A few weeks ago, the supply of premium motor spirit, otherwise known as petrol, went on a tailspin. An untold disruption had taken place. As Nigerians made to understand what could have gone wrong, they were told that the energy whirlwind was occasioned by the importation of over 100 million litres of adulterated fuel into the country. They were also told that the fuel contained high methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specifications. Reports from Lagos and Abuja, where the problem was restricted initially, had it that many car engines packed up as a result. In the bid by government to withdraw the bad product, long queues surfaced at petrol stations in the aforementioned cities.
From the explanations that emanated from officials in the petrol supply chain and the tough talk that punctuated them, Nigerians thought that the problem would be over in a matter of days. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, led by Mele Kyari, apologized to Nigerians over the development and assured them that the problem would be over soonest.
Several weeks have since passed, and the petrol headache has persisted. Other untidy tales, mostly those of the country’s corruption-ridden oil subsidy regime, have come into the mix, compounding an already bad situation. The confusion has also spread beyond Lagos and Abuja. It is now nationwide. The price of fuel has risen to as high as N250 per litre. Those who insist on buying at the regulated official price have to queue for hours on end to get the product.
Even worse is the fact that the scarcity is no longer about petrol alone. Other petroleum products like diesel have joined the rat race. Their prices have shot sky high. As I write this, a litre of diesel is as high as N750. The result is that businesses that depend on diesel for their daily operations are reeling in pain. They are facing threats of shutdown. From what I was made to understand, the price of diesel is arbitrarily adjusted upwards every 24 hours by dealers in Imo and some other neighbouring states. All of this go on in the full glare of regulatory agencies such as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. Their inaction over the crippling situation leaves more questions than answers. But the overall impression that Nigerians have is that they are accomplices in the racketeering that is going on.
This ugly situation has exacerbated the hardship in the land. The high cost of petroleum products has come with the expected ripple effect. The prices of goods and services, which were already prohibitive before now, have gone out of hand. They are no longer within the reach of average Nigerians.
But it is bemusing that the people are taking their degradation and impoverishment with equanimity. They appear to have come to terms with the bad situation. That is why they are not talking about holding anybody to account. That also explains why they are not asking their President to remedy the situation. They have come to see ugly situations as a permanent feature of the present order in Nigeria. The President himself appears to be luxuriating in all this. That may also explain why he does not feel any sense of urgency to address the people on the crippling situation. Instead, he has been junketing from one world capital to another. And now, he has gone on his usual medical vacation in London. He knows that he will come back to meet the country the way he left it. Nobody is asking him questions, and he is having a ball.
So, why is there no outcry in the land? Why are there no eruptions in the face of this debilitating hardship? Why have Nigerians adopted ignoble ease as a way of life? Why have they chosen to relapse into cynical inaction when they should rise to the occasion? Why are they not taking their destiny in their own hands? Disturbing questions such as these will continue to pour in in torrents for as long as Nigerians remain complacent the way they have chosen to be under the Buhari order.
What makes the situation really amazing is that it was the same Nigerians that were given to restiveness under a regime whose failings pale into insignificance when compared with the crass incompetence that we are witnessing at moment. But it looks like Nigerians are caught up in their own indiscretion. They have come to realize, and regrettably so, that they were utterly wrong when they thought that Buhari would catapult the country to glorious heights. They are bemused that the President has not just failed to meet their expectations, he has even reversed the gains that they used to take for granted before his ascendancy to presidential power. For Nigerians, the miscalculation is so total, so regrettable, that they consider it a hopeless waste of time trying to hold the government of the day to account. Rather than indulge in that futile exercise, they have chosen, instead, to adopt Mammon’s hard liberty as a way of life. That is why a certain graveyard silence has enveloped the atmosphere. That is the unenviable station that Nigerians occupy at moment.
Regardless of the unconscious decision of Nigerians to say nothing and do nothing under a choking economic and social condition, we still owe ourselves the responsibility to situate the present condition properly. Why has the energy crisis persisted? Has government not been able to replace the adulterated fuel that it withdrew from the market? Why are other petroleum products equally affected? In fact, where do we draw a line between the problem of adulterated fuel and that of oil subsidy? Which of these is behind our hardship or is it a combination of both? Questions and more questions. But what has been deduced from all this is that one malaise has crept into the other. The ongoing energy crisis has left the realm of adulterated fuel. It has mutated into the hydra-headed world of oil subsidy. Government may have deliberately lumped the two cankerworms together to prove a point. It is its own way of telling Nigerians that retention or withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products is not an easy nut to crack.
However, after all the intrigues, there is need for urgent action on the issue at stake. In the absence of a President Muhammadu Buhari, who does not care a hoot about what is going on, Nigerians need someone to tell them what to expect. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, should come in here. He needs to make definite and unequivocal declarations on the ongoing energy crisis. What is really going on? Can the people be brought into the picture? Who will situate the matter so that Nigerians can understand what they are into? Someone needs to do this? Can you help, Mr. Sylva?