The misery called fuel scarcity
Nigerians are no strangers to unfortunate fuel crises that have been a recurring factor in the country’s polity. Nevertheless, the fuel scarcity imbroglio in the past weeks will go down in the annals of the country’s history as the worst ever as Nigerians groaned bitterly under the untold hardship the situation brought upon them, even as the country’s socio-economic life was almost grounded.
As in past situations, the hardship notwithstanding, Nigerians displayed their sublime “act of survival” pending when the situation would improve back to normal. But that was not the case with the recent situation, as their hopes steadily metamorphosed to frustrations, and pains of the hardship, transformed to unbearable miseries.
However, it was only a handful of individuals that one can arguably claim escaped these miseries, unlike in the past where the “pains” were exclusive reserve of the middle and lower class members of the society. It is instructive to state that the way the fuel crisis persisted, it would only have been a matter of time, for it to consume both the “rich and poor” and the nation brought to halt.
Indeed, like the biblical story of creation in “Genesis 1vs 2”, Nigeria was “without form and void, and darkness covered everywhere” especially at night, as there was prolonged power outage due to systems failure recorded from the national grid as a result of lack of gas supply.
Let’s go back a bit; the fuel crisis was caused by the disagreement between the federal government and Major Oil Markets of Nigeria (MOMAN) over fuel subsidy payment discrepancies. While MOMAN refused to continue importation of fuel until they are paid the debts allegedly owed them by the federal government, the federal government through the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, remained adamant, insisting the oil marketers “are sabotaging the economy”. As this altercation was going on, members of NARTO and PTD announced an indefinite strike over alleged non-payment of a N20 billion debts allegedly owed to them by MOMAN; this compounded the misery of Nigerians-including businesses and consumers.
First the news came in that airlines operators were struggling with rescheduling and cancellation of their flights to customers because there isn’t enough aviation fuel (Jet A-1) to power the aircrafts. In almost sequential order, other sectors of the economy followed suite announcing their inability to operate optimally.
Like a rumour that later turned out to be true, one of the country’s telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, first alerted her subscribers via her website and short messaging services (sms), stating “Dear Customer, due to the diesel scarcity nationwide, you may experience downgraded services…”. Not long, Airtel Nigeria and Etisalat Nigeria followed expressing the same reservations to their subscribers. Meanwhile some media houses were already rationing their fast depleting “diesel” and have adjusted their programme schedules. The health sector was not left out- hospitals were already reeking, even as patients were “giving up the ghost” in the midst of hapless doctors, nurses and other medical personnel in the theatres.
Some schools, like the University of Ibadan, Ibadan in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria, sensing the usual students’ restiveness which stems from absence of “basic amenities”, hurriedly announced a temporary closure.
Understandably, as above worrisome situations made news, Nigerians were indifferent, perhaps because each one was contending with his or her own “miseries” and therefore was too busy scheming a way out of the predicament, to notice that of others. What apparently was the unifying factor in the crisis, was when the Banks, yes Banks- the custodian of the people’s “treasures” joined the “frenzy”, alerting customers that they will be closing earlier than the normal closing hours due to the “fuel scarcity” situation. True to the announcements, customers who rushed to the banks, atleast to get some money to cushion the effect of the crisis met closed banks. What a situation? “This has never happened before” said a bank customer who gave her name as Florence. “We are in deeper mess than we are thinking” she added.
Call it “mess” like Florence, you will be wrong. Call it misery; you won’t be wrong either as businesses and customers found themselves in dire straits in the past few weeks like never before.
Nevertheless, thanks to the “timely” agreement reached between the federal government and other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector in Abuja, the country’s capital, towards stopping the lingering fuel crisis, the country would have been completely shot down, and the effect better imagined on businesses and their customers, than experienced, going by the “partial shot down“ of businesses.
Space may fail one if one dwells on the amount of money lost by businesses and unpalatable burden on customers, as the fuel crisis lingered. Consider the man hour lost by Nigerians as they struggled to get the premium motor spirit (PMS) petrol, Automobile Gas oil (AGO) Diesel and Dual purpose Kerosene (DPK) Kerosene to power their vehicles, generators and houses. What about the inconveniencing increase in transport fares and the disruption of movements as a result of non-availability of vehicles as people were left stranded at major bus stops and motor parks, ? What about the prices of commodities that usually go up as a result of each fuel crisis, and never finds their way down, even when the situation normalizes? What about sleepless nights at the filling stations, and the grueling traffic caused by motorists who, out of desperation, jostle for entry spaces at the filling stations gates, to the detriment of other road users, thereby blocking the free flow of traffic? What about the people who were unable to use their cars and enjoy their generators with the worsening power supply, and hot weather? Consider the lives lost, and the “bad fuel” sold to desperate motorists by unscrupulous black marketers that damaged their cars’ engines. Imagine the needless heated arguments and struggles that led to physical combats. Again, did you know that during that period, Nigerians were vulnerable as security was kept in abeyance? There was no police patrol team on sight during the period as their vehicles were also “petro-less”
The list of the miseries on Nigerians is inexhuastive and may only be complete with the “narration of individual ordeals”
However, fuel crisis under whatever cause must, and should be stopped in this country. It is laughable that Nigeria is the ninth world producer of crude oil and the sixth largest exporter of the commodity; with crude oil reserve estimated at over 36.2 billion barrels, which has been projected to last till 2056, yet her citizens are periodically put under the agony of fuel scarcity-One can only trace the reason for this to bad leadership.
Like Ndubuisi John, a teacher, queried out of frustration “these people (referring to the country’s leadership) should stop punishing us. Let them resolve this and let us move on with our lives. Now we have our money yet they won’t make products available because of their selfish interest” he said.
It is instructive to note though that if there is any positive from the fuel crisis, it has reiterated the importance of power and the oil and gas sectors to our businesses and to our lives as individuals.
Therefore the current “CHANGE” government of President Muhammadu Buhari must change the present status quo where the “life” of the country is in the hands of a few clique of highly organized oil importers who when they cough, the country’s socio-economic life seizes.
Your sincerely is consoled with the focused character of the country’s present leader, and trusts he will take urgent steps in improving the power situation in the country, and end the perennial fuel crises perpetually in Nigeria. This will protect Nigeria’s businesses and consumers from future miseries as a result, and boost the economy.
Arinze Okamelu is a Media Entrepreneur, Marketing Communication/Business Consultant with passion for customer focused marketing and excellent brands’ value delivery.
Arinze Okamelu