Before I start I must first apologise for the length of this post. It was actually supposed to be a brief facebook post but..... it just kept coming. Also sorry that I haven't been updating lately. I had to assume a "sit-down-look" stance on many issues.
If not that we are living in a mad country. With insane men always manning the wheels of governmental vehicle.
How can you just go against your own words just a couple of years back like a pathetic shameless, underfed dog going back to its vomit, without deeming it fit to apologise to the people for your previous ignorance that led to you deceiving and misleading them?
The same set of hypocritical, selfish, self seeking and self serving power drunks that led the entire nation to march against a policy four years ago are now shamelessly marching the nation towards that same policy. It's like a situation where a driver who is supposed to take his passengers to their destination stubbornly ignored the road signs and road maps, took them through a wrong turn that resulted in them being lost thereby leading to waste of productive time. Afterwards he comes to his senses and as last resort, decided to follow the road map and does so without thinking of doing the needful by apologising to his passengers for misleading them and wasting their time.
Well, it's a typical case of the blind leading the blind. For the passengers being sheepish followers, not thinking of looking out the window to check whether or not they are heading in the right direction, they have themselves to blame.
I am not kicking against the current removal of petrol subsidy, if it is a good step, like the last administration foresaw, it should be taken. My grouse is this: that the men that are supposed to be representing our interest holds us in utmost contempt and total disregard. They think very little of us and our ability to think and use our head for rational thinking. They see us as gullible dummies that will never ask the right questions nor deserve any explanation nor apology for whatsoever action they choose to take.
If this present government is telling us now that removal of fuel subsidy is truly a sagacious and pragmatic policy that will augur well for the nation, then they by their actions and inactions as opposition in the past have held this country four solid years backward. If they haven't been selfish to smear a sound economic policy with political shit for their selfish power quest, we would have probably gone pass the ugly phase of the resultant effect of subsidy removal and would have by now started enjoying that good future that they are telling us is coming in future. We would have been in the future.
There is also the case of the devaluation of the naira. The same issue of going back to a vomit. Following the plunge in global crude oil price, the past administration as a remedial strategy decided on the devaluation of the naira. But these same self serving government, then - opposition - kicked vehemently against the policy. They picked it up and hinged it on their campaign promises. With their then presidential nominee and now President making a ridiculous promise of equating the naira to the dollar. Now these same people are talking about devaluation of the naira.
I wonder if they were just playing the opposition part by opposing every government policies and move including the auspicious and brilliant ones or they were simply exhibiting traits of economics ignorance, just as the former President Olusegun Obasanjor recently asserted, and is being proved right by their forward and backward haphazard molecular economic motion.
Another issue I have is with the timing of this current petrol subsidy removal by the government of President Buhari. Even though the idea might be good one in the long run but the timing is definitely wrong. Nigerians are already going through a very excruciating period of economic hardship and harshness. The rate of inflation is phenomenal at a time when people are complaining of no money in the economy. There seem to be one constant phrase on the street; "bros, everywhere dry". Subsidy removal at this time is like adding salt to injury. If a man has multiple sicknesses, you don't go treating all at once. Otherwise the man might end up being killed by the drugs itself. That's what the government is doing. Killing the people with medication. We all know the reciprocate effect of petrol increment on the economy. It results to instant inflation. Coupled with the existing momentous inflation already on ground. Little wonder many have described the removal of petrol subsidy by the government at this time as "wicked".
The demand for petrol this period is sky high due to the epileptic, crippled, paralysed and leprose power supply from the national grid. The entire nation have resorted to complete reliance on their generator sets especially businesses and homes. In the face of this exceptionally high demand for petrol and it's perpetual unavailability dubbed scarcity, the best the government could do at this time is to remove subsidy on petrol? Setting the sail propels the boat but when there is a storm setting the sail could be calamitous. For me, this is a calamitous time to inact the policy. Absolutely wrong timing.
