Perspective On #EndBadGovernance Protests
By Barth Ozah
“I am sad and embarrassed that a fighter for Democracy is now saying Nigerians will not be allowed to congregate and demonstrate on the streets, something you and I enjoyed during the military regimes, at home and abroad.” Excerpts from Dele Momodu’s interview.
When the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was campaigning ahead of the 2015 general elections, the theme of the campaign was ‘Change’. The slogan stated that Nigerians would enjoy 24 hours of electricity supply, that fuel price would be reduced to N45, that there would be improvements in infrastructures and corruption tackled headlong, among others.
Regrettably, nine years after taking over governance at the federal level, non of the promises has been met; instead, the reverse is now the case.
President Muhammadu Buhari used 8 years of his administration to blame the PDP government and at the end, he was unable to deliver good governance to Nigerians.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) with 14 months in office has also continued in the blame game by saying his administration was not the cause of the economic and security crises facing our dear country today.
Let’s assume he was not the cause of the economic and security challenges facing the country, what is obvious is that his economic policies and inept leadership style are the causes of the August #EndBadGovernance Protests being organised by the youths across the country.
The economic situation in the country was bad, but it took a dangerous dimension when President Tinubu assumed office and announced the removal of fuel subsidy. The average citizens have been finding it difficult to cope owing to high cost of goods and services.
Tinubu on his inaugural address to the nation on May 29th, 2023 announced the end of subsidy on petroleum products. Since then inflation has risen to the roof top unabated. Government efforts in addressing the challenges have not impacted on the lives of Nigerians.
Now, let’s take an overview of the attempts to remove fuel subsidies by successive governments in the country. In 1999 the then President Olusegun Obasanjo formulated a policy to deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry, which included removing fuel subsidy. Due to public outcry and protests, the policy was jettisoned.
Early in 2012 President Goodluck Jonathan Administration announced a partial removal of fuel subsidies, leading to a sharp increase in fuel prices. It sparked off widespread protests across the country, known as the “Occupy Nigeria” protests. The protest was sponsored by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, key opposition party members and members of the civil society organisations. Eventually, the government succumbed to pressure and rescinded its decision.
Similarly, in May 2016 President Muhammadu Buhari Administration announced complete removal of fuel subsidy. This led to a significant increase in fuel prices, resulting in nationwide protests. The government argued that removing the subsidy was necessary to address corruption, inefficiency and the drain on public finances. The decision was again reversed following the protests that trailed the policy, and subsidies were reinstated.
Subsidy on petroleum products has remained a controversial issue in the country, especially due to the corruptions in the sector. Before now, other petroleum products like kerosene and diesel had been deregulated, resulting in high costs and scarcity of the products.
Nigeria is a major oil producing country in the world without functioning refineries. The three refineries in the country have been in comatose. Every effort to repair them has not yielded any positive outcome due largely to corruption in the sector.
Subsidies on petroleum products existed because the government fixed the prices of petroleum products (gasoline) for consumers below the international prices and used government resources to pay for the difference. Oil companies in Nigeria under the supervision of NNPC have been drilling crude oil and exporting same to countries abroad and importing the refined products from countries that have refineries. What a country!
As earlier said, Tinubu in his inaugural address to the nation announced subsidy removal, making the prices of fuel to jack up. Since it was a campaign issue, many Nigerians accepted the decision with mixed feelings. Tinubu went on to say he would deplore the proceeds of the subsidy removal on other sectors of the economy. Without mincing words, fuel in Nigeria economy is like what blood is to human system.
Lack of adequate transport system with deplorable road condition across the country, insecurity coupled with poor electricity supply have worsened the situation of the ordinary citizens. Government has urged the citizens to endure the hardship with a promise that the outcome would be beneficial to them. Whereas, officials of government are living in opulence.
The biting hardship has made protest inevitable. The Federal Government is sueing for more time for its policies to bear fruits, but many Nigerians are fed up with such empty promises. Nigerians have the constitutional rights to carry out peaceful protest as enshrined in sections 39 and 40 of the constitution. Also the Police is constitutionally mandated to provide security coverage for protesters.
Reduction of fuel prices, restructuring of the country, curbing corruption in government etc., are some of the key demands of the protesters.
The Nigeria economy is dependent on the informal sector. The current fuel, diesel, kerosene, electricity and gas prices in the country are not sustainable because they are the key drivers of the economy. Government as a matter of necessity should restore subsidies on those products while it carries out total overhaul of the economy.