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The New Year bombshell started like a rumour for those who didn’t listen to the afternoon news. According to the news, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has removed fuel subsidy. No, it can’t be true, I said. Yes, it is true, replied one of my colleagues. No, I insisted. Shocked. I was really shocked because I thought that the budget 2012 is not yet passed by the National Assembly. And so the implementation of the subsidy will not start until it is passed. Besides, the National Assembly extended the life span of the 2011 budget to March 2012. The expectation of most Nigerians was that government will not start the implementation of the fuel subsidy removal until then. But government is apparently being clever by half, trying to pre-empt the stumbling block the legislature could pose by doing the unthinkable - handing Nigerians this unpalatable new year gift before they could reconvene. The government is also hiding under the technicalities that it could implement about 70 percent of the recurrent expenditure of the 2012 budget before the Assembly could pass the budget to claim that fuel subsidy was not provided in the budget 2012 to remove the fuel subsidy. But this action of government could only be described as the most unkind cut right through the heart of Nigerians. It is unkind not because it is a wrong policy but because it was not well timed. It was done when there is the belief that dialogue was still on and that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was being most strategic in its debate on the issue.

The government, after the national debate organised by Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, was winning new converts and should have sustained the process of confidence building a little longer to get more Nigerians on board albeit willy-nilly. More Nigerians would have become more convinced that it is the right policy after all, despite the hardship they will go through initially. A little time before this implementation could not have cost the government anything. Afterall, policies must have a human face as well as be realistic. 

By removing the fuel subsidy now, government has unwittingly made some few folks very rich at the expense of the people because old stock bought with subsidy is being sold at sky rocket prices across the nation. This is really bad news for Nigerians who voted Jonathan enmasse. It is not that Nigerians are not aware that Jonathan was going to implement the fuel subsidy. Of course, most interest groups are favourably disposed to it if it is done right under the right atmosphere. But as usual, government did not time the implementation right. Nigerians who were still celebrating the new year are shell-shocked and outraged. Those who were yet to return from their holiday trips were trapped as most people could not afford the astronomical increase in transportation as a result of the increase in the price of fuel. I sympathise and empathise with my fellow country men and women. This thoughtless action of the government was uncalled for now. The government could have waited for many people who travelled to come back and settle down before this onslaught. Because of government’s insensitivity on the appropriate time to implement what otherwise should be a good policy, it has isolated itself from the people and lost the goodwill Nigerians repose on their president. There is no doubt that Jonathan has found itself between the devil and the deep blue sea. But the fact remains that he will have to swim all the way to the shore or sink. It may appear like the devil’s alternative for the government to capitulate to the wishes of the people to reverse the policy. That will amount to postponing the evil day. And once again, Nigeria will continue moving in a vicious circle which has led the country to nowhere except to benefit only a few people. Having said this, Nigerians must beware of labour union apologists who ride on the crest of popular demand to mislead the people. We have been misled before by vociferous labour leaders who rode on the crest of popular demand to retain fuel subsidy in the past to become governor only to turn 360 degrees now to announce that leadership is not a game of popularity. The damage such labour leaders did to the country is unimaginable because we should have been out of the woods by now had we gone ahead to do what is right in the past. Hundreds of people died in the protest that raged then and billions of naira was lost as the economy was grounded by protests led by misguided labour leaders who now support removal of fuel subsidy.

It is gratifying that the government said that it has handed over the refineries to the original builders to do the turn-around maintenance. This has strengthened the belief that in no time, the refineries will start producing to reduce imports which will in turn reduce  the price of fuel sometime in the near future. It is also heartening that government is planning to privatise the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC too. These are, indeed, very noble policy decisions. But right now, it will certainly be very difficult for Jonathan to ride through the storm of rage currently on in the country no matter the excuse he advances. The time we are in now requires the president to demonstrate a lot of political will and courage by taking bold actions that will make Nigerians know that he means well for the people.

In advanced countries, such as the  United States of America, there are welfare programmes like the  food stamps and unemployment benefits for poor families and unemployed people. Here in Nigeria, we have no such programme to take care of the teeming jobless population that will be most adversely affected by the removal of fuel subsidy. This is why the federal government must urgently show how benevolent it can be by bending backwards to immediately take actions that can calm the nerves of the masses. It must realise that parents and guardians always find January a difficult period because of payment of school fees and sundry expenses. It must find a way to accommodate the payment of school fees in addition to writing off JAMB registration fees for all those registering for the JAMB which is on-going. 

If the government can take away this immediate burden, perhaps, parents and guardians alike could breath a sigh of relief and know for sure that they have a government which cares. It will enable them to spend the rest of their resources to cope with attendant inflation in prices of goods and services albeit temporarily.  This must be done quickly especially for public schools and low cadre private schools where the children of the masses and middle class attend.

This immediate action should, in no way, derail the grand plan government has for the removal of the subsidy. But it will go a long way to portray government as having a listening ear. It will also be a tactful way of apologising to Nigerians for causing them so much hardship and anxiety at the beginning of the year already marred by the bad and ugly memories of the Christmas day bombing by the Boko Haram, which brought the insecurity in the country to the fore once more.

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