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| President Bola Tinubu |
In Jamaica, Rastas insist what they practice is not Rastafarianism. It is just Rasta, they say. They say the word “Rastafarianism” is an invention of journalism. They wouldn’t want to be associated with any word with the suffix “ism” since they are often associated exploitation. Examples of such exploitations are capitalism, colonialism, nepotism, etc.
Today, Nigeria is now a fully a capitalist nation as
against the mix economic setting we had and which is right for a nation in our
circumstance.
In capitalism every service provided the people is
aimed at making profits and one can rise to as high as his talent and hard work
can take him. It is considered evil because it creates a situation where a few
people have everything, while too many people have nothing, to quote Jimmy
Cliff.
On the other side of the coin, you find the more
humane Socialism. In Socialism, there is a limit to where investors can venture
into. Government in such economic environments feel that certain basic services
like water supply, electricity, cooking gas, etc, shouldn’t be left in the
hands of people who are all out for profits. This is because a lot of poor
people may find it difficult to afford such services, despite the services
being fundamental to human existence. It was the reason why Nigeria practiced a
mix of the two, allowing people like Aliyu Dan Gote to invest in certain areas
of the economy but keeping water supply, electricity, gas, kerosene, diesel and
other basic social services to itself.
But right now, Nigeria has withdrawn its intervention
in many of these services, and life is now agonizing. Nigeria has not only
handover electric power provision to capitalists; it has withdrawn, albeit
slowly, the subsidy it was been paying in this area. In the area of water
supply, the taps are dry and people have to resort to buying from mai ruwa with the health risk that such poses.
Subsidies on all petroleum products have been totally withdrawn, leaving us
totally in the hands of capitalists. This is the very decision of the
authorities that feels like a red hot knife is drilling into our hearts. It is
the aspect of government’s neutrality on social services that has inspired this
writing.
Why did the Nigerian Government pull off support to
this basic service? It is because it is eating up a huge chunk of the national
budget, not just because the refined petroleum products are imported, but
because it has provided a fertile ground for dishonesty to bloom in manner that
is terrifying.
Nigeria is about the fifth oil-producing nation in
the world. Sadly, the refined petroleum products used in Nigeria are imported,
since the refineries in Nigeria are grounded and the government has been unable
to breathe life into them again. So, the government goes to foreign nations to
buy the products at prices ordinary people in those countries buy. There will
be charges paid for shipment to Nigeria and more to serve as profits to
importers. It is important to note that Nigerians aren’t paid equally as
citizens in those nations. So, if a liter of oil in those countries is the equivalent
of seven hundred naira, for instance, it will mean nothing to the citizens of
those countries, but makes life horrible to us in Nigeria. It explains why
Nigerians prefer to go and work abroad.
If Nigerians must be happy, its citizens must have
to be paid as high as citizens in the countries from where Nigeria imports the
petroleum products. It is either this, or the Nigerian government gets the refineries
working optimally, seal the “porous’ borders and then bring back subsidy.
The refineries in Nigeria were the kitchen where the
food that we grow is cooked and served to everyone. Since the kitchen doesn’t work
anymore, daddy has to go and buy from restaurants. The cost is too high for him
to bear, so he decided to let every child feed himself.
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