Nigeria’s Voodoo Economy: Tinubu Killing Nigerians Slowly, Seeks Reps Approval Of N500 Billion For Palliatives
By Uche Onwuchekwa, Owerri
While the yet-to-be ascertained subsidy and it’s removal have plunged Nigerians into unimaginable poverty, President Bola Tinubu now seeks approval of the National Assembly, seeking an amendment to the 2022 supplementary appropriation Act with a view to securing funds for Palliatives.
From all indices, the new economic policies are either designed to sell Nigeria or kill them slowly. Looking at the minimum wage in Nigeria, not even one quarter of the states are paying minimum wage, yet Nigerians are borrowing and enslaving to eke out a living.
Tinubu, in a reported letter to the House of Representatives, said the amendment was to allow the Federal Government to source N500 billion for palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal on Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol.
During plenary on Wednesday, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, read Tinubu’s letter, titled, ‘Request for the amendment of the 2022 appropriation act’.
According to the President, the money would be sourced from the 2022 supplementary Appropriation Act of N819.5 billion.
“I write to request the approval of the House of Representatives for the amendment of the 2022 supplementary appropriation act in accordance with the attached.
“The request has become necessary in other to among other things source for funds necessary to provide palliatives to mitigate the effect of the recent removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians.
“Thus the sum of N500 billion only has been extracted from the 2022 supplementary appropriation act of N819.536 billion for the provision of palliatives to Nigerians to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal. I hope that the House of Representatives will consider the request,” the letter read.
This is coming about six weeks after Tinubu announced that the payment of subsidy on petroleum was over.
The question is how many Nigerians would be able to benefit and what is the modus operandi? This move has shown that the Presidency was in a hurry to remove the so called subsidy.
If govt does not give such invisible subsidies and incentives to the public and the manufacturing sector, it then means that such economic policy may have been concocted by an inhuman extreme capitalist.
If N500 billion had been injected into a common or social good, it would have removed the foreseeable lopsidedness in the allocation of such incentives.
We have more people in the private sector and if not more in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, how would the market woman in the market who sells okra and pepper be captured?
Except something novel is done, we can only agree that Tinubu is only robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Oligopoly has been inadvertent set up by the regulating Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited with every foreseeable connivance and collusion to keep ripping the people off. Are we not only setting up a other cabal to continue to smile to the banks and reserve some benefits to continue to hurt Nigerians during elections?
What happens to the modular refineries and what happens to the existing refineries? Have they become so moribund that they are irreparable? These are questions that needs some answers.
There is no way we can fall this advise of the World Bank hook, line and sinker. You cannot sell the products you produce at home at an international market price, otherwise, wheat and other farm produce should have been sold the same way it is sold at the international trade at the various home countries of the growers. The queerness of Nigeria’s economic policies remain baffling. Issue of demand and supply is always the case, wapecyim.critical sectors.
In comparative terms, what is the minimum wage of those the present government readily points at? In some of those countries, what an average Nigerian earns as annual income is earned in less than a month in most of the countries it is imitating.
In Saudi Arabia, a litre of PMS is sold at 2.33 Riyal, converting it to naira equals how much is 2.33 Saudi Riyal in naira gives us ₦482.2634. Minimum wage in Saudi Arabia when checked in put at SAR 4000 in private sector. Multiply SAR4000 by 206.98, equals N827, 920. Who earns this in Nigeria.
Venezuela has the lowest pump price at 0.004 dollars while Nigeria sells at ₦530,
Kuwait is also one of the cheapest because of the government support. While Nigerian Naira sells above ₦530 per litre (0.69 in US dollars), Kuwait sells at $0.342. In Algeria PMS is sold at $0.338. Algerian minimum wage in $170 per month. This is over N130,000 in Nigerian Naira with other incentives.
Until Nigerians are explained to how the Federal Government came about its economic policy on subsidy with verifiable facts, Nigerians will continue to ask questions.
Some elder statesmen had raised their fears over what Tinubu might do if given power as the President of Nigeria with hind sight of his antecedents in Lagos State. An Elder Statesman like Bode George raised this and the former Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo also related to his Alpha Beta Consulting in Lagos State.
Nigerians are at a crossroads, where so we go from here?
