By Alex Abutu
Arrangements are in top gear for the handing over by the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari after leading the affairs of this nation for eight solid years. The President and Commander-in-Chief will be handing over the staff of office to the new President on May 29th.
In the last few weeks, President Buhari, his wife, Aisha, and his aides have been giving Nigerians pockets of assessment of his stewardship in the past eight years. He was the one driving the state of affairs and he is the one who promised Nigerians during his campaigns and so he knows what he achieved and what he did not, based on the promises he made.
However, many observers have criticized the pass mark which the outgoing administration gave itself in many areas. History, they say, will be the best judge.
When Buhari took over power in 2015, one of the burning issues in the country that touched on the fabric society was the issue of petroleum subsidy. One of the first questions Buhari asked very clearly on that subject matter was “WHO IS SUBSIDIZING WHO” and that question got the President even closer to the average and poor Nigerians who always bear the brunt of pump prices of PMS.
Unfortunately, Buhari will be leaving office in less than two weeks without telling us WHO IS SUBSIDIZING WHO and from the court of public opinion, the President is hoarding facts and should be prepared to face public prosecution.
He assumed office with the mindset that there was no subsidy but he is leaving office having acquired a World Bank loan to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians which he has now approved.
Buhari is still making appointments so why can’t he address this subsidy issue before leaving to rest in Daura?
Is there a subsidy? Who is then subsidizing who? How many tries does it take to remove this subsidy? Who are those benefiting from the subsidy?
For the record, it is important to note that petroleum subsidy in Nigeria refers to the government’s practice of paying off part of the cost of petroleum products, particularly Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol, to ensure that it is sold at a lower price than the actual market value. The Nigerian government introduced petroleum subsidies in the 1970s to help reduce the cost of living for citizens and encourage economic growth.
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The subsidy scheme is aimed at reducing the burden of high fuel prices on the Nigerian masses, as the country heavily relies on imported petroleum products due to limited domestic refining capacity. The government pays the difference between the cost of importing and selling petrol at a reduced rate, which helps keep fuel prices lower than the market price. But this has never being the case as pump prices of PMS varies across Nigeria.
However, over the years, the subsidy scheme has been plagued by corruption, inefficiency, and mismanagement, leading to massive revenue loss for the government. The government has tried several times to remove this petrol subsidy, citing the need to reduce wasteful spending and redirect funds towards other critical sectors such as healthcare and education. This move has however often been met with resistance from the public, as it would lead to an increase in the cost of living for most Nigerians.
Petroleum subsidy is acknowledged as the biggest drainpipe in Nigeria. Bigger than the NNPC pipes laid from the Niger Delta to Northern Nigeria. In 2022, the expected daily payment for fuel subsidy in Nigeria, according to Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, was N18.39 billion.
Zainab, in a session with the House of Representative adhoc committee which looked into the regime of petroleum subsidies from 2017 to 2021, said, “The total amount of subsidy per day is N18.397 billion.
“So, if you are projecting for the full year, it would be N6.715 trillion. If you are projecting for half a year, it would be 50 percent of that.”
The data, according to her, indicated that the expected average daily truck out is 64.96 million litres of petroleum.
She added that independent oil marketers received a subsidy of N1.774 trillion over a four-year period.
Contradicting all the above is the outgoing president. Buhari had vehemently contended that there was no petrol subsidy prior to his assumption of office. In fact he said subsidy was a way to grease the wheels of corruption, was he greasing the wheels with all these payments?
Buhari’s popular quote then remained, “If anybody told me about subsidy, he is a fraud. There is so much fraud I don’t want to talk about, but the day I have to talk about it, I will invite a petroleum economist to come and tell me who is subsidizing Nigerians.”
Mr. President, Your Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, so you were unable to find an economist in your eight years as President of Nigeria to tell you what subsidy is? An answer to the question Who is Subsidizing Who will crown all your efforts and make you a real anti-corruption crusader.
