2023: What manner of year! – Femi Adeoti Column

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FEMI ADEOTI COLUMN

Year 2022? Yes, it has become yesterday. Our today is 2023. We wish we
won’t witness any semblance of 2022 this 2023.
What did not happen to us last year? Virtually nothing. We went into
the more than 12 months now. We saw and we were conquered but not
subdued. Never quietened.
Every aspect of our life was brutally bruised. The steam in us almost
evaporated. We were practically breathless. We wobbled and fumbled
throughout the year 2022. Just like its predecessor, 2021.
So? When it ended the way it ended. We clapped, jumped for exceeding
joy. Our happiness knew no bounds. We were elated and excited all at
the same time.
Honest. We perceive high hopes in 2023. We see a new dawn. It’s our
very fresh day. We refuse to be dampened.
At least, we have another rare chance. It’s a lifetime opening. A
golden opportunity as it were to make amends. And a life-changing
choice.
But the threats are real, damning and alarming! Yet, we’ve got to
confront them. Headlong? That could be suicidal.
The conspiracy is equally non-fictional. It’s factual, not fictitious.
All the major presidential candidates are in this business together.
It is one issue that unites them.
This roll call is not in any particular order: Atiku Abubakar, Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP); Bola Ahmed Tinubu, All Progressives Congress
(APC); Peter Obi, Labour Party (LP); and Rabiu Kwankwaso, New Nigeria
Peoples Party (NNPP).
They are the culprits. They are unequally yoked together. For us it’s
more than a plot. We see it far beyond machination. It is a cabal of
deceit.
They are just playing to the gallery. Dwelling chiefly on rhetoric. It
is intentional. Dancing in the market square is the game.
See them? You will marvel at the dexterity they put into it. By
omission and commission, they manage to strike a common ground.
And the meeting point is the dreaded fuel subsidy removal. They are
working assiduously on our intelligence. We are genuinely worried. Who
would not worry?
Just imagine! How they are lending their Babel of voices on fuel
subsidy removal. It’s dazing, dazzling and stunning.
They were never united like this before. And that increased our
worries and concerns. And that is the huge threat to the 2023 of
today.
Interestingly, the salvo came from an unexpected camp. It was Obi who
first mooted the idea. He flew the kite in July 2022. Still, it caught
others like harmattan fire.
He was in his usual element. Blunt but simple: “I will remove fuel
subsidy.” He did a comprehensive follow-up: “I can assure you, it
(subsidy) will go immediately.”
He insisted: “The subsidy, I have said before, is an organised crime.
I will not allow it to stay a day longer.
“What they are telling you is not what it is. Half of what is being
mentioned is not subsidy. First is that we consume the quantity that
is not supposed to be consumed here.”
He came with his trader’s economics again: “Look at this year’s
budget. Education, which is the highest since this government came, is
about N2 trillion. Health, which is the highest since this government
came, is about N1.5 trillion. Then infrastructure, like roads and
everything, is about N1 trillion.”
The frightening aspect: “These three critical development areas are
receiving N4.5 trillion. Subsidy is N3.6 trillion half year. So, if
it’s a full year, it is about N7 trillion. Which country will invest
more in subsidy than education, health and even roads? It doesn’t make
sense.”
Then entered Tinubu in October 2022. Very unlike him, he trode softly:
“I will ensure the stability of petroleum product supply.” How? He
responded promptly: “By fully deregulating the downstream sector and
ensuring that local refinery capacity will meet domestic consumption
needs.”
He has more in his kitty:
“We will hasten the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act and
implement favourable policies to stimulate investment in the
deep-water assets such as encouraging negotiations regarding signature
bonus payment and/or deferral of the payment post development and
royalty reliefs.”
In December 2022, Tinubu became harsher. He completely changed his
tactic. He told us without mincing or mixing words: “No matter how
long you protest, I will remove (fuel) subsidy.”
His reason: “How can we be subsidising fuel consumption of Cameroon,
Niger, Benin Republic?” Good question. We flow with you on this.
He, however, stretched his luck too far. He continued with sheer
arrogance and insensitivity: “No matter how long you protest, we are
going to remove subsidy.”
He didn’t need to be violent in passing his message. We don’t want to
continue with the kind of leadership we have on our fragile laps now.
You need not be brazen. You are still an applicant. We must be courted
not threatened or cajoled.
Our takeaway from that: He just displayed that he is going to rule and
not lead. That’s instructive enough for us. And we have taken good
note of that.
We detest a government that will be deliberately deviant and
eccentric. That is not our portion. Neither is it our priority.
Kwankwaso appeared non-committal. He did not tell us his whole mind.
He simply said Nigeria lost billions to subsidies in the past. He
spoke in November 2022.
So, if elected, his administration would assess the past subsidy
regime in the overall interest of Nigeria. That is where and how he
ended it.
But Atiku came with a vow in November 2022. He too saw our own brand
of subsidy as abnormal, a misnomer: “It’s just a fraud.”
His explanation: “I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel
subsidy committee. I recall how we removed phase one and phase two of
the fuel subsidy.” He didn’t tell us what they achieved with that.
All the same, what is your stand now? “I will continue from where we
stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds
back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud.”
Atiku came back the following month. He gave himself a timeline:  “I
will remove the fuel subsidy within the first 100 days in office. We
should be able to make a decision.”
These are the options before us. The candidates turned themselves to
canary birds. Singing uncontrollably. The same song in different
tunes!
President Muhammadu Buhari did sing the same old song. He was
desperate as a presidential candidate. He was emphatic as far back as
2011. He poured out.
He swore fuel subsidy was brazen corruption. We thought he was
sincere. He asked into the air: “Who is subsidising who?”
He was petroleum minister between 1976 and 1978. That was under the
military junta of General Olusegun Obasanjo. He did a quick
calculation to determine the true cost of a litre of oil:
“The cost of one barrel at the wellhead and then the cost of
transportation to the refinery, the cost of refining it and its cost
at the pump.” His reasonable conclusion was apt: “If anybody says he
is subsidising anything, he is a fraud.”
Buhari is still the oil minister. Has he walked his talk? He never
did. Instead, he turned the tables against us. His government feasted
on oil subsidy with utmost recklessness. They lace it with lies and
falsehoods.
The deceit has not stopped. His reign of nearly eight years became our
ruin. A nightmare. He never seriously tackled fuel crisis. It has been
a dismal recurring decimal of his regime.
Now, do you clearly see the threats trailing us this 2023?