The abolition of fuel subsidies and the liberalization of foreign exchange, according to Tinubu, will free the nation from the “tiny elite’s” rule and enhance the lives of more than 200 million people.
However, the reality falls well short of the promise, making it difficult to predict how much of the promise he would ultimately fulfill. In the case of the minimum wage review negotiations, for example, parents whose earnings have been stagnant for years were forced to pay at least 70% more for school buses yesterday when students returned to class.
Buhari proclaimed “subsidy is gone” shortly after taking office, allowing fuel marketers to raise the price of the necessary good from N185 per litre to almost N500 for the highest band.
The hike, according to school administration, will help them pay for a more than 200% increase in premium motor spirit (PMS), the fuel used to power the majority of school buses, at the pump. Additionally, tuition costs have increased, some by as much as 50%.
The price currently varies between N568 and N700 depending on how close a state is to Lagos, which is home to the landing ports for the imported final product, after another modification was made to the prices a few weeks later. Nigeria, the leading crude producer in Africa, has been forced to import since its refineries have been idle for years.
For convenience of distribution, depots were initially linked to the ports in Lagos. However, the pipelines are no longer in use, requiring marketers to transport petroleum via road. This is one of the inefficiencies that were previously subsidized but are now partially passed on to the consumer as a result of the elimination of the subsidy.
According to the World Bank’s 2023 Nigeria Development Update (NDU), cutting the safety net, which last year reduced public revenue by nearly N4.5 trillion and increased the fiscal deficit by about 100%, could make 7.1 million Nigerians poorer. The global bank also stated that the N5000 cash palliatives initially envisaged for 10.1 million people could only lessen the number of poor people the elimination of the subsidy would result in but not completely eliminate the consequence.
The analysis claimed that if the monthly palliative was only extended to 10 million people, it would only be able to help 1.7 million of the 7.1 million people who would be made poorer by the loss of the social scheme.
Nigeria was classified as the worst country to live in by the Numbeo Quality of Life Index in the middle of last year, when gasoline was still priced at N185 per litre. The poll included concerns connected to poverty and life quality as metrics. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that 63% of Nigerians, or 133 million people, are multidimensionally poor last year as well. Economists predicted that living conditions would worsen since fuel prices, which affect other expenditures and have recently increased in line with the inflation number, are now more than three times what they were a year ago.
Segun Ajibola, a professor of economics at Babcock University and a former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said Tinubu’s first 100 days in office were hampered by a lack of political will, courage, and commitment to steer the country’s affairs in the right direction.
He claims Tinubu has made a number of audacious moves and entered territory that ‘angels feared to tread’ for a very long time. According to Ajibola, it has been long time to end petroleum subsidies in order to put an end to “rent seekers
“The government’s position on enhancing the availability of electricity deserves to be mentioned. The desire to pursue the new law allowing States to enter the power business and the commitment to make the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the generation, distribution, and company companies more responsible and efficient would go a long way toward enhancing the performance of the energy sector in the not too distant future. In particular, the States are now under pressure to take all reasonable steps to enhance the distribution, transmission, and generation of power within their respective jurisdictions, he said.
Ibuchukwu Ezike, executive director of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), claimed that the Tinubu government’s policies in the first 100 days had set off a number of other heinous socio-economic crises that had caused great hardship, sufferings, and issues for our citizens. Dr. Johnson Ude, a policy development expert, said that the president faced a difficult task as chairman of ECOWAS in the wake of the military coup in the Niger Republic.
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