On Sunday January 1, 2012, the then Goodluck Jonathan government, announced through the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA Reginald Stanley, the removal of fuel subsidy, which according to Sanusi Lamido, who was CBN Governor at the time, is unsustainable.
But the decision to end fuel subsidy by the Jonathan government, came barely a year following Buhari's defeat in the 2011 presidential election, thereby giving the aggrieved party an opportunity to rise against the Jonathan administration.
On Monday, 2 January 2012, massive protests tagged 'Occupy Nigeria' were organised across the country, and lasted for 12 days.
The protest which was spearheaded by powerful individuals like Buhari and his running mate in the 2011 election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, was based on the followings;
- Removal of subsidy on Petroleum products
- 120% increase in the price of Petrol (from N65 to N141 a litre)
- Corruption in Government & public service
- Inhuman treatment of Nigerians by Government & Security agents
- High rate of poverty
The protest which mounted significant pressure on the Jonathan government, forced a review of the initial decision, with the price of fuel reduced to N97 a litre.
Now, eight years later, the Buhari administration, is doing exactly what it marched against, back in 2012. Like the former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said in a statement on Thursday, the Buhari administration has realised that it was unrealistic to continue with the burden of subsidising petrol to the tune of trillions of naira annually.
The minister who used the exact same argument used by the Jonathan administration, saying subsidy was largely benefiting the rich, tried to justify the Buhari administration's decision by saying, the government never promised to keep the pump price of petrol permanently low.
“After a thorough examination of the economics of subsidising PMS for domestic consumption, the Federal Government concluded that it was unrealistic to continue with the burden of subsidising PMS to the tune of trillions of naira every year, more so when this subsidy was benefiting in large part the rich, rather than the poor and ordinary Nigerians,” the minister said.
He said deregulation meant that the government would no longer continue to be the main supplier of petroleum products, but would encourage the private sector to take over the role of supplying the products across the country.
According to him, market forces will henceforth determine the prices at the pump.
This, he said, is in line with global best practices where the government will continue to play its traditional role of regulation to ensure that the commodity is not priced arbitrarily by private sector suppliers.
The Buhari administration is very much everything it accused the Jonathan government of doing, and even much more than that. But, of course, there'll be no protest this time around.