assumed office but he just welcomed Nigerians with petrol subsidy removal without proper plans on the table. This would have afforded the president the opportunity to acquaint himself with  the level of infrastructure at the disposal of NNPC and number of marketers to run the post subsidy regime .

I also know the gap created by lack of communication about the policy of government to the citizens at the grassroots. This is part of what is causing uproar across the length and breadth of this country. It have also revealed why none of our local refineries has been refurbished despite several engagements with labour unions and government over the years.

He would have known why the humongous resources deployed for maintenance over the years went under the drain as redundant workers continued drawing salaries and allowances from dead refineries.  The president would also been able to know how NNPCL has been hiding at the back of government to unleash pains on Nigerians through all manners of infractions

He would have been able to set a timeline within which this import dependent post subsidy regime would last and communicate same to the citizens in different languages, through market associations, community associations, political parties, traditional institutions and other channels of information dissemination.

I also know for a fact that Tinubu will offer his unreserved apology to Nigerians because the whole issues here is a gamut of failure of good governance.

We are not blaming the  president for this but he has the bulk stops on his table.  If our refineries had been fixed before now, nobody would have  made any noise over the price of petrol.

I totally agree with the positions of the labour unions on the consequences of this petrol post subsidy model. In a situation like this, government must come up with remedial measures to address some of the challenges thrown up as a matter of urgency but we must also be careful so that government intervention will not be counter-productive in anyway.

I am personally opposed to the idea of N8,000 to 12m homes for six months because after six months what happen? We are back to same position and I feel we should be allowed to take decision on what we want to do with the loan from. World Bank.

We have gone through this route before during the Udoji award and recently COVID-19. What do we have to show for it? This venture, irrespective of how lofty it may be is dangerous in a country where we have so many monkeys in humans.

As a seasoned entrepreneur, it’s better for the total amount set aside by government as intervention fund to be deployed into productive sector and what comes to mind is our youths. Let’s begin to create economic model by training and investment in their vocations

If we adopt entrepreneurship model where youths are trained in different vocations and after getting the required skills, they are empowered on revolving  basis between 5 to 10 years ,we would have created generational entrepreneurs and our country will be better for it. Other countries are doing it. We shouldn’t allow fear to prevent us from taken a bold step that will serve as a turning point in our social history.

I also want to join several Nigerians who are asking this question ‘ why should the president keep Mele Kyari in NNPC despite many havoc he caused during the general elections like his counterpart at the central bank? Like Emefiele, Kyari created artificial scarcity of PMS to pitch the voters against the candidate of the ruling party (APC) to  lose the elections.

It is very sad that NNPC is being allowed to determine the fate of Nigerians in this post subsidy regime. Our roads that used to be full of traffic is now deserted because Nigerians can’t cope with the price of petrol anymore.

We are very much aware that the policy of the president was ultimately targeted at wealth creation and prosperity for all at the end but my position is that the pains have become unbearable to Nigerians.

The  urge to sanitize the oil sector by this government will not achieve any meaning, if Kyari is still being kept in NNPC. He belongs to the old order and not ready to embrace the present change.