Wednesday 30 March 2016

Open Letter to Mr Kachikwu of the Ministry of Petroleum

Dear Sir,
I currently serve the nation at Ibadan, Oyo state. If not, I would have taken the pain and initiative to walk to the NNPC Towers in Central Area Abuja, to beg you in your good offices to help us make the country work. You may have to forgive me if I make any hasty generalization in this letter. It would only be as a result of the limited information available: some of us don’t have electricity to power our television and radio sets, and money to buy papers have been channeled towards tomato purchase. Please be mindful of the fact that we at the grass root never get the true situation of things as a result, so we rely on some gossip and those little arguments at the newspaper stands.

But I know that this morning, Mr Kachikwu was quoted to have said that the fuel scarcity would end on the 7th of April. I also know that you have stated that the reason for the scarcity is because of the fact that subsidy debt was inherited by this government and independent marketers cannot import fuel because they can’t get letters of credit after the payment. The calculations and the theories of upstream and downstream supplies are really not in the proper knowledge of the taxi driver along Dugbe market road. “The Situation” as we know it here as at 9:42am Nigerian time on the 30th of March 2016 is that petrol (PMS) now sells at 170 naira per liter with heavy queues in Ibadan city. You claimed you monitored depot deliveries in Lagos during the Easter but NNPC has not even been selling fuel. And just this morning that we got hint of possible sales, the queues are about 2 kilometers long, with well meaning Nigerians fighting at the gates. The Situation has made transport prices increase from 50 naira to 100 naira: I know because I squeezed myself this morning into the cab from Iwo Road to Bodija, two junctions apart.

It would not have been so much an issue, after all countries on the West African Coast have higher prices for fuel. I remember when a sitting president told us that we would comfortably buy fuel at 100 naira since we can buy bottle water at the same amount and we all laughed at the impossibility and treachery. Today it is worse. The naira is still trying to regain its lost strength and pride, the climate is not getting any better and electricity has gone scarce with the seeming DISCO-high-tariff party and depleting Mega-Watt generation. I dare say that even a class captain would not watch his class get so noisy without recording the noise makers before it gets out of hand and brings down the whole school.

It is no longer news that the change mantra is becoming a façade in itself. Even Donald Trump who has never set foot in Nigeria can make silly but true allegations on our leadership quality. Every child in schools today know that it’s almost a waste of time reading to pass because the knowledge passed is almost irrelevant to current realities. But let us not veer too much out of The Situation. The reason for the slight veer is to help my appeal. If these several other things are not working, why would there be more hardship on the Nigerian people from the very sector which you man as a technocrat (and not a politician) that knows exactly what he is doing and loves it.

I don’t know if there is a gas station within the Aso Villa, of course the NNPC Chief not having fuel will be like a man with soap in his eyes when he is in a swimming pool. But I am sure you do not feel half of the pain of the Nigerian at the grass root. You can know it because you see the queues except there is a helipad on your office and you use it often. But you can be sure that the same masses that the change brand was sold to and went all out to support the brand are not happy. Support for you is far because you have said that instead of supporting your resignation we should “save our money for fuel”.

As a Youth Corps member, I have imbibed the culture of discipline and respect and that is why I am bringing this to your notice in all humility and patriotism. The 19,800 naira allowance every month used to be very useful to start and live a life but all that has changed since 2016 started. The queues have refused to vanish; we can barely reach our Places of Primary Assignment, the naira is weakening, we can hardly buy food and still undertake projects for community development.

So here is my plea: we know the cause of the scarcity now, but we want availability. If 2 million tonnes will be available from 7th of April, what should happen to us till then? CBN throws heat on us, NNPC gives us a future date for survival, the Presidency remains one long structure of dos and don’ts, soon it would be genocide! Do we wait till we start seeing people drop on the streets out of hunger and despair. Do not be surprised if a new militia is brewing up to strike even as the Change Warriors fight almost successfully the Boko Haram terrorists. So let me recommend that the plan to make our fuel come back be more concrete, sustainable, and real and also delivered faster with a production system to stop future occurrences. The privatisation of the refineries if need be should commence in earnest so that exploration, generation, production and distribution doesn't get postponed to 2020. Let there be a short term and long term measure to stop the queues, reduce the transportation prices and let cars come back to the road. From the streets, the hardship is REAL!

We commend you and the government for the response so far even though as sincere as they have been, they’ve shown contempt in some quarters. Feedback from the grass root is POOR and if this poverty continues, the bull would see the wall and it ALWAYS turns back with all its fury and horns replacing the cowardice and naivety.

Yours in patriotism,

The ReadyWriter

3 comments:

  1. In my opinion, this message is better suited for the Minister of Petroleum not the Minister of State for Petroleum.

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  2. Thanks for your comment and it is a worthy and quite valid one too. I would just add that the Minister of Petroleum was not the one summoned by the Senate neither was he the one that gave deadlines. the Minister of Petroleum wasn't the one supervising the deliveries at the Depots during the Easter. that minister of petroleum is currently in Washington. we need people that have taken the responsibility like Mr Kachikwu our worthy minister to channel complains to. He would definitely get the message to the top if it resides in the "top's" power to handle and if he can himself handle it, i am sure he would... thanks again.

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  3. This just had to be put out there!!! Well done Okeizi����. In full support and i hope this gets to the right table, all things being considered.

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