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Nigeria Is Not Broke - Jonathan
Written by Kunle Oderemi Saturday, 24 December 2011
CONTRARY to claims in certain quarters, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday emphatically declared
that the country was not broke, saying the current push for fuel subsidy removal by his administration was meant to strengthen the country economically.
Featuring on a live interview programme on the Nigerian Television Authority [NTA], he said his government was only trying to avert very dire consequences for the country in another two or three years if it retained the current status quo.
“We are not broke; the Nigerian government is not broke, but as a responsible father, we must prepare for the future of our children,” he emphasised, adding that no responsible country could survive by a borrowing spree.
Explaining that there was nothing wrong in a country borrowing, however, Jonathan said there was an imminent danger in the country retaining the subsidy and running the country in the manner of business as usual.
He noted that the action of the government was being misconstrued in some circles that it was meant to inflict hardship on the citizens, whereas there were immense inherent benefits in removing the subsidy.
According to him, the gains include the fact that the government will have a breathing space, as it would have more funds to further intervene in key sectors of the economy and tackle critical issues in other areas.
He added that the policy would restore greater confidence of foreign investors in the country’s economy, especially the oil sector, claiming that the move had already elicited positive responses from a few of them.
He said though the nation was not broke, it would be economically suicidal for the country to further delay the removal, say for the two or three years.
The president said while experts had warned that Nigeria’s oil wells could dry in another 15 years, it was imperative for the country to seek alternatives to energising the economy through manufacturing and agriculture in order to safeguard the future.
He lamented that the country could only boast of an oil reserve that could last for only 55 days in case of an emergency, whereas non-oil producing countries had reserves that could sustain them for at least six months, which he stated was the target of his administration now.
Apparently saying he was not out to deceive Nigerians on the issue of subsidy, the president said those who claimed it did not exist should not be concerned about deregulation.
Similarly, he said some had suggested that his regime adopted a gradual marginal removal of the subsidy but that the experience of other countries on the same issue showed that such approach failed to achieve the ultimate goal of robust, virile economy and prosperous country.
He assured that the benefits of removing the subsidy would be felt by Nigerians from the middle of 2012, noting that it [the removal] would come with initial slight spiralling effects.
He said it would however culminate in the creation of more jobs, since the government would be able to pay those contractors who were currently working at snail’s pace, because of lack of fund to fully mobilise for work.
He said the government had held consultations with civil society and other stakeholders, including transporters on the need for them to acquire mass transit buses that could run on diesel instead of petrol as a way to reduce cost.
He added that the deregulation would check the menace of corruption, which he said necessitated his administration’s recent shake-up in the anti graft agencies as well as the re-engineering in the Criminal Investigation Department [CID]of the Nigeria Police.
On the alleged racketeering among oil marketers in the country, Jonathan said though the government was investigating the matter, it was not fair to categorise them [the marketers] as a cartel, since most of them were only doing legitimate business with their funds.
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Is this how a well-informed person thinks about the economic sabotage that is the under-pinning of his decision to remove the subsidy? Nice try Mr. Jonathan, but the vast majority of Nigerians are not sold on the reasons for the subsidy removal and they see that you have no clue about what you are talking about.
But whether Jonathan likes it or not, smuggling is an economic crime and the failure of government to deal with it is a failure of leadership. So the President does not want to risk his friendship with his business associates sabotaging our economy but he cares less if he has to inflict a lot of hardships and pains on the poor who are most likely to bear the economic brunt of his ill-advised subsidy removal.
This is the price people pay when they allow religious sentiments, hate, ethnic and other forms of prejudice to have the best of them when taking decisions that matters most like deciding who is best fit to govern the country. Whether it is on matters of security, economy, road maintenance, education and all indices of economic and political developments, we have a person who has failed to provide the leadership to move the country forward.
This is a case of buyers' remorse. Is there a solution to this mess? I don't think so. We are in it for another 3 years.