There is an oxymoron in the way we govern ourselves in this clime. While statecraft (the skillful management of state affairs) is noble and has helped many purpose-driven nations to excel, we tend to drift toward sophistry (the use of fallacious arguments especially with the intention to deceive) in the management of state affairs in Nigeria. It did not start today.
Lee Kuan Yew, the father of modern Singapore, a world class nation with standard of living higher than most western countries, deployed statecraft in the management of his then backward nation. In one generation, he pulled a decrepit nation state out of despair and decay into a global spectacle and wonder. If you have read his book, From Third World to First, you will see a cocktail of statecraft, patriotism, nationalism, selflessness, leadership, purposefulness, intentionality, vision, virtue, simplicity, self control, integrity, compassion and drive all on display in the governance of that country.
And if you have truly read the book, you will see that he wrote off Nigeria as a country far back in the 1960s…few years after our flag independence. Why did he do that? He saw very early and very clearly the flamboyance and indiscipline in our rulers (Festus Okotie-Eboh, our first post independence finance minister and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa – his presidential jet, this same presidential jet matter, parked in a foreign country for days just to attend a meeting – to mention just a few) and decided that Nigeria would not amount to much. You can decide for yourself if Nigeria has amounted to much sixty-four years after independence!
Back to sophistry, that serpentine approach to relating with fellow humans. Our government actors are having to deal with Nigerians in such manner. Take the issue of the protests against bad governance. From 1 August 2024, Nigerians who had gotten tired of the grinding poverty and starvation in the land decided they had had enough of government propaganda that things would soon change for the better. They made known their anger via street protests. The government rounded up some hundreds of the protesters and charged them with treason. Treason? A month after they were illegally detained, a judge sits comfortably and grants them bail with N10 million surety… If they had had such money, would they have taken to the streets to protest hardship in the land? Many Nigerians, including a very senior lawyer, Timothy Abiodun Olatokunbo, who taught the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice at Law school, have pleaded that the treason charges against the protesters be dropped as they have no place in our statutes as far as protest goes.
In just one year of its existence, many journalists have been harassed and hounded by this government for flimsy reasons, which under military rule were overlooked. This government, more than any other in recent history, has been a major beneficiary of protests and journalistic support. Even the key managers of state enterprises such as Olatunji Bello, Dele Alake, Adebayo Onanuga, had in their heydays as journalists been hounded down by repressive governments of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. To think that these people would see these things happen to Nigerians under their watch speaks volumes about the state of the heart of man. So, to what end were their actions during their active lives in journalism?
Three weeks ago, the Bello-led Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in response to the skyrocketing prices of food products (occasioned by bad government policies), went for the discarded and bohemian policy of defunct price control board and asked traders to bring down prices of food items within one month. Just like that. The government is not the owner of the food items nor does it pay the traders.
The following week, as if acting in sarcasm to the FCCPC “directive”, NNPC Limited (NNPCL), the government owned petroleum and energy behemoth, increased the price of its gasoline. And Bello’s FCCPC could not find its voice!
Just as NNPCL was increasing the price of its product nationwide, it let it be known that the new prices of between N855/litre and N879/litre were still below landing petrol costs. Let’s assume that this is true, so where will the balance of the cost come from? It simply means there is still subsidy in the land, 15 months after the President had abolished it!
The dusts of the price increases were yet to settle when Aliko Dangote, the owner of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery jumped into the fray with an entirely unheard of statement in a free market economy: which is that his petrol would be sold only to NNPCL; and, wait for it, that the Federal Executive Council would be the one to determine the price he would sell petrol to NNPC! Just two days ago, Olawale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy briefed the press and echoed Dangote that petrol from the private refinery would truly be sold only to the state oil company. The loading of petrol from the refinery commenced today.
Ordinarily, today should serve as a day of celebration and jubilation for the people of Nigeria who have been harangued by nearly five decades of petrol shortages. For one, the refinery is privately owned (within a short period of two decades, we ran aground our publicly owned four refineries with combined production capacity of 450,000 barrels per day). Dangote Refinery will be getting crude oil from NNPC in Naira and selling petrol to the same NNPC in Naira. You should expect that there will be free flow of petrol in the country, that it will be cheaper than imported petrol, that it will save Nigeria tens of billions of dollars yearly, and that the Naira, which has received a steady beating from this government, will begin to have a breather, all things being equal. But in Nigeria, nothing is ever always equal. To manage my expectations, I am adopting a wait and see attitude.
The timing of the increase in the prices of petrol by NNPCL and the commencement of the sale of Dangote’s petrol is far from being coincidental. It is part of the governance by sophistry. I had long satisfied myself with the notion that petrol from the Dangote Refinery would not be in the market until the price was acceptable to the business mogul. If not sophistry, how can one explain the fact that the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu said it removed subsidy from petrol since its Inauguration Day on May 29, 2023 and Nigeria is still saying that with the increase in the price of its petrol, landing cost is yet to be recovered. So, who pays for the balance.
Now that the coast has been cleared for Dangote, his oil can now begin to flow freely. Unconfirmed reports say that the first set of petrol that left the Dangote refinery today were sold to NNPCL at N766 per litre. When did the federal executive council meet to decide this price? What barometer did it use to determine the price? If you subtract the landing cost that NNPCL used to pay for imported petrol, and the fact that this is petrol bought or exchanged in local currency, with no shipment and port charges (the trucks drove by road to the refinery to take the product!), what should be the appropriate price for the fuel? One very beautiful thing about capitalism is that it abhors monopoly. But this Federal Government and the Dangote Refinery arrangement is not it. Again, I will adopt the late Bola Ige attitude: sidon look!
Briefly
Cry not, Maiduguri!
I am emotionally attached to Maiduguri. I did not only attend the University of Maiduguri, I also lived in that beautiful city for over four years. For over three years as a university student, I used to spend some weekends and holidays with my now late uncle John Esiere, who lived in GRA, Maiduguri. I can say unequivocally that I was chiseled in Maiduguri.
Maiduguri, the ancient city of the Kanem Borno Empire, and third most strategic city in Northern Nigeria is submerged in water, but our President disappears from radar. The garrisoned city’s moment of unprecedented disaster is not enough to bring our President home momentarily to assess the situation on ground before continuing with his junketing the globe. To think that this is a city that has been ravaged by terrorists since 2009, and the No. 1 citizen could not see it necessary to go commiserate with the people…
The unprecedented flooding of Maiduguri is not an act of God; it epitomizes the way we have been running governance in Nigeria. Many states and cities (including Maiduguri) were warned of likely flooding. The Alau Dam that collapsed and poured its contents on the city was already full for days. Its managers didn’t see the need to systematically release the water until it caved in and destroyed lives, livestocks, farmlands, homes, businesses and everything in its path.
I stand with the people of Maiduguri in its moment of despair.
Esiere is a former journalist!
