The issue surrounding fuel scarcity in Nigeria has become a perennial one, and may not be addressed anytime soon, despite all the promises by government to make life easy for citizens. Although, there is high hope that the present administration under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would do the right thing by ensuring that the failure of the past government to address the problem of fuel scarcity, given the inability to license modular refinery applicants does not repeat itself.
The President has told Nigerians that leadership is about taking hard decisions. Now that fuel subsidy has been removed, the toughest decisions ever taken by this administration, we want to see a clear departure from the old order on the issue concerning fuel scarcity in Nigeria. It’s not palatable anymore. All media outlets, and the social media are awash with the ugly situation and have continued to feast on this same protracted issue, yet what we have in the energy sector in Nigeria is still all motion without movement. Eminent Nigerians and various Civil Society groups have equally called on government to declare emergency on the energy sector.
These calls also have fallen on deaf ears ever since, and the problem persists, unfortunately. It’s laughable that each successive government that had come to power talked about finding lasting solutions to the problem of fuel scarcity, yet, 25 years after the restoration of democracy, no lasting solution has been found to this national embarrassment. This is simply because, the system as they say; has been hijacked by the cabals. Those who engage in round tripping of the petroleum products, to say the least, should be identified and punished. We cannot be number six oil producing nation in the world, yet, lack the capacity to provide energy for our people all these years, with all the creative and smart individuals the country parades.
The immediate past government effortlessly and fruitlessly, despite the cacophony of voices and media hype which it deployed, ended up in wild goose chase when it could not bring to book those that fed fat on our common patrimony, while the larger populace, unfortunately, were left more broken and confused. It does appear as if the people have resigned to fate since both, past and present government have failed to tackle headlong the challenge of fuel crisis over the years. That may not necessarily be true. It’s just that Nigerians are resilient and equally have the hope that things would become better someday.
The silence of the people also should not be taken for granted and as weakness on their part. Government needs to do the right thing and save the people the harrowing experience of economic hardship we all are going through. The irony therefore, is that Nigerian workers are in pains and groaning. For example, this May Day Celebration (Workers’ Day) was marked amid pains and misery by the Nigerian workers, unlike their counterparts in other parts of the world. Today in Nigeria, a litre of fuel goes for as high as #1000, #1200, #2000 in places like Abuja, Lagos and Kaduna, while the product is not available in most states of the federation, owing to the fact that the so-called marketers now hoard the products to make more gain to the detriment of the already impoverished masses whose living wages the government is still struggling to pay.
The logistical problem which government said is responsible for the latest scarcity, in all intent, is not a valid excuse. By now, government should have clear view on how to empower and encourage those who want to go into local production. All those licensed to go into modular refinery production should be allowed to come on stream, rather than wait for one man to supply oil to the entire country. The surprising thing is that each time queue returns to filling stations, government usually have something to say to justify the development, rather than find immediate and permanent solution to the problem.
It then means some people somewhere are benefiting from this embarrassing situation that seeks to put government in bad light. We sincerely need good leaders that have feelings for the people. That this scarcity of petroleum products has persisted over the years shows that something definitely is wrong somewhere. There is no way we would celebrate a meaningful May Day in the country when the workers are paying through their noses to get to work on daily basis, with salaries that are not up to a living wage in this critical time. The fuel scarcity that is lingering in Nigeria for too long is not a good omen, and it’s very sad talking about it every time. Solving the perennial problems of fuel scarcity in Nigeria in many ways will address the plights of the Nigerian workers who pay heavily on transportation.
The Nigerian workers are at the mercy of the transporters who also hide under the guise of scarcity of the products to milk the commuters dry. Indeed, fuel scarcity has brought more pains to Nigerian workers. This should not be allowed any further by the government. Allowing this to persist does not speak well of the government, because it may deepen if nothing is done fast to ameliorate the situation . We therefore advise that government in the spirit of Workers’ Day celebration to move in fast to address the root cause of this scarcity, and possibly bring to justice those sabotaging the system. Governance is about the people and whereby the people are groaning, government should look inward and do what is called self-examination.
Those who have shown interest to refine fuel locally and perhaps licensed to do so, should be allowed to commence operation without further delay. Words should be matched with action. Political niceties are not the way to go this time. Government should tell the people the truth and not to dribble them on issues that affect their everyday living. All promises of government to Nigerian workers should equally come to the fore, considering the critical time everyone is facing at the moment.
