Thursday, May 12, 2016

Fuel Subsidy and the attendant concerns

Hi everyone!
Hope you've all been well since last we spoke? Well things are tensing up in  my location. How you may ask? Well the word on everyone's lips is the recent removal of fuel subsidy by my country's leadership.
People are polarized, some arguing nay and the other yay. At the moment I am not sure what to believe. The government will argue that they are doing it for our best interest but like most of my country's citizens I find that extremely hard to believe.
The Nigerian government hasn't exactly had a great track record doing things for the good of its citizens. They claim they spend trillions monthly or is it yearly subsidizing Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) and for the good of the economy it is not sustainable. If that is true I can reason with them but I am not sure its entirely true. As a citizen I am well aware of the hardship that will be placed on the average Nigerian by increasing the pump price. In a nation where most live on less than a dollar a day, life has just got even harder.
What we see now is a far cry from the millions of campaign promises made by this government. But that is starting to become something of the norm in Nigeria.The Government breaking its promises to its people.
Another thing boggling everyone's already frayed nerves is the statement by the British Prime Minister that Nigeria is FANTASTICALLY CORRUPT. That statement though true has angered a good many people. My president's only response was to say he wouldn't demand for an apology but for the return of all money stolen and repatriated to the UK.
The British Prime Minister wasn't wrong. The country is CORRUPT! Fantastically corrupt! Nevertheless I consider those fine words from someone recently discovered to have secret accounts and investments by the infamous Panama papers. He claims they were made by his father but I would have thought in light of his strong statements on corruption and such, he would have made every part of his financial dealings public.
Even though he has now done that the words 'too little, too late' come to mind. Another analogy is those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I for one believe its too early in the day for him to begin to pontificate. But that's just me.
Moving on, The government has done what they did, Whether it will benefit the average Nigerian Citizen remains to be seen. We all have to watch and wait. I continue to hope that one day we have the nation we so richly desire.

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