Memo To Presidency: Alas! Every Nigerian neighbourhood has at least one Genset
By Rose Moses
A brother-friend recently called from The Abroad, as woke people would say on social media, to ask if it is true that yam now costs N2, 000 per tuber in Nigeria. His friend had told him he bought a tuber at that ‘outrageous’ price. Mark you, the word ‘outrageous’ was his, not mine.
He said he was shell-shocked. Refusing to believe, he was more concerned for Nigeria when another friend in Abuja informed him that he had bought eight tubers of the same farm produce somewhere along the road to Nasarawa for a whopping N20, 000.
This would more than confirm that a tuber of yam could actually cost N2, 000, if eight tubers sold for N20, 000. But then we are looking at more than N2, 000 per tuber in this instance.
That was why the abroad guy thought he could confirm from me and very much hoped that I would debunk his yam stories as hate speech.
But me? I just yawned, scratched my head and said that I was not much of a yam eater, recalling though that the last time I bought yam with my money since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office, I paid more than N1, 000 for a tuber.
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This was more than a year ago at Iddo market in Lagos, where one would expect to get such produce at wholesale prices. I also recalled that before the PMB era, what I paid for the same size would not have been more than N300, or thereabouts.
So much for the agric revolution!
Yes, I told him that if some people said they bought a tuber for as high as N2, 000 and above, that was only stating the obvious.
Besides, I told him that a loaf of bread also goes for as high as N800 and above in the country where a majority of the people are struggling in the midst of the harshest economic situation ever known to our history in peacetime.
And as if that is not enough, the people are being made to feel grateful for the ugly situation. Or how else do we explain recent statements coming from top government officials, including the Presidency, admonishing an already battered populace to be cool with choke-hold policies that are making it difficult for them to breathe?
Presidential aide, Garba Shehu, for instance, wondered recently why Nigerians should be complaining about the drastic increase in the price of petrol following what is described as full deregulation of the petroleum sector, as well as service-based electricity tariff adjustments. And just wait for this: Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, had said the pain resulting from the harsh decisions is for the good of the ordinary people. PMB would cap it all by comparing us with the Saudis, who, he said, buy petrol more expensively.
Anyway, in the circumstance also, electricity tariff was increased from N30.23 for one kWh (kilowatt unit of energy per hour) to as much as N62.33 per kWh, an action the government via the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) calls ‘Service Reflective Tariff.’ This according to them would mean that the more hours you enjoy energy supply, the more, in terms of tariff, that you will pay.
But for goodness sake, shouldn’t the ideal thing be a stable power supply to all, who should be left to use according to their pockets and affordability? Why the segregation of increase in tariff as a condition for supplying certain neighbourhoods with more power. Why shouldn’t all be entitled to that right and allowed to use as they can afford?
Because this has never been the case, generators have become the next most valuable item in countless homes. They are indeed a more reliable source of power supply in practically all homes across the country.
So, when Malam Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in a television interview asked how many Nigerians use generators, apparently as justification for the increase in the price of petrol, one couldn’t help but wonder what part of the planet he was operating from.
The lesson clearly suggests, really, that those in government hardly feel the pulse of the people for whom they hold power in trust.
Earlier this year, the Buhari administration had put in motion plans to cut out fuel subsidy and deregulate the petroleum downstream sector, fully.
Although the price of petrol fell, in line with a dip in international demand attributed to the coronavirus pandemic at a point, in September, however, prices went up, sparking outrage among consumers.
In what appeared to be a defence of the price and tariff hike, Shehu had questioned how many Nigerians benefit from low fuel charges, and how many also use generators.
He argued that it was unfair for poor Nigerians to continue to subsidise the lifestyle of urban dwellers.
His explanation: “We belong to a global market system. We are buying, mostly, refined products from the international markets,” which if you ask me is such a shame.
Nonetheless, he continues: “Is it fair that the taxpayers’ money…how many Nigerians have cars, anyway? How many of them run generators in their homes that they need this fuel for? Is it fair that the farmer and the herder and all of these low-level people in our society, that the taxpayers’ money is taken from them and is subsidising the lifestyle of our city, urban dwellers?
“So the President is just trying to be as practical as possible on this matter.”
Now, if the argument of the presidential spokesperson was meant to convince anyone that deregulation is the answer to our economic woes, then the attempt failed woefully.
One expects a government that truly cares about the welfare of the governed to look seriously into how to get the local refineries working so that the embarrassing situation of shipping out crude oil for refining abroad only to import the finished product for local consumption at such cut-throat prices is avoided. Having abandoned our refineries to rot and asking such question, as raised by Shehu, of Nigerians, whose lives are practically defined and dependent on what happens in the petroleum sector since that is basically the nation’s sole source of earning, is a big slap on the faces of the long-suffering populace.
Does it mean that government is unaware that the cost of something as basic as bread depends on how much a litre of petrol is sold? So also are the prices of yam, tomatoes, crayfish, garri, vegetables, and practically all basic goods and services dependent on the cost of petrol.
Well, every trader would tell you that the reason the cost of their commodities is going up is, among other things, as a result of the high cost of transportation resulting, most times, from any increase in the price of petrol.
It also does not make sense to assume that one needs to have a car before one can feel the impact of a hike in the price of petrol. People move about and they do so either by public or private means of transportation.
They are made to pay higher anytime the price of the product witnesses any increase as the transporters would pass the increase on to the commuters the same way the yam seller and all other sellers would pass the cost of transportation on to the buyer. And that is partly why a tuber of yam could go for as high as N2, 000 and above.
Even rents for houses built many years ago without routine maintenance by owners are being increased drastically by landlords, who also claim that the cost of living is constantly on the rise.
Therefore, to ask how many Nigerians are running on generating sets, the same people said to spend $14bn annually on generators and fuel to prevent their business from crippling, is, to say the least, quite saddening.
For years, generators have served as an alternative source of power for many families at all levels, as the country has continued to experience unstable and poor power supply. And for the information of the presidency, this has led to an increase in the generator budget for many households and businesses.
If there is one thing very common in nearly every household in the country, both in rural and urban communities, it is the generator of all shades and names, including “I pass my neighbour”. They are powered by petrol or diesel and any increase in the price of the products means additional burden on a people already overburden to that point by bad governance.
But should we really be surprised if those in government are ‘not aware’ of this?
