Opinion
Open Letter To President Tinubu – Nigeria, Matters Arising
My dear president, since your inauguration on May 29, 2023 and your off-the-cuff ‘Subsidy is gone’ declaration, Nigeria and Nigerians have been exposed to the true meaning of hardship in all ramifications.
While it makes economic sense to remove fuel subsidy, especially after identifying the fact that a group of people within the oil sector are the beneficiary of subsidy payments, it would have been wise to go after the group/companies, arrest and bring them to justice. Until this moment, not one recipient of subsidy payment has been named, arrested or brought to justice. This casts a shadow of doubt on the allegations that some people were collecting payment for dubious invoices submitted to the NNPC/NNPCL for imported petroleum products! Perhaps you will take another holistic review on allegations of fuel subsidy beneficiaries. As long as not one subsidy payment recipient person/company is prosecuted, it suggests that there’s more than meets the eye in these allegations!
After surviving a bitter and protracted civil war that spanned about 3 years, Nigeria rose from the ashes of that war to forge ahead.
The Nigeria-Biafra war was the culmination of the seeds of ethnicity that were sowed by politicians of Nigeria’s first republic. The military coup that toppled the first republic sowed the seeds of that civil war which was unnecessary. Up til this moment, Nigeria is yet to recover from the ethnic/tribal reverberations that shook her foundation as a sovereign nation. Nigerian soldiers that fought on the federal side against their Igbo brethren are yet to receive their retirement benefits. Mr, President, sir, I urge you to demand for an interaction with these war heroes, who fought to keep the Nigerian nation one, with a view to approve their meagre retirement benefits which cannot fund the fueling of a car in one calendar year! ‘The labour of our heroes past should never be in vain’.
Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has come a long way – wading through the murky political waters that had threatened her existence as a homogeneous state. Like or hate military governments, most of the development that Nigeria has attained in almost every facet of her existence after independence, can be attributed to military governments. The introduction of a unitary government by the General Aguiyi Ironsi government was deliberate, and based on the military’s desire to concentrate power in the hands of a central command that is akin to the military tradition of devolution of power from a military high command.
This unitary system of government made it easier for subsequent military-led governments albeit through coups, to wield the country together against the background of jackboot intimidation and fear of the overthrown political ruling class. The main reasons for the truncation of Nigeria’s first republic was based on ‘Ten-percenters politicians’, corruption, nepotism and tribalism – these vices had continued to hold Nigeria down, even till today!
Nigeria’s socio-economic growth of the sixties to early eighties had not been matched, even now that we are in the digital age. Nigeria’s human capital development indices have nose dived, compared to the period above. Our educational institutions have become ‘trading’ posts by teachers. Learning and teaching standards have fallen, if not totally wiped out. Industrial layouts have all been converted into Churches – making Nigeria a nation that imports virtually all her needs. Our development has been warped by corruption – grants for research projects are ferried into private pockets, so much that Nigeria’s contemporary, like the Asian Tiger nation of Malaysia, during the period of her independence, has left her behind in the scale of economic and technological development. The ‘Japa’ syndrome is not helping matters, no thanks to excruciating hardship by unemployment opportunities.
By the way, like a spoilt child of rich parents, Nigeria had refused to grow into adulthood. Power that is taken for granted by countries that are not as endowed as Nigeria, Kenya, for instance, had become a luxury – no Nigerian home gets 4 hours, uninterrupted power supply daily. At times, some homes don’t get power for a whole month! Gone are the days of the ECN glorious days, when power was available twenty four hours daily. Now that power firms have taken over the generation and distribution of electricity; business models are now based on the sale of darkness to Nigerians – even government, whose primary responsibility is to provide welfare and security to her citizens has officially approved and endorsed the selling of darkness to hapless Nigerian consumers. The industrial and business sectors of the economy are not spared. Companies spend a huge chunk of monies to power their equipment and offices; yet they are served spurious estimated electricity bills monthly. Where are the groundnut pyramids, cocoa, tin, manganese, cashew nuts, oil palm and rubber plantation estates? Government policies that are good on paper, implemented with corruption, had wiped out the above agricultural achievements! The discovery of oil and overdependence on its sales revenue, especially its dollar foreign currency revenue, led to the abandonment of agriculture for nonexistent white collar jobs and life styles.
More than ever, Nigeria needs a leader that is detribalized; a leader for all ethnic nationalities; a leader that is far from being slanted to/for a particular part of the nation, and above all, a leader that is driven by a passion to be a leader for all citizens, irrespective of creed, tribe, religious affiliation and geographical location.
The introduction of our present democratic government since 1999 has redefined us as a nation within many nations. The past and last three elections of 2015, 2019 and 2023 have polarized Nigeria, so much that, we are now divided more than we had ever been – the calls for restructuring and regionalism are a by-product of those elections.
Mr. President, I urge you to introduce socio-economic policies that will stem the scourge of unemployment, Boko Haram terrorist activities, kidnapping and other vices. The divide and rule policy of lopsided appointments into federal institutions, along the lines of former president Buhari’s legacies must be stopped. Infrastructure for the development of our academic institutions, across primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions must be pursued. The creation of job opportunities for our teeming youths should be given utmost attention. The insecurity in the North and kidnappers activities prevalent in the South are offshoots of joblessness. As the saying goes, ‘An idle mind is the devil’s work shop. Throwing money at issues of unemployment will only exacerbate criminal activities. The solution is to create employment opportunities.
The recent obnoxious, wicked plan to hike electricity tariff, especially while Nigerians are dying daily from the effects of inflation and high food prices, as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy, is grossly unacceptable, especially considering the fact that Nigeria has humongous gas reserves which are currently being flared, daily!
Also, I appeal to you to follow up on the religious execution of the Petroleum Industry Bill, as passed by the previous national assembly.
You have a golden opportunity to set in motion, the process to restructure Nigeria. You need not go too far – the report of the 2014 confab is on the shelves of the presidential archives, waiting for implementation.
As someone who campaigned along with other members of NADECO for the restoration of democracy in 1999, the restructuring of Nigeria should be on your priority list. The buck stops on your table to fight the greatest vices that had held Nigeria down from attaining greatness by leading the process to restructure Nigeria into geo-political zones, where each of the zones will independently develop at their own pace, manage their natural resources and pay tax to the central government.
I plead with you to have a rethink, go back to review the removal of fuel subsidy and reintroduce/repackage the policy to be implemented in phases, spread across, perhaps between 8 and 10 years, to mitigate the effects of a one fell swoop 100% removal as was done on May 29, 2023. Also, the flotation of the Naira, without effective Dollar support, will continually lead to further depreciation of the Naira. Considering the high cost of food across the nation, please consider a short-term policy of food importation as a stop-gap measure to augment local food supplies. The problem is not lack of food at markets but lack of money by Nigerians to buy food at the present exorbitant prices of food. Cement prices have, all of a sudden, and unjustifiably so, have been increased. I urge you not submit to blackmail by creating the environment for organisations to import cement – this is the only measure to break the monopolistic strangle hold of local cement manufacturing companies.
Finally, I urge you to put on your official garb as executive president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, stand firm, eye-ball-to-eye-ball, and stand on your oath of office, to protect the welfare, security and lives of Nigerians by rejecting the calls and recommendations of the IMF and World Bank for the removal of electricity subsidy. The masses, the citizens of Nigeria are daily bleeding, dying, no thanks to the recommendations of these Bretton Wood institutions. At the end of the day, the IMF and World Bank, not Nigerians, will abandon you.
May God bless Nigeria.
Long Live Nigeria.
© Ono. Eviosekwofa
February 23, 2024
E-mail: leviose@yahoo.com