Thoughts on government, the cost of governance, and citizens livelihood
The news hit like a dirty slap, sometime in June 2023: NNPC Limited, Nigeria’s official petroleum provider had increased the official price of petrol from ₦185/ litre to ₦488/ litre. The President had announced, in his inaugural address, that the era of fuel subsidy was over. An end to fuel subsidy payments implied that our petrol costs would now be subject to market forces: rates would go up and down based on market realities. The price increment, whilst surprising, was expected.
A few weeks later, in July 2023, the petrol price was further increased to ₦568/ litre (Lagos rates), an increment of approximately 16.39%. Regions outside Lagos had higher rates with ₦617/ litre being the highest rate. Again, we were shocked but it appeared market forces were at play seeing as the price of crude oil internationally was going up. Since that last increment, there have been rumours of further increments with no official position from NNPC Limited. Maybe we will wake up one day and there will be another unexpected increment. Suffice it to say, we have entered this one.
Petrol prices aren’t the only things that have gone up since May 2023. The ripple effect from that increment has also affected many things notably food and transportation. Many people have had to get creative in seeking alternatives for different aspects of their lives: limiting their commutes, switching food options, rationing food, and anything that can be done to adjust to this new reality.
Exchange rates have also gone up. The attempts to harmonise the exchange rates were not so successful leading us back to maintaining official and black market rates. Seeing as we are largely import-dependent and needs must be met, the majority of manufacturers and retailers have had to resort to the black market to meet their forex needs. This has also affected the cost of goods and services which has made many people wonder if ordinary citizens will ever catch a break. In all of this, it appears as though the government across all tiers and the citizens live in parallel universes.
The nation is at a critical stage. Our beloved major revenue earner, crude oil, has returned less and less revenue for us as we grapple with oil theft. I am not even sure why this has not been tackled headlong but that’s a discussion for another day. We owe a lot of debts, internally and externally. Our debt service-to-revenue ratio is quite high, probably the highest it’s ever been. It’s quite clear that there is almost no money for infrastructural development. To be honest, I keep wondering what it was that President Tinubu and all the other presidential candidates from the last elections saw to convince them to run for office. Everything is a big mess to me. Considering where we are regarding our revenue and debt profile, I had hoped for one thing. That the various arms of government across all tiers would make significant changes in their expenditures that would impact positively on the nation, especially on the assumption that it may be harder to influence revenue.
Anyway, amidst our ever-present realities of all the debts we have to settle and our challenge with improving our revenue profile, members of the government have proposed or taken some actions which make one wonder whether we are all in this Nigeria. That parallel universe I mentioned earlier? Maybe the citizens are in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the government is in the United African Republic (I hope you remember that dead-on-arrival suggestion someone made about renaming Nigeria?)
First off, let’s take the National Assembly and their quest to purchase expensive luxury SUVs for their members. True, our lawmakers need official vehicles. I am not sure anyone has contested that. The issue, however, has been with the advertised cost of these vehicles especially considering the number of people involved. 360 members of the House of Representatives and 109 senators would each get a luxury SUV valued at about ₦160 million each. I can’t do the maths, my calculator is hanging. We haven’t even addressed all of the talk from time immemorial about the actual take-home pay of our lawmakers. When would they take actions that show they are also reducing their expenses for the national good?
In his Democracy Day speech, President Tinubu made a few statements that suggested he would ensure things would change for the better. He said the decision to remove the fuel subsidy would make more resources available for all rather than a few. He further acknowledged the fact that he had asked citizens to sacrifice a bit more for the country’s survival and promised that this sacrifice would not be in vain. He also promised to invest heavily in various sectors of the economy to ensure an improvement in the average citizen’s quality of life. A lot of words but what about the actions?
The presidency is always in the spotlight. With so much power over the land, can anyone blame the ordinary citizen for not knowing that their governors and local government chairmen also owe them the responsibility of service? It is interesting to see that a number of the actions from Aso Rock are not focused on cost management. I wonder if the President remembers asking the citizens to make sacrifices because it doesn’t look like any sacrifices are being made in Aso Rock. After all, is it fair to ask citizens to tighten their belts when the government isn’t tightening its belts? The size of the President’s cabinet and all other recent federal appointments are one of the pointers to this. How many of these agencies are even necessary? How many need to be merged with others because they have similar remits? How many advisers does a President need?
The recently released 2023 supplementary appropriation budget is another case in point. A cursory look at some of the line items in the budget has made many people raise their eyebrows. Should we discuss the purchase of official vehicles for the office of the First Lady even though our constitution does not recognise such an office? No, let’s focus on the purchase of a presidential yacht instead. I am not sure if any Nigerian President has ever had an official yacht before as this is the first time I have heard of this. I wonder how often the yacht will be in use because aside from purchase costs, there will also be operational and maintenance costs. Maybe the Presidency plans to place the yacht on a timeshare plan to save costs. Would ordinary citizens be able to rent it? That way the money goes into the national purse, this is the only way I see this making sense.
Do government officials hear the cries of the citizens? Are they truly interested in the welfare of their people? I wonder what the citizens need to do to ensure they are heard. I pray that all those in government realise that they are also citizens and need to tighten their belts as other laymen do. This is the way I see things today.