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
