02/06/2023
Make I try to explain wetin this subsidy mean in a layman language so you can understand as I have seen that many people no understand.
Make we assume say e get one person when dey come your community to sell garri. He dey sell 1 basket of garri for 1000 naira. But then one rich man for your community come talk say for every basket of garri when the seller carry come the village, say him go pay 800 naira to the seller so that e go dey sell to the villagers for only 200 naira as him don help anybody when dey buy to pay 800 naira. Now, this good act of the rich man no in anyway affect the seller, e no affect the cost price when him take buy am and e no affect the profit when he suppose make from him market. All these time the villagers have been buying the garri for 200 naira, the marketer has actually been selling the garri for 1000 for 1 basket, just that the rich man helps anyone buying to pay 800 naira comot ontop any basket he buys. Na only the villagers dey benefit from wetin the rich man dey do and not the marketer. So one day, the rich man come say the money when him dey spend to help the villagers pay 800 naira comot for every basket of garri they buy don dey too much and is now affecting him as e no get plenty money again, come decide say e no go pay the money again, come tell the marketer to go and sell to the villagers at the full price which is 1000 naira.
Now, this decision by the rich man no still affect the marketer at all, he has always sold his garri for 1000 naira per basket. E no still affect the price when him dey see the garri buy too. The only thing when change be say the villagers go begin pay the complete 1000 naira to buy 1 basket of garri now.
Now take the government of Nigeria to be the rich man, the citizens to be the villagers and the garri to be fuel.
The explanation above is simply what fuel subsidy means. It means that the Government has been helping every citizen to pay a part of every litre of fuel they buy. Ordinarily, e no dey affect how much the marketers dey buy fuel, e dey only dey affect how much we the citizens dey buy. Let say marketers suppose sell fuel normally for 400 naira per litre before, but government come say the price go too high, come say dem go dey pay the marketers 300 naira ontop every litre of fuel when dem get for their tank so that them go dey sell give citizens for only 100 naira. In the actual sense, the marketer is still selling his fuel for 400 naira per litre just that na government dey pay 300 comot for every liter when you buy as a citizen.
E no affect how much the marketer buys the fuel, it only affects how much the citizens buys it. E no affect marketer gain at all.
Now the government come say the money when dem dey spend to help us pay some part comot for every liter of fuel when we dey buy don too much, come say if them save the money to do another thing say e go better for the country. Then dem come say dem no go pay again. Now this decision by the government no go affect the price when the marketer dey buy the fuel, if the marketer dey buy the fuel for 350 naira before, na the same price him go still buy am when he go market again. The only thing when change be say na the citizens go they pay the complete 400 naira to buy the fuel now from the marketer hand. (I hope you see where I stand when I say the subsidy is the only thing the ordinary Nigerians enjoy directly from the government?)
Now let us go back to the village and garri story. Imagine say the rich man come market one day come meet the marketer in front of the villagers. Come say, I no wan dey pay this money again o from next market day o, but all the garri when u don carry come today, I go pay the 800 comot for every basket you sell. Then the rich man come comot. As he comot, the marketer come tell the villagers say as the rich man talk say him no go pay again from next market day, say him go begin sell him garri give the villagers for 1000 from today even if the rich man don already pay 800 comot for that particular stock already. Meaning say in the real sense he his now technically selling the garri at 1800 per basket. This can be said to be a criminal action. If you are one of the villagers, will you agree for the marketer to sell the garri for 1000 naira that day?
This is exactly the criminal action the filling station owners is committing everytime government announce say dem wan stop to dey pay subsidy for fuel. The truth is that say government never comot the subsidy officially and dem still dey pay the marketers part of the money when we suppose take buy fuel but the marketers go take advantage of the chaos from the announcement come dey sell the fuel give us high after collecting money from the government. It is a big crime against us as citizens and not just to the government alone. And these filling station are just in front of us cheating us as a nation and people.
KNOW TODAY THAT FOR ALL THE FUEL IN THE FEELING STATION TODAY, GOVERNMENT DON PAY A PART OF THE MONEY COMOT ON YOUR HEAD SO YOU CAN BUY IT CHEAPER AND NO FILLING STATION HAS THE RIGHT TO SELL IT HIGHER THAN EXPECTED TO YOU OR EVEN LOCK UP WHEN HE HAS PRODUCT ALREADY SUBSIDIZED SO HE CAN SELL IT HIGHER LATER. IT IS CRIMINAL.
Though I do not support subsidy removal as I have always said it is the only thing the common man enjoys from the government directly and because the money they would save from the subsidy removal would not be used in anyway to better the lives of Nigerians but would be embezzled by few politicians. However, I feel it is also wise for this sensitization so that the people can truly understand what the subsidy means and would know exactly what they are supporting or opposing.
Now that you know, it is time to not only direct your anger towards the government but also towards the filling stations in front of you who are directly cheating you as we speak now. If at all there should be a protest now, it should only be to occupy the filling stations and make them know that we know about their criminal activities, pending when the government officially removes the fuel subsidy and pronounce the regulated price of fuel.
