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Shedding light on the petrol subsidy imbroglio

Published

2 years ago

June 24, 2023

By Olukola Osunbunmi

Nigeria is a blessed country, no doubt. Almighty God in His infinite mercies has blessed Nigeria with everything that most developed countries in the world do not have. But there is a curse to our development or should one say there are clauses or impediments for the giant in Nigeria to be reawakened. In the 1960s, Nigeria was at par with the Asian Tigers namely Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. But unfortunately, we were left behind by the aforementioned countries between the early 1950s and 1990s as they underwent rapid industrialization while at the same time maintained exceptionally high growth rate of 7 percent a year. At a time in the history of this nation, our currency, the naira, was one of the strongest in the world. It had more value than the dollar and pound sterling.

In March 2009, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory unveiled and launched the logo of the ‘Rebranding Nigeria’ campaign with the slogan: ‘Good People, Good Nation’. Truly Nigeria is a country of good people but we have been very unlucky with those at the helm of affairs, elected or appointed. The sleaze that characterized the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari cannot be over emphasised. Those saddled with the responsibilities of putting smiles on the faces of fellow compatriots rather made them weep in agony and pain. The attendant consequences have been followed with the gale of suspensions of the leading figures of the last administration and more will still come.

On May 29, 2023 at the Eagle Square Abuja during a change of baton between former President Buhari and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the latter made a pronouncement that put paid to the ghost of subsidy in Nigeria once and for all. The pronouncement meant that the Government will no longer subsidise petrol for the citizens rather the subsidy will be pushed to other sectors like health, education, transport and others that will make life more meaningful for an average Nigerian. It was a tough decision to make but Nigerians are gradually embracing the reality and are expectantly looking forward to how the Tinubu’s government will cushion the effect of the subsidy removal for them.

It did not however come as a surprise that the shylock oil marketers increased the pump price of petrol from N195 to N547 per litre, an increment of more than 250 percent. The question to ask is: how did the NNPC arrive at the new price? Immediately after the speech made by the President on the Petrol subsidy removal, one observed that petrol marketers in Abuja started selling at N350 per litre and this continued until the NNPC made their pronouncements that the pump price would henceforth sell at N537 per litre in Abuja. It however mean a litre of fuel is being subsidised at N352 per litre. Where is the money, who is keeping it for Nigeria and Nigerians, who are the beneficiaries and who are their cronies? Could these fellows come out boldly and tell Nigerians where the humongous money generated from the subsidy debacle are stashed.

To start with, how much does it take Nigeria to transport and bring back its refined crude from abroad? The understanding is that the crude is transported abroad to be refined and after the process is completed, the refined product is brought to Nigeria. The Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol is not the only refined product from crude oil, there are diesel, kerosene, asphalt, paraffin, consumer goods, cosmetics among others.

It is high time agencies that have things to do with our oil and as well as the security agencies come forth to give account of their stewardships to Nigerians. How many litres of petrol does Nigeria consume daily? As at last year and early this year before the subsidy pronouncement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) said Nigeria consumes 68 million litres daily. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) within the same period contradicted NNPCL’s claim. The NMDPRA also contradicted itself. It first gave 62.9 litres and later 66.8 litres. The Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Retired Colonel Hameed Ali also disagreed with NNPCL on the daily consumption of fuel. Following the subsidy removal, it is however strange that Nigeria now consumes between 13 million and 16 million litres of petrol per day. Where is the payment for the non-existing 52 million litres or thereabout been bandied about in the last 18 months? Where is the excess going to? Who is deceiving who? The oil industry players and heads of security agencies must come out clean. He who comes into equity must come with clean hands!

As a chartered Accountant, one cannot explain and convince myself as to how the NNPCL arrived at the N547 per litre and this has to be itemized and explained to all Nigerians as transparently as possible so as to earn the respect of all. The decision affects the life of all Nigerians and to a large extent, the explanation will help the Tinubu administration gain the trust of the people.

That being asked, it is being suggested that the Federal Government should allow the modular refineries to operate as the Dangote Refinery so as to cut down on perceived monopoly of the Dangote brand. If there is no competition, Nigerians will be forced to buy at the price being forced in them by this monopoly. In addition, those in the area of oil and gas and who have the capacity should in the interim be encouraged to bring in the PMS for competitive pricing and competitive service to Nigerians.

Osunbunmi is a chartered accountant and forensic auditor

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Featured

ELECTING A POPE: THE BURDEN OF MAKING CHOICES

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2025

The Gleamer

By Olubunmi Mayaki

“Habemus papam!” which in the English Language means, “We have a Pope.” was pronounced by Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, a French Catholic prelate, His Eminence, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti from the iconic loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican City on Thursday 8 May 2025 after white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Those Latin words proclaimed to a tensed global audience the result of the election of a new Supreme Pontiff after the death of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) on 21 April 2025 at the age of 88 years.

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Robert Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) emerged as primus inter pares (first among equals) from the cardinals after undergoing detailed election rituals, which have been the process of selecting the head of the 2000-year-old Catholic Church for centuries.

A papal conclave, the process by which a new Pope is selected, was held consisting of one hundred and thirty-three (133) College of Cardinals, drawn from different parts of the world converged at St. Peter’s Basilica for a public mass before heading to the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes to elect the 267th Pope. During the mass, part of the choir renditions reminded voters to remember their last day when they would stand before God in judgment to render their stewardship on earth, which is to prevent them from rigging the voting process. At the behest of the senior cardinal deacon, voting formalities were read to the electors, which included- oath-taking- “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one whom I believe should be elected according to God”. Other processes are banning phones, jamming calls, forbidding speaking or contacting any of the candidates, voting rounds, spiritual pauses etc.

Looking at the voting process, one should be curious about how an election to pick a leader for a religious body could be so systematic and attract such global attention. It is a sharp contrast to elections where political leaders are chosen. Even in the so-called advanced democracies, we have seen electoral flaws and a dearth of political leaders. States are finding it difficult to pick genuine statesmen, giving rise to hegemonic leaders. These political imperia ums are emerging and stoking crises in their domain. Fallouts of elections are no longer favourable due to unpopular candidates forced on citizens.

Africa, as a case study, shows that no matter the rules put in place by the continent’s leaders, our election processes have been fraught with rigging, corruption and waste. In most cases, the leaders who set the rules are the violators of the same process. Governments conspire with electoral bodies to truncate election processes at will. Such political brigandage has destroyed the progress of the continent.

Closing this view, I hope that African leaders will take a cue from the Catholic Church’s election process to reinvigorate and rejig the continent’s faltering political process for the good of its people. Better still; political scholars from the continent can study the Catholic model. The common features of elections in most parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, are riddled with vote rigging, violence, human rights abuse, repression, barbarism, crises, untold hardship, and sometimes, outright war. This is the bane of Africa’s development.

The burden of making good political choices should ordinarily rest on citizens. However, politicians have hijacked this process for selfish reasons. It has given birth to bad leaders. If we fail to get it right, what we see is what we get. That is the story of the world politics!

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