Barely a year after a the forceful removal of fuel subsidy which almost brought the country to a standstill, President Goodluck Jonathan
has launched a campaign to totally remove the subsidy on fuel saying it
was the solution to incessant fuel scarcity in the country. He said the
removal of fuel subsidy would attract investors to the oil sector who
would build refineries in the country thereby putting an end to the
importation of petroleum products as it is currently being done.
According to a Punch report, he noted that although the effect of the removal might be painful initially, Nigerians would be happier in the end.
“Why is it that people are not
building refineries in Nigeria despite that it is a big business? It is
because of the policy of subsidy, and that is why we want to get out of
it. To change a nation is like surgery. If you have a young daughter of
five years who has a boil at a very strategic part of the face, you
either as a parent leave that boil because the young girl will cry or
you take the girl to the surgeon.
“So you have the
option of just robbing metholatum on the face until the boil will burst
and disfigure her face or you take that child to the surgeon. On the
sighting of a scalpel of the surgeon alone, the child will start
crying. But if she bears the pains and do the incision and treat it,
after some days or weeks, the child will grow up to be a beautiful lady.
“There are certain
decisions that government must take that may be painful at the beginning
and people must be properly informed so that they will be ready to bear
the pains.”
On January 1st 2012 when
the President removed the subsidy on fuel, his action was greeted by
mass protests across the country which paralysed economic activities in
the country for about two weeks. The pump price of the product
pre-January 1, 2012 was N65. It was increased to N141 under the
zero-subsidy regime and consequently reduced to N97 after the protests.
The memories of the two
weeks protest are still fresh and unpleasant and it would be a shame if
we had to pass through a similar period again in Nigeria. Nigerians were
faced with hardship as the increase in the price of fuel consequently
affected prices of foodstuff and other commodities.
What are your thoughts
on the President’s reasons for wanting to remove the fuel subsidy? Are
you in support of the removal of the fuel subsidy or not?
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