Can President Goodluck Jonathan step up to the plate?

Can President Goodluck Jonathan step up to the plate?


Not long after he came into office following an election that he himself admitted was very flawed, former Nigeria President, Umar Y'Ardua said as much as $10b was spent on power supply by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration without any noticeable impact. In an interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hardtalk show, embattled former Speaker of the House of Representatives Mr. Dimeji Bankole said almost $13.5b was discovered to have been spent by the Obasanjo government to fix the nation's jinxed power sector, adding that the House committee investigating the spending was yet to unravel how an extra $3b meant to be released for the power sector project was spent. Mr. Bankole said investigation was ongoing into how the huge sum was spent with nothing to show for it but the all-pervading darness in a country of over 150 million population.

So, what has become of the probe into the power sector spending following the election of new set of MPs into the National Assembly? Did the outgone MPs concluded their investigation before the expiration of their term? If yes, what was the outcome? Who were the influential people behind the 'rape' of this potentially rich nation? Questions! questions!

As you ponder those questions, you are assailed by another thought-provoking claim by the former Governor of Kwara State now a Senator, Bukola Saraki.
He described fuel subsidy in Nigeria as the biggest fraud. He said " most of the money ends up in the pockets of a few individuals". According to him, “I see the subsidy as the biggest fraud in this country. That money can better be used to impact positively on the lives of majority of Nigerians.

“Presently, the country spends about $4billion (N600billion) yearly on fuel subsidy. That means if shared among Nigerians, everyone will have N4million per year. Fuel subsidy is supposed to be a palliative measure to help Nigerians, but at the instant it has not served that purpose, most of the money ends up in the pockets of a few individuals".

He added that “It will be worst this year as kerosine is being subsidised. It will be in the region of $6billion. It is almost the country’s capital expenditure for the year".
Again, who are these individuals pocketing Nigeria's collective patrimony? Does the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) know them? Are the EFCC and Idependent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) after them? Is President Goodluck Jonathan aware of this? Is he even bothered by this kind of allegation?

Spending as much as a country's capital expenditure on fuel subsidy is bad economics, pure and simple. Pocketing the subsidy money by influential people well connected to government is even worse. Little wonder 70 per cent of Nigerians are living in poverty and the rest 30 per cent in extreme poverty.

Senator Saraki's 'acrobatic' argument in support of the removal of subsidy is that it would increase State Governments' monthly allocations from the Federation Account and enable them pay the N18,000 minimum wage recently 'decreed' by the 'almight' federal government.
He said total deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry and provision of palliative measures would curb the fuel subsidy fraud.

What "palliative measures" is the 'Sin-ator' talking about when petrol has to be imported, because the country's oil refineries are in a state of disrepair? Is Nigeria operating a federal or unitary system of government? or a combination of 'uni-federal' system, whatever that means? How should minimum wage be set and on what criteria?

Nigeria is the world's sixth largest oil exporting country yet it faces enormous economic and social problems. Under the impact of the collapse of oil prices (well, oil prices picked up again this year) and years of military rule, Nigeria has become the world's thirteenth poorest nation. Health, education and social service facilities are almost non-existent for the mass of the population. Agriculture has been all but destroyed. Can President Jonathan step up to the plate?