Show me who saw a problem looming and yet allow it to consume the country and I will show you a clueless leader, a clueless political party, a clueless political class and a clueless country
Having lived in the FCT for over two decades spanning through the 4th republic and under four democratic presidents, I have not witnessed this size of fuel queue, private fuel stations are under lock and key with fuel in their tanks, the queue at NNPC Mega filling station get to the Education resource centre, zone one Abuja (unprecedented).
A country where the president is the minister of petroleum, a country that is endowed with oil in commercial quantity, a country where the only untapped comparative advantage is oil and only oil for close to a century.
Nigeria has been in a serious rent-seeking rentier state, where her natural resources are exported to be refined abroad and returned for consumption at a high price that is subjected to international price, bad enough they imported fuel that is intentionally diluted with excessive methanol and the president and the NNPC Group Managing Director is comfortable as if nothing happens.
A sane country would have got people questioned and proffer solution to the people that their car had suffered the consumption of bad fuel, their cars are damaged, some beyond repair except they buy a new engine.
It is clear that once a government is dogmatic to matters of taste, the major opposition should be happy with campaign points, But sad enough they are birds of the same feather, who will save Nigeria in this unending quagmire, as most electorates are also gullible and bent on collecting money to tradeoff the future.
The government self-inflicted pain of fuel scarcity on Nigeria can not be quantified, as it affects transportation and transportation affect every sphere of life.
At this point of unprecedented food inflation, poor purchasing power, I will not say God will help us as it is always our local parlance and nothing change, May we the masses see the road
Dr.Aliyu Ilias, is a Political Economist,writes in from Abuja.He can be reached via: [email protected]
