Nigerians and fuel price increases
By Chris Ogbondah
ANYONE who has keenly followed the global petroleum market will notice that fuel prices have gone up in other countries " including the United States " almost as much as it has in Nigeria during the past two years.
Why then do Nigerians tirelessly protest increases in the price of petroleum products whereas Americans for example, do not go on a strike, staging public protest whenever gasoline price goes up in their country? In the past two years, the price of petrol has gone up by about a dollar (i.e. about N138) per litre in almost every state in the United States " just about as it has in Nigeria.
Despite the steady rise in the cost of filling up their cars labour officials and workers in the U.S. have never contemplated a public demonstration to register their disapproval of any fuel price increases. The streets are calm. Everyone goes along with fuel price increases. And life goes on as usual. The same calmness greets tax increases on tobacco, alcohol, petroleum products etc. No one embarks on a strike. This is because everyone sees where the government spends the tax money.
But in Nigeria, no sooner does the government announce an increase in the price of petroleum products than workers, traders, taxi and bus drivers, Okada operators, students and job seekers begin to prepare for a strike to protest the price increase.
Nigerians embark on these strikes because they do not see what their government does with the accruals from fuel price increases. Few new roads are built. Existing roads are not repaired. When it rains, erosion remains the source of harm and ruin in the cities. Our university libraries are not equipped with books, scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines, and audio-visual and other instructional materials to expand teaching and learning effectiveness.
Neither are classrooms, nor faculty offices equipped with computers to enhance and advance pedagogy that would make our university graduates competitive at the global level. Science laboratories are virtually non-existent in government-run secondary schools. University science laboratories are poorly-equipped. Yet, the price of crude oil has risen steadily, at least six times in the past five years..
If Nigerians see what their government has done with accruals from fuel price increases they will not go on a strike when the price of petrol goes up. If Nigerians turn on their taps and see clean drinking water running they will not go on a strike whenever the government increases the price of filling up their cars at petrol stations. Neither will they go on a strike if the state is able to maintain a framework whereby the citizens feel that their lives and property are safe.
Nigerians would also not go on a strike if the government stayed on top of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) at the nation's refineries. If TAM projects are carried out every two years as required, fuel will not be imported with its attendant deleterious economic effect on the nation's economy.
Successive governments (have) woefully failed to maintain the nation's four refineries with a combined capacity to produce 20 million litres of fuel daily i.e. two-thirds of the daily fuel needs of Nigerians. But as Bunmi Balogun and Aliu Mohammed pointed out in The Guardian of October 18, 2004, "...today, the domestic requirement for fuel is wholly imported and this situation has given rise to the constant increase in the prices of petroleum product...." If the refineries are maintained and the country for example, imports only 30% of its fuel needs, billions of naira paid out to other countries would remain in our country - money that if properly managed could be used to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians.
Each time the government raises the price of petroleum products the government is quick to remind Nigerians that such increases are a world-wide phenomenon. But what the government fails to tell Nigerians is that citizens of other countries see what their governments do with the accruals from fuel price increases or tax increases on tobacco, alcohol and other commodities as well as revenues generated from the resources of those countries.
Nigerians would not go on a strike to protest fuel price increases if they see what their government does with accruals from fuel price increases. What Nigerians expect from their government is the construction of new roads that will help to reduce traffic congestion in their cities. They want their government to repair the highways and streets. Nigerians want their government to fully fund and equip public educational institutions at all levels so that their children can compete at the global level with citizens of other countries. Nigerians want their government to maintain an effective framework for the security of their lives and property.
They want their government to provide basic necessities of life such as clean drinking water, regular power supply, efficient medical and health facilities, efficient public transportation system etc. It is the provision and maintenance of the nation's infrastructure " which will improve their overall wellbeing " that Nigerians are asking of the government.
If the government provides these basic necessities of life for the citizens Nigerians will not go on a strike whenever the cost of filling up their cars goes up.
- Ogbondah is a professor at the University of Northern Iowa, USA
