FUEL subsidy, Nigerians are presently facing excruciating face hard times at accessing petroleum products, having to wait hours, sometimes a day or two, before they can purchase the product .
THUS, Nigerians find themselves at the mercy of operators of public transportation, who hike prices at their pleasure, far higher than the pump price.
AMID the national tragedy, the members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria attributed the lingering fuel situation to the high costs of vessels and the inadequate trucks to deliver the products from depots to filling stations. Still, others attributed the situation to the quiet removal of petroleum subsidies by the federal government, making it more expensive, even though the federal government denies ever gradually removing subsidies. The federal government on the other hands attributed the unabatting fuel crisis to the activities of smugglers in the country.
THE Hope condemns the incessant buck passing between the oil marketers association and the federal government, because the buck passing on the fuel scarcity to various reasons gives the impression that stakeholders in the fuel sector are not economical with the truth. In most parts of the country, car owners and others find themselves spending many hours queuing for fuel at stations or at the black market, thereby reducing the quantity of their productive hours, at a time when critics decry the non-productive status of workers.
THE cost of food, goods, and services faces a hike daily, with inflation rising to incredible levels, increasing the poverty level of millions of Nigerians, who suffer great pains in a nation already described as “the poverty capital of the world.”Also, all types of malpractices and sharp deals take place at many filling stations, fueling the penchant of Nigerians for corruption, such as the hoarding of fuel in unimaginable areas like residential areas, increasing the possibilities of infernos.
THOUGH Nigerians have shown resilience in the face of the bribery and other unwholesome practices happening in the opaque fuel sector, they display this attitude in an atmosphere of worsening poverty levels, a situation worsened by the reduction in their productive hours, at a time when the issue of survival necessitates hard work and imagination.
UNFORTUNATELY, the chaos in the oil sector takes place in an opaque atmosphere, as the federal government refuses to put policing measures in place over the activities of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and oil marketers, a situation preventing a free-flow of information about the industry.Additionally, Nigerians find it difficult to believe the fuel marketers or the government about the true situation of the sector, especially on the issue of subsidies, because while the federal government insists on the non-removal of the policy, the oil marketers blame the government of gradually phasing it out.
THE Hope condemns the secrecy surrounding the issue of subsidies, as well as frowns at the chaos taking place in the opaque oil sector, particularly when such developments intensify the poverty level of ordinary Nigerians.Consequently, the federal government should dismantle the opaque atmosphere surrounding the oil sector, allowing transparency to prevail, so that ordinary Nigerians can make input into the conducts of oil marketers and the NNPC. The federal government should show the political will at removing the subsidies once and for all since it constitutes a drain on the nation’s economy, though the removal should be carried out at a pace not detrimental to the common man.
SINCE the nation awaits the commencement of operations by Dangote and modular refineries, the federal government should step in by specifying the volume of fuel these operators can sell locally and internationally, making sure huge discrepancies don’t exist, since huge discrepancies may cause scarcities in the country.
AS for the ordinary Nigerians, they should learn to adopt an activist measure such as boycotting fuel stations notorious for shaddy dealings at times of incessant and unreasonable fuel price increases, because if they remain nonchalant or indifferent, the federal government won’t be forced to react at the sharp practices of oil marketers. If ordinary Nigerians continued to be nonchalant and indifferent to situations in the fuel sector, oil marketers will not stop their sharp practices, and the respite expected with the emergence of Dangote and modular refineries would not materialize, bringing Nigerians back to square one, having to suffer from misfunctioning system.
