By MAYOWA KAREEM

On January 1, Nigerians woke up to find that petrol price had been increased to 140 naira from the 65 naira per litre, the reason being that government was paying N91 subsidy for every litre of fuel sold at the filling stations across the country and it was no longer economically sustainable to continue to do so.

In the words of the president “Nigeria must either deregulate and survive economically or continue with the subsidy regime that will undermine our economy”.

A good number of Nigeria who had gone for the yuletide celebrations were struck in the villages because there was an immediate astronomical hike in transportation fares. Various reactions trailed this development part of which was the angry nationwide protest by Nigerians which left many dead and the strike action embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress that had to be quashed by government.

Some people were of the opinion that subsidy removal was a move in the right direction because there was need for government to raise revenue to put in place infrastructure such as good roads, well equipped schools, hospitals and build build industries to generate employment for the youths. This school of thught also felt that fuel subsidy removal will provide money to help quench the Boko Haram uprising which is a major security challenge.

But those adamantly opposed to the removal of subsidy argued that majority of Nigerians will be greatly affected negatively as they can hardly make ends meet with the refusal of certain state government to implement the  18,000 naira minimum wage.

They contended that given the history of corruption and mismanagement in the country, government will come up in a few years to tell Nigerians that the money amassed from the fuel subsidy removal has gone “missing” just like monies earmarked for the “rainy days”.

After many of such reaction by Nigerians and series of meetings between the NLC and government, a compromise was reached to temporarily reduce fuel price from the proposed 140 naira to 97 naira while government further looks into the issue.

It has now been more than 160 days since the fuel subsidy removal. Nigerian have consumed millions of barrels of gasoline at less subsidized rate of N32 difference as opposed to the N65 formally obtainable.  The question now is, where has all the money gone to? With massive issues of corruption amounting to the tune of 6.8 billion dollars raised by the fuel subsidy committee raised by the House of Representatives and the 620 thousand dollars bribery scam by those who are supposed to protect the interest of Nigerians, one wonders what is the way forward for Nigeria?

Is it still justifiable for the presidency to remove the subsidy and make life unbearable for the common man? Since the removal of subsidy, the only tangible achievement of Nigeria has been the consumption of cassava bread in the Presidential Villa “Aso Rock”.

What are the assurances that, after two years, there will be something to show for the removal of subsidy? Mr. President, Nigerians need answers as to the way forward.

* Kareem is of Mass Communication Dept., Federal Polytechnic, Bida