Once upon a time, a certain individual was given a public office to occupy, and it was his responsibility to stop insecurity and kidnapping. So the man went and call all the criminals in the town and asked them not to steal again, that he would pay them an agreed sum of money and buy them cars as compensation. So the criminals listened to him, and he did what he promised. And, for that period, crime rate in the town reduced dramatically.
But did the man really stop criminality? No, he didn't. Through his actions, he was basically telling the thieves not to take the money by force, that he would hand it to them peacefully. He was robbing graduates, hardworking and law-abiding citizens to pay money to criminals for doing nothing. It was a different kind of robbery that was going on, howbeit one without force and violence. And so after his tenure in that office, the bad boys returned, and continued from where they stopped. And that was exactly the type of thing Jonathan did in a bid to stop fuel scarcity.
So what was Jonathan's strategy? He paid billions of dollars to the oil cabal in the name of subsidy. Subsidy payment in the over 5 years of his reign was about 8 trillion naira, money that could've built schools, hospitals, provided security and diversify the economy and create jobs for millions of people. So everybody was importing fuel and the market was wet, even those who didn't have any business with importation took licence to do so and were paid billions of naira for doing nothing.
Now, when I talk about subsidy, I'm not talking about the very reasonable act to subsidise the product for poor Nigerians until a functional refinery is built and we're able to refine all our product at home. I'm talking about the fraud that came with the subsidy regime, where people were given licencing contract at will to import fuel, where so much fuel was imported that they were sold to neighbouring countries by individuals, yet paid for by Nigerians. We asked Jonathan to correct that fraud and pay only legitimate subsidy, that he should show balls and prosecute the thieves instead of ask Nigerians to suffer for the inefficiency of government. But he went ahead and removed the subsidy partially, he said it would be used for palliatives, but there was nothing like that as his friends in the Sure-P office embezzled it and gave peanut to Nigerians. Inflation followed, and he confirmed our argument that it's not taking money away in the name of palliatives that will solve the problem, but building new refineries and confronting the subsidy cabal. He went in bed with those thieves, they were filling the market with large amount of products, but at great expense to the nation.
Also, Jonathan allowed the Niger Delta militants to do oil bunkering at an alarming rate. Shell made a report that Nigeria lost $5Billion (1 trillion naira) annually to the activities of pipeline vandals, so you could say about 5 Trillion naira was lost to oil bunkering in the over 5 years of Jonathan. These criminals will illegally refine the product and wet the market with fuel, but all the money will go into their private pockets and then used to buy guns with which they fight the people and government of Nigeria.
So did Jonathan stop fuel scarcity? No, he merely supplied the market with fuel and postponed the scarcity for a while, but at a great cost of poverty and insecurity to the people. And so a few days after he left office, the scarcity returned, like it did in the case of the man I talked about above.
But Buhari's strategy is exactly the opposite. He has reduced oil bunkering drastically through the use of technology like drones and tracking device to monitor surveillance, and saved the nation's resources. He used the billion of dollars that was previously paid to the cabal in the name of subsidy to fund the budget in a revenue shortfall. The money may no longer be as big as it was in the oil boom, but it sure won't be going into the pocket of criminals, meanwhile the product is still subsidise for Nigerians. All those who had licence to import fuel on paper but imported nothing in real life had been taken out of the process. NNPC now imports fuel 100%. It may take them a bit of time to adjust, but like the NNPC says, a permanent solution to fuel scarcity will come in the month of May.
I still recall that immediately after Buhari took over and showed a resolve to dismantle Boko Haram, they intensified attack very seriously. Those who follow me on this platform would recall when I said the increasing attack of Boko Haram was merely the effort of a drowning man. But the unpatriotic elements among us who pride themselves as the Wailing Wailers took to the street and used it for politicking. But Buhari was not deterred, he stayed focus and sustain the attack on them. And look at where Boko Haram is today...
The only way to fight crime is to confront it head-on, take the blow-back that follows, and stay focus until you're able to overcome. Buhari is doing a good job, he's stopping fuel scarcity permanently, and this is the end of the road for those who are fighting with their lives to remain in business.
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