MY VIEW ON THE FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL

This fuel-subsidy issue is a double-edged sword;

The Governments stance:
1. "We want to use the money to build infrastructure."

The People's stance:
1. One Nigerian senator earns 3times what the President of the USA earns and we have 109 of them! not to talk of ministers, governors, advisers and the presidency itself!! Apart from this we have 1 billion in our budget this year alone for the feeding of the presidency (that is unheard of also in other countries), not to talk of the massive corruption as evidence by the massive depletion of our foreign reserves and excess crude oil accounts!!! So: "If you are serious about not having enough money for improvements/infrastructure prove your loyalty by slashing your salaries and using that money to improve our economy." That is where a huge chunk of our budget is going.

2. Before you remove the subsidy, don't you think you should reduce the burden this will cause the people? at least this is what every other country has done. There should be constant electricity and the roads/rail and transport services should be sorted.

3. The most important point is however; WHY ARE OUR REFINERIES NOT WORKING? If our refineries were functioning at full capacity and we went ahead to build some more; we would not have this problem. Not only will we be able to sell to the foreign market at a more competitive price to earn more income? The cost of selling it to Nigerians themselves would drop drastically.

So now, let's be honest with ourselves, who has a better argument? Is the government not meant to serve the people? If the government is to be a government of the people, then it should humble itself and fix up. The government is not expected to provide subsidy forever, but for now; it has to cut the salaries of its overpaid yet under-worked workers and fix the refinery/electricity issues at least. The burden should also be place lightly; not all at once. It is just common-sense.


God Bless Nigeria.