Battered by Nigeria's economic woes

The current economic downturn in Nigeria has severely impacted workers, despite the recent announcement of a N70,000 minimum wage. The citizenry, particularly the poor masses are not insulated from the economic doldrums.

Although there was an initial optimism when the government and organised labour agreed on this increase in July, the implementation has yet to occur, leaving workers in limbo.

Compounding their challenges, the government has raised petroleum product prices by 45%, undermining the benefits of the wage increase and exacerbating the cost of living crisis in the country.

As a result, the real value of the new minimum wage is diminished, leaving workers in a precarious economic situation.

Recently irked by the country's economic malaise, the Association of Papal Knights and Medalists in Nigeria (APKMN) expressed troubling concerns about the recent surge in fuel prices.

The body warned that the precarious situation faced by the mass of the population could incite mob actions among an increasingly frustrated and impoverished population.

The group highlighted the severe economic strains exacerbated by rising electricity tariffs, high tax rates, transportation fares and unstable exchange rates, among others.

The group urged the Federal Government to reassess the fuel price increase and explore alternative solutions to prevent potential unrest.

The association also called for greater transparency regarding the maintenance of Nigeria's refineries and expressed support for the Dangote Refinery, the harbinger of hope for the disillusioned Nigerians.

Though the Dangote refinery has started lifting petrol from its factory, there is still a lacuna as the offtake consensus reached between the refinery and the federal government has left many confounded and bewildered.

Is there really hope for Nigerians? This curious question is borne out of the fact that as Nigerians were expecting the Dangote refinery to be the game changer, the feelers are incomprehensible to a lot of people.

When the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) jacked up the price of petrol price by 45 per cent, many people complained that it was one increase too many. As resilient and ever courageous Nigerians, they soldiered on with the expectation that there was hope in the horizon as they expected that Dangote refinery was going to catalyse hope.

But here we are! Dangote Refinery has kicked off with the sale of petroleum products, yet the nunc dimitis pertaining to the fuel situation is still being sung. What is actually wrong with us, particularly the government that is supposed to be a catalyst for real change and hope?

Instead of addressing the problems, all you hear is different tales by moonlight. If it is not that Dangote bought crude in dollars and has to sell in dollars, it is the NNPCL going back and forth, giving different assertions while the refinery cannot sell in Naira.

Today, instead of the fuel situation problem ameliorating, Nigerians are further plunged mercilessly into another price hike with perfunctory explanation.

In the midst of unresolved quagmire occasioned by the hike, a new price template from the NNPCL on the Dangote Refinery had emerged. The template indicated an average price per litre of N950.22 for Lagos State, NNPCL’s shortest route, and N1,019.22 per litre for Borno State, the highest and extreme end of the supply route.

Before the new increase between about three weeks interval, petrol was sold at NNPCL outlets in Lagos for N855 per litre and Borno State for N924 per litre.

Though the new pricing template did not take off in NNPCL and major marketers’ filling stations in Lagos, they were apparently still selling the old stock.

But while some private operators immediately adjusted their prices, other started collecting additional N500 per vehicle but sold the product at the old price. We cannot but remember one of the satiric tracks of the late reggae sensation, Ras Kimono, 'What a Gwan?'

What is actually going on in Nigeria? Is it that the oil freely given to us by God is a curse or a blessing? But we won't subscribe to it being a curse. The oil, from where many products and byproducts are produced cannot be a curse.

If there is any curse at all, it the fault of the government that has refused to manage the oil resources well for the benefit of the masses. Instead, they create cartels here and there to make life meaningless for the Nigerian people.

Check out the list of people who have oil wells in the country. You will be amazed that it is those in government and others that have them. For them, instead of the business to cease, let Nigerians cease to exist.

These are the people creating problems for the citizens. There is no need mentioning their names but many discerning Nigerians know them by names. Some are still in the current administration while some served in successive administrations. Some are also private individuals well connected with the powers-that-be in the country.  Nigerians can now understand why fuel, an essential commodity, has become what it is today in Nigeria.

But is there any hope for the Nigerian people? The answer can only be conjectured. Those, who are making real fortunes out of this commonwealth of the citizenry have held the country by the jugular. They know this and they are not willing to stop. It is the breath they breathe and for them, what happens to Nigerians is none of their business so long they are getting their own criminal shares of the country's mainstay.

When there was an allegation that some cabal in the oil and gas had foreign oil refineries  including in countries such as Malta, what happened to the allegation? For them, both at the top echelon of central government and their accomplices never said anything. They know that Nigerians are quick to forget.

True to their asseveration, Nigerians have forgotten. But it is not lost on many Nigerians that the fuel conundrum in Nigerian refused to abate because of some vested interests both in government and in private.

We don't want to say that thunder should strike them but if they refuse to do what is needful for the Nigerian people, they will live regrettable lives that all the money they have illegitimately got off Nigerians will judge them for eternity beginning in this earthly life.

As it is their stock in trade, many independent marketers shut their gates to the public following the release of NNPCL’s pricing template, creating a sense of panic and flash artificial scarcity. That is symptomatic of core capitalism.

In Abuja, observers said that both NNPCL and independent marketers retained their existing prices: NNPCL still sold at N897 per litre. But there were queues around the retail outlets as a result of scarcity of the product. That is what gladdens the hearts of the heartless capitalists bent on seeing the wailings of their compatriots. They don't care a hoot so long they make a mincemeat out of Nigerians.

How callous and wicked can they be! It is hightime the oil mafia was destroyed for Nigerians to have a good breath of life. Nigerians are currently on life support and something must be urgently done to make them breathe.

There is no gainsaying that the recent petrol price hike in Nigeria has intensified financial strains for low-income earners, who are now facing increased transportation costs and higher prices for essential goods and services.

The fuel price surge, reaching up to N1,400 per litre, has sparked nationwide indignation and significant public outcry.

Leaders like Archbishop Matthew Kukah and the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum have criticised the government for exacerbating economic hardships and called for immediate measures to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians. The situation remains dire for many Nigerians, who are struggling to manage their daily expenses amid rising living costs.

It remains a fact that across the length and breadth of this country, the economic woes are the same and the government must rise to the occasion to renew the dashed hopes of Nigerians battered by hunger, poverty, starvation and the strangulating high cost of inflation.

Enough is enough! The government should watch it because the 'road of I don't care' often leads to the house of 'had I known'.