{"id":75963,"date":"2020-09-28T14:43:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T13:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=75963"},"modified":"2020-09-28T14:43:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T13:43:40","slug":"deregulation-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/deregulation-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Deregulation Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Experiences over the years have shown that subsidy on Premium Motor<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Spirit (petrol) is a burden that must be lifted off the shoulder of the
\ngovernment,\u00a0 but in doing this, there is need to take into cognisance
\nthe welfare of the people and the prevailing circumstances which have
\ncontinue to generate concerns as the nation forge ahead on the path of
\nfull deregulation of the downstream sector.<\/p>\n

Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the
\nNigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), had on 2nd September,
\n2020, announced the increase in the price of fuel from 148 – 151.56k.
\nThis was hinged on the deregulation directive of the government issued
\nin March.<\/p>\n

But looking at its impact on the standard of living of workers and
\nNigerians in general, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union
\nCongress (TUC) decided to champion an industrial action which was
\nsuspended at the eleventh hour to it’s manifestation due to the
\npalliatives promised by the government after series of meetings that
\nalso birthed the reversal of the electricity tariff hike on 27th
\nSeptember.<\/p>\n

Before then, the NLC, TUC and more 79 civil society groups had been
\nthreatening to replicate the kind of drama that greeted the President
\nGoodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration move to remove the subsidy in
\n2012, if the government fails to reverse the hikes on the electricity
\ntariff and pump price announced on 1st and 2nd September, respectfully.<\/p>\n

The civil society organizations in 2012, shut down Nigeria after the
\npresident Jonathan, gave fuel subsidy removal as a new year message
\nclaiming that the government can no longer bear the burden of the
\nsubsidy. The aftermath of this protest was part of what contributed to
\nhis failure at the 2015 general election.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the party that rode on this gain to defeated the then
\npresident has now embarked on the same path at a time when the majority
\nof nations across the globe are giving different palliatives to cushion
\nthe effect of the hardship caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Due to the outbreak of COVD-19 pandemic, so many companies have shut
\ndown their production lines, sent workers on leave without pay while
\nsome have been disengaged. Infact, the Federal government in a silent
\nmanner disengaged 500, 000 N-power Volunteers in June\/July, under the
\ndisguise of transition to an undisclosed next level programme. Some of
\nthese people are fathers and mothers with children.<\/p>\n

Most teachers at the private schools are now struggling to meet their
\nresponsibility at home because of the inability of their schools to pay
\nthem full salary while some have resulted to begging and borrowing in
\norder to survive this trying time.<\/p>\n

This does not exempt those working at the worship centers. The report
\nreleased by the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) in August, shows that
\nthe level of unemployment has increased astronomically to an
\nunprecedented level while the number of underemployed hands continue to
\nrise daily.<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, there have been concerns about the rising in the
\ncurve of poverty in the country. For example, the country was awarded
\npoverty capital of the world after overtaken India in a “poverty relay
\nmatch” conducted by the World Poverty Clock in 2018.<\/p>\n

With the recent retrenchment and disengagement from both the government
\nand private companies, the number of 92 million Nigerians living in
\nextreme poverty has increased. This ought to guide the government in the
\nformulation and implementation of policy like this.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the government failed to considered this until its
\nattention was drawn to it by the NLC and TUC through the drum of strike
\nand protest actions. Rather, what was made manifest was the comparison
\nof the pump price between Nigeria and her neighbouring countries
\nchampioned by Hon. Minister Lai Mohammed in an attempt to justify the
\nhike in the pump price without putting into consideration the minimum
\nwage and level of poverty in those countries.<\/p>\n

Even, if the minimum wage of those countries were the same with the one
\nin place in Nigeria, it is obvious that pump price was not increased at
\nthe middle of the pandemic that has nearly crippled the global economy.
\nAnd this has being the issue with most government policies in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n

Most times, government looks at a policy in other countries and try to
\nreplicate it in Nigeria without putting into consideration the
\nenvironmental factors and the nature of the country. Not too long ago we
\nhad a similar occurrence at the national assembly when some legislatures
\nintroduced an imported hate speech bill from Singapore to the house.<\/p>\n

Similar misstep might have been responsible for the announcement of the
\nremoval of fuel subsidy at the inception of the new year in 2012, when
\nmost people have exhausted the money on them on the festive celebration
\nbefore it was reversed due to days of protest. Though, some have argued
\nthat the protest was politically motivated because most of the prominent
\nfigures at the protest are now in the political office or have
\naffiliation with those in power today.<\/p>\n

However, these political marchants would not have capitalized on the
\nremoval of subsidy to gathered such mammoth crowd to project their
\ninterest if the government had issued the deregulation directive at the
\nright time.<\/p>\n

Although, looking at the magnitude of allegation of corruption that has
\nbeclouded the downstream sector, it is crystal clear that no government
\nwill want to continue the payment of subsidy on patrol, but in doing
\nthis there is need to put into consideration the prevailing
\ncircumstances which seems to the lacuna in this case.<\/p>\n

Though, the government claimed that the removal is for the benefit of
\nthe masses because most people that benefit much from the fuel subsidy
\nare those that have cars, but it failed to understand that any hike in
\nthe price of fuel will definitely affect the prices of goods and
\nservices across the country. Infact, it will affect the cost of running
\npower generation, especially, “I better pass my neighbor” which gives
\nrelief to the masses suffering from the epileptic power supply.<\/p>\n

Epileptic power supply has been one of the factors impeding development
\nin Nigeria. The more money spent on it, the more it seems to be
\ndegenerating. That is why Nigerians are calling on the government to
\nspeedily fulfill all the promises reached at the negotiation table with
\nthe labour centres so that the the nation will not move from frying pan
\nto fire by toying with already tense and inflammable atmosphere created
\nby the Coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Femi Oluwasanmi,
\nIbafo,
\nOgun State.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experiences over the years have shown that subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) is a burden that must be lifted off the shoulder of the government,\u00a0 but in doing this,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\nDeregulation Controversy - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/deregulation-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deregulation Controversy - 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