Finally, the ever contentious subsidy on petrol has been removed. I was not very surprised at the news of the subsidy removal by the federal government on that Wednesday. In fact, I wasn’t surprised at all. In the afternoon of that day, just before the news of the removal came, I bought the product at N125 in a filling station near my office, and I was discussing with a friend of mine who owns the shop next after mine in the plaza on how the federal government had just announced its plan to remove petrol subsidy; my friend was of the opinion that when the subsidy is removed, we would still be able to afford the product just as we were able to afford it when it sold at N125, N200, N260 and even N300 per liter. Just as I got home that evening and put on my radio, I got the news that the federal government had just removed subsidy and pegged the price of petrol at N145 per liter. I wasn’t surprised at all; like my friend and neighbor rightly said, if we could afford it at N125, we can as well afford it at N145. Immediately I heard the news, I sent Ahmed Umoru my friend a text message of my thought on the subsidy removal, and he sent me a reply of his. I quite agree with him that the deregulation is in the best interest of our economy (if what the government has done actually implies deregulation). Frankly, Ahmed and I are not fans of the APC and its change mantra, but we are in support of this action of fuel subsidy removal. I particularly had spoken in support of the subsidy removal on several platforms where the matter was brought up for discussion. I have always been convinced that fuel subsidy removal augurs well for the economy of Nigeria inasmuch as it would guarantee that our local refineries would become fully functional to the extent that we would stop importing petrol, and more jobs would be created for more Nigerians – ultimately bringing about economic prosperity. If that should be the case, then I wouldn’t mind buying petrol even at N300 per liter. I’m not competent enough to comment extensively on this matter, as I am not yet an expert on any field related to the economy or oil. But I think we Nigerians should be willing to make necessary sacrifices for national development. I understand the immediate hardship that the subsidy removal would cause the generality of Nigerians especially the poor masses. It would certainly have a spiral effect as there is most likely going to be a leap in the cost of everything. But let us take solace in the Bible passage that says “they that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (if indeed the government is on the right course of deregulation).
Cheers Nigerians, we shall survive it.
Thanks for reading this article.
Kingsley Onwuka.