The ever-soaring waves of preventable pains, apprehension and depression visited on Nigerians by the government have worsened since May 29, 2023 when President Bola Tinubu abruptly removed fuel subsidy. But it is unacceptable.

This is more so in an oil-producing country, characterized with the paradox of the people?s penury in the midst of plenty of natural resources, ever since the discovery of crude oil in vast quantities at Oloibiri in Bayelsa State back in 1958. Worsening the scandalous scenario is the recent price hike from N568 per litre to N855 per litre, as declared by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Limited (NNPC Ltd).

In fact, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is being sold as much as between N1,100 and N1,300 per litre in some states across the country, including the FCT, Abuja. As expected the snake-line queues have become features at the various filling stations for weeks now, with some motorists having to stay up to the wee hours of the night to get their demands met.

While some workers have become stranded, others have had to trek for kilometres on end to get to and fro their places of work. Apart from the valuable man-hours wasted, the pains are telling on the quality of life of millions of citizens.

The spin-off effects on transportation, and the spiralling cost of living, including high food inflation, are strangulating businesses. Hence the response from some organisations and concerned individuals, so far to the present suffocating economic situation of the country.

While the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has warned of the dire consequences of the recent pump price hike of PMS as it would worsen the poverty conundrum in the country, a faction of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has issued notification of the proposed massive shutdown of several cities across the country, beginning from September 15, 2024.

In specific terms, the President of the TUC has decried the sudden hike in price without NNPC Ltd?s due consultations with the stakeholders. According to its President, Comrade Festus Osifo the Federal Government ?should immediately rescind these decisions, promote policies that will strengthen the welfare of the citizens and alleviate the suffering of Nigerians?.

On his part, a chieftain of the New Nigeria People?s Party (NNPP), Olufemi Oguntoyinbo, has advised President Tinubu to act fast and save Nigerians from avoidable pains. Stating: ?Oil is our inheritance, and few people who are currently managing the NNPCL do not own our joint inheritance. So, they should not be allowed to toy with our inheritance.?

Well stated, but going by the rash of the increases in the pump price of PMS since 1999 it is patently obvious that some of our crop of political leaders have denied Nigerians the huge benefits of what God has graciously offered us.

That is reflected with some of the past presidents also acting as the Ministers of Petroleum but leaving the masses much poorer than they met us. For instance, under the leadership of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo the price shot up from N20 per litre in 1999 to N75 per litre in 2007.

But the considerate President Umaru Yar?Adua (of blessed memory) reduced it to N65 per litre. During the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan the price was to have shot up from N65 per litre to N141 per litre in January 2012.

This was one querulous issue that triggered mass protests at the Gani Fawehinmi Park at Ojota, Lagos, led by some civil rights activists, who curiously have remained silent under both President Muhammadu Buhari and the current Tinubu-led administrations. Talk about putting primordial, ethno-political sentiments far above the national interest.

Though Jonathan reduced the pump price from N97 per litre to N87 per litre on January 19, 2015 the price skyrocketed to N210 per litre during the eight-year leadership of President Buhari (2015-2023). But what do we make of the exponential increase from that N210 per litre to N877 per litre of the one-and-a-half years of the pain-inflicting administration of President Tinubu?

How do we juxtapose the cost implications with the Dangote Refinery coming on stream vis-?-vis the allegation of some highly-placed Nigerians having refineries outside our shores, at this critical moment of economic hardship? All these increases therefore, run out of sync with the application of common knowledge of how to run the economy of an oil-rich nation.

The bitter truth be told, It does not take rocket science to run the oil industry to favour the people with policies that alleviate mass poverty. What should be done, in our candid opinion is for Mister President to hands off being the Minister of Petroleum Resources Leadership under a democratic dispensation should be skewed in favour of the people rather than for self-serving purposes. (New Telegraph Editorial)

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