By Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba
The Federal Government’s 30-day fuel discount, restricted to NNPC filling stations, raises a fundamental question: Is this economic relief or government magic?
As Fela would say in unknown soldier, “dem de conjure”, “I never go faraway. Where you dey go? Government magic” Nigerians are entitled to know and question the magic.
Imagine Tinubu, Shettima, Otti, the other 35 governors, and Wike adorning their well-tailored aprons, dispensing discounted fuel at government-owned NNPC filling stations nationwide. What a spectacle!
How does a government that justified fuel subsidy removal in the name of market forces suddenly resort to selective price intervention when the economic consequences become politically uncomfortable? The flip-flop is the message. The economic chaos, poverty, inflation, and human sufferings that trail the obnoxious policy are the consequences.
If government intervention is justified today, why was subsidy treated as economically unsustainable yesterday? If market forces are the preferred solution, why introduce a selective intervention that lasts only 30 days?
Restricting the discount to NNPC stations makes the arrangement even more questionable. Why should access to economic relief depend on proximity to a government-owned filling station? What happens to motorists who depend on independent marketers?
And what happens on Day 31? Will prices return to their previous levels? Will the discount be extended? At whose expense? Nigerians deserve answers before this temporary relief expires.
Calling it a discount rather than a subsidy makes it only magical and does not make the economic cost disappear. If NNPC sacrifices revenue to sell fuel below the price it would otherwise charge, somebody bears that cost, whether through reduced earnings, foregone revenue, or another arrangement. The irony is unmistakable.
A government that insists subsidy removal is courageous, and necessary for economic sustainability is now resorting to temporary intervention to cushion the hardship associated with its own policy.
Is this a change of economic philosophy, an admission that the hardship requires corrective action, or simply political expediency?
I once watched Jay-Jay Okocha dribble past seven European players, including the goalkeeper, before scoring. That is precisely what Tinubu has done to his economic team and the die-hard defenders of this gruesome economic policy. He has dribbled past them all!
Nigerians need neither economic sleight of hand nor 30-day political medicine. They need transparent pricing, equitable access to relief, and sustainable economic policies.
If the policy is sound, let the government explain its logic. If it is temporary, let it explain its exit strategy. And if subsidy was yesterday’s problem, Nigerians deserve to know why selective intervention is today’s solution.
And if the real motivation is the forthcoming elections, I am sorry. Nigerians deserve economic policy, not electoral magic.
Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba is a Harvard-trained global negotiator in negotiations across borders and cultures, businessman, a data scientist, and a business analyst.
