Autor: Damian Chidiebere Dike | Publicado: 2016-05-16T12:33:00-07:00

I wish to beg the Federal Government of Nigeria and the representatives of Labor to resolve the lingering issue of removal of fuel subsidy and the proposed strike action. In all these, either way it goes, it is the masses that will suffer. The subsidy that is removed if looked into critically, should have being a welcome development if not for its corresponding hardship and increment in the price of general commodities on the masses. 

The then administration of president Goodluck Jonathan would have removed the subsidy and by now we would have being through with its hardship. The then administration claimed that the subsidy was a fraud set-up to rip governments of fund. It claimed that most importers of petroleum products into the country brought in nothing and some that actually brought something in, send theirs to the neighboring countries and they still collected subsidy payments on products they did not import. My curiosity is on who shut down our refineries and introduced the importation of petroleum products with subsidy paid to those importers. 
The question is, why would an importer of petroleum product who was suppose to bring it into Nigeria divert it to a neighboring country? Why would a tanker driver that is loaded with petrol at Logos deport divert it to Cotonu in Benin Republic? There is only one answer that I could think about, and that is the prospect of making more profit selling it in those countries, thereby creating artificial scarcity because quota for a particular location would not be delivered. And so if this principle holds, it means that fuel scarcity will never be a thing of the past as there would always be diversion, which would encourage hoarding and creates artificial scarcity.

Labour on its own part should try to reach an agreement with the Federal Government over this lingering fuel issue because if Labour eventually stages strike action, essential places will shut down. There will be little essential commodities for the masses to buy, and so the price of food items and transportation, to mention but a few, will increase drastically. And can Labour guarantee that it would regulate these prices if eventually the issues relating to the strike are resolved.

Let's take the case of transportation as an example. The taxi and bus drivers  in their quest to hike the the transport fares along Aba Road and Iwerre Road, in Port-Harcourt have met stiff opposition from the masses wanting to board those vehicles. The reason being that for the past few months, almost every bus driver had being buying petrol from the black market at the range of N110 - N200, or even at the rate of N130 from some filling stations and they still retained their old rates. Now the petrol price is reduced to N145, I am sorry, I meant the petrol price is regulated at N145 and the bus drivers want to increase. If eventually the strike is called up, the country will be held to a standstill. But  students would still be in section, including some commercial and private businessmen, who would be at the mercy of the few commercial motorist that would be plying the roads. These people will have almost no bargaining power over these commuter drivers  at this period. Prices in general will rise and it might not go down again, as  price is one of the things that will always defile the law gravitational force.