AZUKA ONWUKA FROM PUNCH
The continuous implementation of the subsidy on petrol has been the most thoughtless decision of the Nigerian administrations in the past two decades. Therefore, on May 29, 2023 when he was inaugurated, President Bola Tinubu announced that petrol subsidy had been removed. It was the wise thing to do. By announcing it on the day of his inauguration day, Tinubu believed that he was taking a decisive step that former President Muhammadu Buhari could not take throughout the eight years of his presidency.
However, there was a snag in that announcement by Tinubu. Beyond the shock of it on the populace, which made the price of petrol to rise from N189 per litre to over N500 in one day, it was the most hypocritical action Tinubu could have taken.
In January 2012, after months of consultations and discussions with different Nigerian stakeholders and general public, the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan eventually began the implementation of the removal of petrol subsidy. Tinubu, as the national leader of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, condemned the removal of petrol subsidy. He called it “Jonathan tax” and accused Jonathan of breaching his social contract with the people. He noted that with the subsidy removal, the people would become “enslaved to greater misery.”
Buhari, as the national leader of the opposition Congress for Progressives Change, was also fully against the removal of petrol subsidy. He said that subsidy did not exist but was only a smokescreen for corruption. Buhari said inter alia: “Nigerians are being deceived on the issue of fuel subsidy. The Federal Government takes out fuel for refining, only to come back and talk about removing the subsidy. That is nonsense and an attempt by a clique within the PDP-led Federal Government to siphon the proceeds to be realised from the removal of oil subsidy.”
A protest tagged Occupy Nigeria held in different parts of Nigeria for many days. Especially at the Ojota, Lagos rally, different musicians and celebrities performed. They took their turn to lambast the administration of Jonathan as insensitive and out-of-touch with the masses. Different personalities spoke at the rally, hitting hard on Jonathan.
It is believed that the seed of the merger of Tinubu’s party (the Action Congress of Nigeria), Buhari’s party (Congress for Progressives Change) and the All Nigeria People’s Party was sown during that protest against Jonathan’s removal of the petrol subsidy. About one year later on February 6, 2013, the key opposition parties merged under the umbrella of the All-Progressives Congress. That merger succeeded in ousting the People’s Democratic Party at the next election in 2015.
However, when Buhari assumed office in 2015 as president, to the shock and embarrassment of many Nigerians, he continued with the same subsidy he had claimed did not exist. Not only did he continue its implementation, he even spent much more money on subsidy than his predecessors that he condemned. In addition, Nigerian oil production dropped drastically as a result of oil theft. Even though the Russian invasion of Ukraine created immense wealth for oil-producing countries, Nigeria was getting poorer and running deeper into debt under Buhari. For eight years of his administration, Buhari never apologised for implementing the same petrol subsidy he denied its existence. He never apologised for being in charge at a time corruption was worsening in the oil sector, even though he was also the minister of petroleum all through the eight years of his presidency.
