The character of the Jonathan presidency is still unfolding. As my brother, comrade and friend, Kayode Komolafe, said recently, it appears that some content can now be fixed to the new administration’s policies. The 2012 budget just presented last Tuesday was a full indication that the Jonathan government may sloganeer on job creation and pretend to have empathy for the vulnerable, but it is ultra-conservative.
Any government that would, within the prevailing clime, opt to increase the price of gasoline from N65 to N140 cannot be described as a friend of the people. Even if we take away the ideological framework, anyone who appreciates what would happen when prices of basic commodities soar in obedience to the dictates of higher cost of energy without an attendant increase in wages would agree that the times ahead can only be very tough and rough.
I have a fairly good grasp of the laws of economics. I have an understanding of the concept, opportunity cost. But, I find it difficult to understand the rationale behind the move to remove fuel subsidy, a euphemism for another sharp increase in the price of fuel.
What really does the President want? He is reintroducing the toll gates to make the people pay for roads that are in the most deplorable condition. To placate the people, he has promised palliatives. IBB made similar pledges. Obasanjo, too. In the first place, why should anyone believe or trust him? At the moment, the price of diesel is dictated purely by what their economists call market forces. It has continued on the rise since they removed the cap. Yet, we are not told how much comes in through the deregulation of diesel. The cost of engine oil is fully borne by the consumers, but, what value has that added to the life of the common man in the country? Government is neither open nor transparent. At the National Assembly the week preceding presentation of the budget, the minister in charge of the critical sector said she did know how many litres of refined PMS are produced from a barrel of crude oil. Do they know the actual figure of barrels of crude oil produced and exported by the country?
The most nauseating argument that I have heard in support of the inflation-promotion measure is that it would displace a mafia that controls the fuel import business. What a fallacy. Take a look at the list unveiled at the Senate and compare to the list of those who have been donating heavy cash to the PDP campaign since 2003 and you will understand why the game continues. They are the contractors. They have the capacity to move to any other phony business that may be introduced in place of subsidy.
If the government were pro-people, I would expect that the first thing to do is plug the holes. The economy continues to buckle under the weight of heavy plundering. There is no doubt that parasites are adept at siphoning what belongs to all. What is the Jonathan government doing to arrest the trend? How can he take steps when he travelled the road of his predecessors in arriving at the Aso Villa? He can say, as some old politicians once did, that he was not voted in. He bought the prize. What was the source of the fund?
I have heard some analysts claim that he could do some magic with the budget. I don’t see anything progressive or different with his proposal. He wants to change the face of agriculture by importing more tones of fertilizer. All the states have taken a cue from that. Anytime you ask a governor what he is doing to wean his state economy from dependence of oil money shared from the federation account, he does not have to rehearse before reeling of the increase in the tonnage of fertilizers procured for the farming season. I cannot see any new thinking on education and health. Defence is allocated as much as the summ earmarked for Education, Health and Agriculture
The difference now is that there appears to be a sharp young man in charge of the ministry who is not tired of telling us that there would be a boost to production of cassava to replace wheat in the production of bread. What Dr. Adesina has forgotten to tell us is the effect this could have on our health. This is a time that the world is transiting to the consumption of whole wheat bread.
Our government, under the guise of conserving fund, wants us to take the retrogressive step of eating cassava flour bread. Perhaps the President and his audience think we are deceived by the public show at that Federal Executive Council meeting where he handed a small bite of supposedly cassava bread to Vice-President Namadi Sambo. He even made the show the more incredible by claiming that he had been taking the cassava bread for some time. Who are the bakers? From where have they been sourcing the flour?
The President may be a zoologist, but he has a competent doctor as Minister of Health. He should ask Professor Chukwu statistics on the diabetes epidemic in the land and the causes. I think what the government should do is institute measures that would halt the trend and promote the health of the citizenry. But, because this is a government of the rich for thr privileged, our President knows that, if the price of a loaf of whole wheat bread jumps to N1,000, he and his ilk could afford it. The poor may die off for all those in government care.
Mr. President, I refuse to be deceived.
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The Jonathan budget