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What really is subsidy if I may ask? The Encarta Dictionary (2009) defines the term subsidy as:
1. money given by government: a grant or gift of money from a government to a private company, organization, or charity to help it to function
2. help with expenses: a monetary gift or contribution to somebody or something, especially to pay expenses
Going by those two definitions, it is really hard to place the Nigerian distorted context of "subsidy" application side-by side with the defined meanings above. Why? It is so because what is categorized as "subsidy" on fuel in Nigeria should, in actual fact, be referred to as the unnecessary expenses incurred from "Nigeria's alternative foregone". Construction of more refineries and the renovation of existing ones represent our "alternative foregone"
We are, as a nation being continually confronted with hard choices to make at every twist of wriggling out of our economic quagmires. But it becomes more harrowing when destinies of millions of Nigerians have to be at the mercy of some callous cabal whose whimsical natures represent the final arbiter in every decision-making that has a far-reaching consequence on all and sundry.
The above emotional outburst stands to be meaningless unless it is placed against the backdrop of the ensuing and much-debated topic of: "Removal of Subsidies on Petroleum Products". The Yoruba say: "If we do not want to suffer, then we should be prepared to lend our arrows out to don't suffer". We would have successfully circumvented this cantankerous hydra-headed monster birthed by the greed of our leaders and kept rearing its ugly head whenever there seems to be a ray of hope that things are about getting normal in the country, if we had heeded the call for the only way to salvage the perennial hiccups associated with crude-oil and its refined products. The simple antidote known to even an unschooled teenager in this country is no other than building more refineries and sustaining the existing ones by ensuring they perform at optimum capacity. SIMPLE.
Please, Nigerians, how much do they need to build more refineries and renovate the existing ones? Is it up to the whooping amount recorded in the Nigerian annals of past and current records of money laundering cases put together? NO! I don't think so. Can you please tell me where the removed subsidy is going if and when they succeed in its removal? Why has the issue of operational and efficient refineries remained a shadow-chasing game never conquered by any successive government in Nigeria?
Obviously, some cabals have vowed never to allow the workability of such promising projects as the construction of new refineries and renovation of the existing ones. Or what else can put such creditable necessity in jeopardy.
Removing the so called subsidy - which is another name for the "sacred cakes" baked for some cartel for "business-as-usual" to flourish - is nothing but detonating a time-bomb with a sense of disregard for its rippling effect on the entire country. No matter how head-spinning the amount to be recovered from such removal is, there is every certainty that the recovered money cannot put smiles on the faces of the teeming populace who stand to bear the bronte of such wild decision. Such money has predefined paths through which it continually flows: the punctured tunnels of the pockets of "the sacred cows" home and abroad!
My fellow country men, please ruminate over this and respond.
© Wale Oladokun (2011)
Reference:
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved
1. money given by government: a grant or gift of money from a government to a private company, organization, or charity to help it to function
2. help with expenses: a monetary gift or contribution to somebody or something, especially to pay expenses
Going by those two definitions, it is really hard to place the Nigerian distorted context of "subsidy" application side-by side with the defined meanings above. Why? It is so because what is categorized as "subsidy" on fuel in Nigeria should, in actual fact, be referred to as the unnecessary expenses incurred from "Nigeria's alternative foregone". Construction of more refineries and the renovation of existing ones represent our "alternative foregone"
We are, as a nation being continually confronted with hard choices to make at every twist of wriggling out of our economic quagmires. But it becomes more harrowing when destinies of millions of Nigerians have to be at the mercy of some callous cabal whose whimsical natures represent the final arbiter in every decision-making that has a far-reaching consequence on all and sundry.
The above emotional outburst stands to be meaningless unless it is placed against the backdrop of the ensuing and much-debated topic of: "Removal of Subsidies on Petroleum Products". The Yoruba say: "If we do not want to suffer, then we should be prepared to lend our arrows out to don't suffer". We would have successfully circumvented this cantankerous hydra-headed monster birthed by the greed of our leaders and kept rearing its ugly head whenever there seems to be a ray of hope that things are about getting normal in the country, if we had heeded the call for the only way to salvage the perennial hiccups associated with crude-oil and its refined products. The simple antidote known to even an unschooled teenager in this country is no other than building more refineries and sustaining the existing ones by ensuring they perform at optimum capacity. SIMPLE.
Please, Nigerians, how much do they need to build more refineries and renovate the existing ones? Is it up to the whooping amount recorded in the Nigerian annals of past and current records of money laundering cases put together? NO! I don't think so. Can you please tell me where the removed subsidy is going if and when they succeed in its removal? Why has the issue of operational and efficient refineries remained a shadow-chasing game never conquered by any successive government in Nigeria?
Obviously, some cabals have vowed never to allow the workability of such promising projects as the construction of new refineries and renovation of the existing ones. Or what else can put such creditable necessity in jeopardy.
Removing the so called subsidy - which is another name for the "sacred cakes" baked for some cartel for "business-as-usual" to flourish - is nothing but detonating a time-bomb with a sense of disregard for its rippling effect on the entire country. No matter how head-spinning the amount to be recovered from such removal is, there is every certainty that the recovered money cannot put smiles on the faces of the teeming populace who stand to bear the bronte of such wild decision. Such money has predefined paths through which it continually flows: the punctured tunnels of the pockets of "the sacred cows" home and abroad!
My fellow country men, please ruminate over this and respond.
© Wale Oladokun (2011)
Reference:
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved
Its becoming more and more difficult for GEJ to run this country, he takes one step forward and two steps backward. What astonishes me is the refusal of our so called Leaders to learn from history....Vanity upon vanity...May God help us.
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