Greetings Friends, I hope everyone is pretty fine. In this publication, I underscored on a very pertinent and importunate state of the Nigerian people which I'm convinced you'll love taking a perusal.
Every economy would always have issues that disquites them at each time. This isn't different from the current state of my country since the inception and inauguration of the new government, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Issues with governance in Nigeria has been a usual opprobrium as the masses have gotten acquainted with the processes since independence in 1960 till date.
Currently, the country is faced with issues which aren't limited to; social issues, diplomatic issues, religious issues, technical, ethnic issues amidst others.
Nonetheless, I wish to give a deep dive into the current diplomatic issues bedeviling the nation at the moment. This problem is actually the removal of fuel subsidy which started on the 29th of May 2023 at the inauguration ceremony of the current administration.
Though this issue of fuel subsidy was prompted by one of the then administration, president Olusegun Obasanjo intending to compliment the actual price the masses were to pay on pump prices but then, this has ripped a whole lot of benefits from our economy than it was meant to contribute.
From the data streamlined by premium times Nigeria indicated that this year's appropriation bill on fuel subsidy was meant to cover for six months with each month covering ₦560 billion approximately $729.6 million. Consequently, roughly ₦3.4 trillion was meant to be spent by the past administration for this year.
Going by this figure, the country should have been spending approximately ₦6.8 trillion for the year if the past administration were to be in office. The irrational expenditure involved in maintaining this issue of subsidy was actually what prompted its removal by the present administration.
By intuition, we will deduce that the current government has saved about ₦1.2 billion which is approximately $1.459+ million since no subsidy was paid in June and July. From these observations, we have seen what subsidy in Nigeria portrays.
On the order hand, fuel subsidy was meant for the benefit of the masses but it is now gathered that the routine favors the rich than the poor which is quite true since over 50% of car owners and other high techs that consumes fuel are wealthy folks, it means that the medium favors the rich than the poor masses.
Although we were convinced that the system favors the rich more than the poor masses, it's also affecting the poor more than the rich and wealthy folks since no reasonable measure was put in place to cushion whatever might reverberate from this governmental extemporaneous action.
The current administration is faced between the devil and the deep blue sea in response to this impromptu action. They are considering deployment of ₦8,000 approximately $10.4 palliative each to all citizens but this isn't the best measure to cushion this opprobrium if I should suggest.
Contrarily, they are also considering increasing the minimum wage to ₦200,000 which is about $260.6, and this also isn't the way forward since everyone is not a salary earner. I would rather suggest; reduction in educational fees, more employment in the labor force of the country, reduction in the cost of governance, opening of national borders, reduction in import and excise duties, and also reduction in personal income taxes and other forms of taxes through this, certain commodities can be made affordable by the poor Masses while keeping to their position of fuel subsidy removal.
What the masses are doing to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal
Currently, the whole nation is in a stake of squalor with our leaders still not knowing the best strategy to employ but then Nigerians are wise. Different people have resorted to using bicycle for short journey instead of boarding public vehicles which is very expensive at the moment but this is funny.
There is this move by Nigerians that intrigued me the most. This is actually the invention of gas consuming carborators instead of fuel consuming carborators. How is this used? First you get your mechanic to get the gas consuming carborators and fix it to your generator and then connect it using the cylinder tube to your gas cylinder. This has reduced the rate of fuel consumption by companies and organizations.
For instance, we usually spend ₦30,000 to ₦40,000 which is about $39 to $52 to fuel our generator in the place I'm serving every week but since we swapped to gas carborator, we now spend about ₦10,000 which is approximately $13.9 per week.
Despite the improvised means deployed by Nigerians, we are yet to experience an absolute freedom from this menace because the standard of living of the poor masses hasn't been positively affected which makes the process unfavorable to all.
Fuel subsidy as we may have it is a good move by the government but not with proper measures to cushion any negative effect that could reverberate from it.
The State of the Nigerian economy is quite in a big shock as we believe that things will soon trade favorably but till when? The cost of goods and services has highly inflated giving rise to continuous devaluation of the country's currency to pave way for investors which has negatively affected the importation of goods into the country despite opening of the country's borders.
Despite the state of the nation, the masses are still improvising means to cushion the effect of this issue of fuel subsidy while waiting on the government to do the needful meaning we aren't totally locked out. Permit me to draw the curtain at this point thanks for going through the state of the Nigerian Nation, bye.
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