Subsidy Withdrawal: The Hydra Headed Monster

By Ayodele Oni

Nigerians are trooping out on Wednesday, 2nd August, 2023, to cry against the high cost of living in the country. The mass peaceful protest, being championed by the Organized Labour, is to drum to the ears of the barely two- month old administration of President Bola Tinubu to know that the shoes are pinching.

The Federal Government has tried to stop the rally through a Court process, but the organizers insist that it must hold.

President Tinubu had kick-started his administration with the sudden withdrawal of subsidy on petrol. It started with N500 per litre, but now costs officially between N600 and N700 depending on which part of the country one is buying from.

This singular action has led to the astronomical hike in prices of commodities especially foodstuffs, to the extent that several households cannot boast of a meal per day. The low income earners and self employed are the worst hit.

The various measures so far put in place by the administration are yet to have impact as the prices continue to soar by the day. To make things worst, parents with wards in higher institutions are being slammed with increase in various fees payable in those institutions. There are parents with more than two wards in higher universities and Polytechnics.

Even traders lament daily over low sales of products. The sick resort to local and self medication as hospital bill is no longer affordable to the poor masses. Even in states where working days are not regulated, public servants now choose days of the week that is convenient to them to go to work.

This period is harvest season for some farm products. No money to purchase them. Cassava four (Garri), hitherto referred to poor as poor man’s food is no longer affordable. The hardship is countless, depending on areas where individuals are feeling the pain. The prayer now is that President Tinubu’s panacea for this hardship will meet the masses alive.

Opinions have been put forward on the planned peaceful protest by the organized labour. Will it solve the mirage of problems? Will government sit up after the protest? Will it not go the way of the endsars protest, when hoodlums hijacked the entire process? All these make average Nigerians not to believe in the organized labour project.

The subsidy withdrawal, which birthed this hardship has been applauded by various segment of the society, but the timing and approach are the problem. The believe is that if workers salary had been increased, buses flood the streets with low transport fares, and the exchange rate, which has become a chameleon is regulated, the hardship might have been lower.

Tope Temokun, Lawyer and Human Rights activist, stated on the situation that “From the social and economic angle, the issues confronting us today are more monstrous and more life-threatening than in Buhari days. Prices of goods must rise as the government has set a precursor for uncontrollable inflation, while income has remained stagnant.

“The government of President Bola Tinubu, in the course of pretending to be solving the problems Buhari government left behind, has created more problems it may not be able to solve in these next four years. People are then left with no alternative than to continue where their cries stopped.

“If the people chose to be in street peacefully to protest against the policies of the government they believe are not in their best interest, it is democracy. The only role the government and all the security agents of the government, such as the police, the DSS, the Civil Defence et cetra, can play, is to allow the people to express their anger or frustration not to stifle the people or intimidate them or judicially arrest the people’s voice.”