By Muyiwa Adetiba

Fela, our late iconoclast had a hit song titled ‘Water no get enemy’. For those who don’t know the song, it wason how indispensable water is toour everyday living. According to him, you quarrel with water at your peril because there is nothing you can do without water. You can almost say the same thing in today’s Nigeria about PMS, petrol, or simply fuel in our common, everyday parlance. Fuel in Nigeria is life, almost. In a country without any public mass transit, where whatever was bequeathed to us at independence has been virtually destroyed, every individual who has anywhere to go, has become their own transporter;which means every Nigerian needs fuel just to move around. 

NEPA has undergone many transformations over the years. It has changed its name.It has changed its ownership structure. It has imported hardware and software. These transformations have caused tax payers billions in hard currency. Yet, the one thing consistent about it is in its inability to turn darkness into light. The result is that everyone needs ‘fuel’ to power their private ‘NEPA’ whether at home or in the work place.But this fuel, in a major oil exporting country, has become gold. It is getting to five months now – almost half a year – since acute scarcity of fuel has taken over the land. NNPC has run out of excuses. The reason this behemoth of an organization is not remitting money into the coffers of the Federal Government is said to be because it is paying fuel subsidy. Yet the fuel is unavailable. From floods to marketers, Kyari has blamed everything available to be blamed. The bottom line is that he has fallen short of expectations. Or put differently, he is not competent enough for the current demands of his office. In saner climes, where performance is a major yardstick for staying in office, he should have long been gone – either by resigning or by being booted out. But he is still there, probably serving the narrow interests of aliens who are only Nigerians by name, since they are completely out of touch with the plight of the average Nigerian.

In all of this, we must not forget who the Petroleum Minister is. He is our President. He is also the longest serving Petroleum Minister we have ever had having occupied that position before in his younger, military days. Yet, under him with all his acquired experience, our refineries have been a disappointment, unable to pump fuel into the market. They have largely remained moribund despite huge funds for turn-around maintenance. He didn’t have to make himself Petroleum Minister if he wasn’t going to make a difference. It’s a relief that his term will be over soon.

But the mother of all fuels is cash. Assets are impressive they say, but cash is king. It is what ‘fuels’ relationships at different levels. It is what makes a man the master of his family and of the ‘oza room’. It is what all humans – king or peasant, rich or poor – spend sizeable amount of their time searching for. Yet in Nigeria, it is another vital requirement that has been deliberately made scarce. It is unconscionable that you cannot access your own funds. Whatever the motive for the Naira design – and the true motive has turned out to be more political than economic – the result is that people, especially the poor, have been made cannon fodders in a fight that is not theirs. The few times I have ventured out, I have found traffic to be very light except around petrol stations. I have seen able youths carrying jerry cans hustling after desperate drivers. The footage I have seen of banks – I have not had the courage to visit any – reminds me of the days we thought were long gone when bank customers spent almost a whole day at the bank and needed tally numbers to know the time they would be served. This time, many of those queueing might still go home empty despite having money in the bank. I have no doubt that the economy has slowed down and would slow down some more before this is over. The worry is the effect on the poor and how much they can bear before they snap. A good professional would know this and know when to time certain policies. But our man at the Apex Bank has become more political than professional. He is a reflection of the times we are in when competence is an alien word. From the hair-brained Anchor Borrower’s scheme, to the multiple FOREX tiers which has enriched many cronies, Emefiele has wobbled and fumbled throughout his tenure as governor with a telling impact on the economy. He was indiscreet enough to make a foray into partisan politics and shameless enough to stay put in office after it backfired. A man like Emefiele should never be allowed to finish his term. He should be shown various clips of people suffering at different levels as a result of policies he has championed and then fired! 

Most confounding are the politicians who went to court to stop the President and the CBN from extending the date and thus ameliorating the suffering of the people or even helping the comatose economy stay on its feet. Their reason is that only those who wish to financially induce the outcome of the election would want an extension of the deadline. How preposterous! These are politicians who claim they want to serve the people and yet are prepared to turn their backs on the same people at their most pressing hours of need. I also cannot believe that a Judge gave such an inhumane judgement given the circumstances. I can’t help thinking that because some people now wear fancy clothes and live in cities, they have forgotten what life is truly like in villages or even sub-urban towns. Or how really poor an average Nigerian is.

Somebody said the whole ‘Naira design’ to catch a few politicians is like setting a farm on fire to catch a few bush rats. How apt. Except when the devastation the fire is causing has become obvious and the collateral damage has become glaring, some people are still heartless enough to stay the hands of fire fighters because the bush rats they are targeting have not been found among the litters of dead animals on the scorched farm. It is sad that politicians who represent the interests of the people and Judges who represent the hope of the common man, are doing this to the people. From State actors, to non-State actors, to prospective State actors, Nigeria is about naked power and not service. Sad that the public space is filled with square pegs in round holes.