Despite the machinery of propaganda being employed by the Federal Government (both on the pages of newspapers and on the internet) to sell its planned removal of fuel subsidy to Nigerians, a majority still see the move as very unpopular.
This is, indeed, a trying period for the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu. While some of his fellow ministers are busy globetrotting, Wogu is full of activities attending to labour-related crises from one union to the other. Since his first coming as a minister before the present dispensation, Wogu has always been saddled with the responsibility of attending to emergencies. While some of these crises could be described as needless agitation on the part of the workers, others could be described as self-inflicted on the part of the government.
One of such self-inflicted crises could be the...
Federal Government’s decision to remove the ever controversial fuel subsidy next year. Since the cat was let out of the bag via a letter sent to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan, in which he announced the government’s intention to remove the subsidy on petroleum products in January 2012, reactions to the proposed action have been ferocious. Since then, individuals and groups have been threatening to cause problem for the government. But the government is not allowing those opposing its proposed action to have a field day.
Using some pseudo names, the government has resorted to propaganda, placing adverts in newspapers in its desire to convince the people on why the subsidy must go. In one of the advertorials, the government tried to burst the claim that if deregulation is allowed to take place, the price of petrol will go up and the masses will suffer as they will pay heavily for transportation. It described such a claim as a myth. The reality, according to the government, is that such a claim should be discarded.
The advertisement said, “The reality is that a major inter-state passenger across the country runs on diesel. Diesel was deregulated six years ago. The masses are already paying the market price. Yams, tomatoes, potatoes, pepper and other essential foodstuff are transported by lorries across the country. Lorries and trailers run on diesel... Therefore, who exactly is this fuel subsidy for then? Who are these people making trillions of naira every year in the name of the Nigerian masses?”
In his response, an official of the National Union of Road Transport Workers at Jabi Park in Abuja, Mr. Jamiu Amodu, said there was no truth in the government’s assertion, adding that less than five per cent of cars in the motor park run on diesel. “If you go to our parks across the country, you will see that lorries, buses and cars that we use for commercial purposes run on petrol and not diesel. This is the reason anytime we experience fuel scarcity in the country, the price of transportation goes up astronomically. Even when there is diesel, how many cars, apart from industrial generators, use diesel in the country now? I think the government should look for another tale.”
Yes, the government has more than one story. In one of such tales, which it told in an elaborate manner via a wrap-around advertorial in one of the national newspapers, it tried to rationalise the need for the removal of the subsidy using a diagram. In the illustration, the government painted the picture of a fat businessman on a scale with such properties like expensive cars, a heavy portfolio, ostensibly full of naira and other luxuries, while the other scale had the masses, whose weight is nothing comparable to that of the fat businessman.
What could then be the meaning of the illustration? The businessman is feeding fat on subsidy to the detriment of the masses. The advertorial averred, “It is either fuel for all or subsidy for a few,” adding, “billions are in the hands of the subsidy-friendly because subsidy benefits the rich more than the poor.”
But if the subsidy is removed, the government says more jobs will be created, funds will be redirected to build infrastructure, schools, roads and hospitals. The government adds that the proposed subsidy removal will lead to the emergence of new businesses in other areas of the economy like construction and manufacturing.
Above that, the propaganda adds that the removal will allow the government to pay the minimum wage and that there will be increased oil revenue to the future generation, not just the present. Apparently asking the doubting Thomases to know that the country is not alone in this policy, the government, through the propaganda, reminded Nigerians that “Nigeria is not alone (in this matter), subsidies are Egypt’s greatest enemies.”
These arguments seem not to have been bought by the organised labour, opposition political parties and some notable Nigerians as they continue with their campaign against the subsidy removal. Already, some former members of the House of Representatives led by Mr. Dino Melaye have threatened to mobilise over 60 million youths to protest against the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the FG.
Melaye, a former leader of the Progressive Minded Legislators, who pioneered the investigation into the alleged misuse of N9bn of the capital vote of the House by the leadership between 2008 and 2009, threatened the FG that he would mobilise Nigerian youths to fight against the move, employing all legitimate and peaceful means.
Other members of the group, who are expected to lead the protest are Messrs Independence Ogunewe, Abba Adamu, Ehiogie West-Idahosa and Solomon Ahwinawhi. Melaye, who questioned what was done with the gradual removal of subsidy in the last 10 years, said the planned removal would compound the effects of infrastructural decay on the masses. “They have been removing the subsidy since the past 10 years, but has there been any meaningful transformation in the lives of the masses? We will fight it with all legitimate and peaceful means to stop this satanic agenda,” Melaye stated.
