Nigerians would be sensible not to compare Tinubu to the Almighty God in debating Subsidy decision.
On Subsidy Politics don’t compare the new Tinubu’s Administration to God Almighty to whom nothing is impossible but compare the President to his peers in West Africa or other nations of the World including America and China the two leading Superpowers today.
Most human beings, without exception, all over the world would rather not be dealing with magician Houdini or Professor Moshood Peller and some of the Magicians we see in Indian movies like Jaga Daku”
Indian athletes are banned from Sports like the Olympics because the organizers separate or differentiate magic from excellence in sports.
Governing a nation is a far cry from trusting or believing in magic which is predicated on illusion or make- believe rather than reality.
If that were not so, India would long have solved the problem of Poverty by merely turning to magic.
By the same token America would have turned to Houdini the world’s greatest magician to chart their way to the Moon or to Mars rather than turning to Science and Research and more research in technological innovations.
I recall President Obasanjo at one point selling one of the unproductive Nigerian Refineries to Alhaji Aliko Dangote for mere peanuts just to end the financial hemorrhage on running those Refineries which were being run at a huge loss to the Government and to poor Nigerians who bear the brunt of the economic disaster brought about by poor and very corrupt management of those Refineries.
It took the courage of President Yar Adua who boldly reversed the sale and he got Dangote to return the Refinery back to Government while taking back the money he had paid for the purchase.
Atiku Abubakar who President Obasanjo had put in charge of the privatization of the leading failing Industries in Nigeria, had abused the trust by selling many of the projects for only a fraction of their cost.
Atiku had viewed the move by Obasanjo as an opportunity to enrich himself and to sell those industries to himself or family members and friends for chicken change.
He Atiku Abubakar had decided to use that money to buy up and to own exotic properties in Dubai and the United States thru massive corruption, before using that money to run for President of Nigeria on several attempts including his most recent loss again on February 25th in 2023 in an election he was programmed to win handily but he he had lost woefully to Tinubu because the PDP had broken into 4 independent entities under his leadership with Atiku leading one faction, Peter Obi decamped to the Labor Party, Governor Wike and his Group of 5 Governors withdrew their support for the Atiku faction while Kwankwaso took away 900,000 votes which could easily have gone to Atiku in Kano
No wonder Atiku came a distant second with 6 million plus votes to Tinubu who scored close to 9 million to snatch Victory from the jaws of defeat.
If Nigerians compare Tinubu not to God but to his fellow presidential contenders in Nigeria and to his counterparts around the world, they would appreciate that the price of unleaded petrol which has risen to 600.00 Naira per liter, in Nigeria with the removal of subsidy, the price of petrol in Nigeria is still not as bad as the liter of the same petrol in Maradi or Niamey in Niger or in Kaula and Dakar in Senegal or In Abidjan and Yammasoukoro in the Ivory Coast and many other African countries and even in America where a liter of that oil is sold at 3.50 to 5.50 Dollars in the Northeast of America while it costs up to 6 to 7 Dollars in California and other parts of the United States.
If you convert those prices in America into Naira at current exchange rate, you will understand and appreciate that the cost of oil per liter in Nigeria, is still among the lowest in the world and that the Nigerian Labor Congress which is threatening to go on indefinite strike, if the removal of subsidy is not immediately lifted by the new Tinubu Administration that Hell is going to break loose.
Those Nigerians would realize that those threatening to go on strike are nothing but saboteurs and they are not being realistic and thoughtful at all. They ought to fully agree with Peter Obi when he described subsidy as organized crime pure and simple.
I agree that the removal is painful and draconian if you are only looking at Nigeria in isolation of the rest of the world.
Nigeria cannot be an island to herself. She has to do a comparative analysis with how much fuel is being sold in other parts of the world including the UK and Europe and even in Russia and Ukraine which are currently at war.
Removal of oil subsidy is about the most rational solution today given all of the alternatives available to the embattled Nigerian Authorities at this point.
If you all listen to the admonition of the Chief Imam of Ogbomosho whose analysis in one video I have seen, is as good as any analysis that the late Professor Samuel Adepoju Aluko a renowned Economist would have given, if he were still alive.
That Chief Imam is a firebrand and something else in my view.
I listened to the brilliant analysis that Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala has made on why subsidy defies logic and ought to be removed for the good of the country.
I listened to the Caliphate Lamido Sanusi the former Governor of the Nigerian Central Bank go to great length to support the Iweala analysis by saying that retaining the subsidy was going to lead Nigeria to the precipice or to the brink of disaster.
I cannot agree more.
President Tinubu is seriously working round the clock to find a solution thru negotiation.
I call that the right move which must continue and Nigerians should urge Labor Party and the Nigerian Labor Congress to shelf or abandon their plan to call for an indefinite strike but to show patriotism and purposeful leadership by joining in the negotiation to find a way out of the stalemate facing Nigeria right now.
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
The parties to the negotiation should remember the Biblical Injunction which says, “Ask and you shall get, seek and ye shall find and knock and it shall be opened unto you”
The corollary is that if you don’t ask, you get nothing. If you don’t seek, you find nothing and if you don’t knock, no door gets opened unto you.
The parties must continue the negotiations until they are able to find an amicable solution which is possible and attainable if they all negotiate in good faith.
It is an area where Oshiomole, a former labor leader and Governor could be tapped to help find a middle ground and an amicable solution.
Luckily, Adam Oshiomole is a loyal friend and ally of the new President and a good party leader and now a Senator of the ruling APC in Abuja.
You go to War with the Generals you have not with the ones you hope to have.
I rest my case.
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