Now That Tomorrow is Here…

By Segun Adeniyi

When in the closing prayers after the church service his Pastor declared that it would be a week of INCREASE, according to a man on Twitter, he said a loud Amen. But that was because he had no inkling that the increase he would encounter during the week would come from DSTV subscription, Pump price and electricity tariff!

Coming at a time the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that is ordinarily seen as unfriendly to the poor admonishes the federal government to adopt supportive policies, the timing of these decisions could not have been more inauspicious. What I find more interesting is that these policy choices are coming from the same people who were not only calling President Goodluck Jonathan names but worked tirelessly to sabotage him. Those who were not dancing at Ojota nine years ago were enabling the dancers while others were propounding theories as to why the talk about subsidy was all about ‘corruption’ and asking, ‘Who is subsidizing who?’

Now that the ‘Change’ exponents have suddenly lost their voices, some of us can sympathise with the government. We are not only borrowing money from China, we also now depend on borrowed grains from ECOWAS. To compound the situation, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres warned last week that there is a risk of famine and widespread food insecurity in four countries, including Nigeria. But we need nobody to tell us that we are in dire straits. So, for those who ask for my position on the removal of subsidy and associated issues, I want to respond with the column published on this page on 13th October 2011 when President Jonathan was preparing to implement the same policy. It was the first part of a long series at the time. But it captures the story of how our country arrived at this sorry pass and the choices that have now been forced on us.

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If the morning, as they say, shows the day, then we should brace up for trouble in the coming weeks. Following the public release of the 2012-2015 Medium Term Fiscal Framework and Medium Term Expenditure Framework, there is already a groundswell of opposition from labour and other stakeholders. And in the last few days, I have received several mails from readers who plead with me to throw my lot with ‘the people’ by opposing the complete deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum sector otherwise called removal of fuel subsidy.

I want to preface my intervention with a story I told sometimes in 1999 or thereabout which is still very relevant today. And like I did back then, I seek the indulgence of readers because the story is about a supposedly loving couple having problems which bordered on sex. The husband happened to be a man with healthy appetite hence he would not allow his wife any breathing space. After putting up with his antics for some years, she took the matter to her in-law as the ‘court of first instance’. After narrating her story, her mother-in-law asked whether her son was maltreating the wife in other ways; she said no. Was he providing for her as he should? She answered in the affirmative. The parents of the husband declared that the wife had no case because their son was only claiming his ‘rightful entitlements’. Case dismissed!

Defeated, the poor woman accepted her fate for a while before reporting to her own parents. Let us call this the ‘court of appeal’. Here, they equally asked the same set of questions her in-laws asked. Her mother however added: “Is your husband dating another woman?” She said no. In the ruling that followed, they scolded their daughter for attempting to shirk her ‘marital responsibility’. The appeal therefore failed and the man continued to claim his ‘entitlements’. Ultimately, the wife took the matter to their local pastor as the final arbiter, if you like the ‘Supreme Court’. The pastor sent for the husband so he could hear both sides. In his presence, the pastor asked the wife to retell her tale which she did. “Is it true?” asked the pastor to which the man replied: “It is true Sir but the problem is that I don’t want to have affairs outside.”

This, to the pastor, was a serious problem. But after a discussion that involved bargaining and trade-off, it was agreed that a maximum of three times a day was enough for any couple. Thus a ceiling was effectively placed on how many times the man could ‘harass’ his poor wife a day. It was a Friday evening and back home, the man, quite naturally, claimed his ‘quota’ for that day.

Then came Saturday. To cut the story short, by mid-day, the husband had performed his ‘matrimonial obligation’ three times and the wife thought she would be left alone. When he therefore started behaving funny again, she exploded: “What is the problem? Have I not met my responsibility for today?”

Looking crestfallen, the husband replied: “Yes, I know, but please lend me one from tomorrow’s”.

Buhari’s Shock Therapy for Nigerians
The friend who told me this story said it was a real life situation. He may be right or it may just be a ‘Fabu’ but what is not in doubt is that the tale is a metaphor for the Nigerian condition and our proclivity to borrow from the future. Like the irresponsible husband in the story whose marriage was definitely bound to crash at some point, we have been borrowing so much from the future that it is only a matter of time before we reach rock bottom. But I understand what the current agitation is all about.

Like most commentators, I can make a thousand arguments on why it is callous to overburden the poor of our people by removing the current subsidies on fuel. I can canvass brilliant ideas to justify why, if it is only cheap petrol that the people enjoy, so let it be. I can present moving stories of the social consequences of the removal of subsidy: The pain, the anguish and the tears to come. Yet given the situation on ground, there is no way we can continue with the corrupt, inefficient and unsustainable subsidy regime. To do so will amount to entrenching a culture of continually borrowing from tomorrow.

I have followed the drama in the Senate concerning a proposed motion by Senator Bukola Saraki where he noted that in the 2011 Appropriation Act, the sum of N240 billion was allocated for subsidy yet by August ending, N931 billion had been spent with a projection that by the end of the year, “we will have a fuel subsidy bill of over N1.2 trillion as against the N240 billion budgeted in the Appropriation Act.”

Making allusion to the (mis)management of the federation account and the subsidy abracadabra by NNPC, Saraki drew the attention of the lawmakers to the fact that the 2011 Appropriation Act was based on “a Capital budget of N1.1 trillion for the entire country yet a single agency of government can incur the same amount without due approval of the National Assembly.” As former chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Saraki is well aware the problem did not start with the 2011 Appropriation Act as fuel subsidy accounts mostly for the distortions we have had in budget planning and execution in the last decade just as it feeds the monumental corruption in our oil and gas sector.

Fortunately, President Goodluck Jonathan has finally come to terms with the reality that you cannot rule a country by Facebook! Given my understanding of Nigeria, our president, especially in these difficult times, must be like the man leading the orchestra: he has to back the crowd. Now President Jonathan knows. And he deserves our support. We must understand that he didn’t create the situation under which we find ourselves today. All the leaders before him, with our collective connivance as a nation, had been borrowing from tomorrow. Now that he has mustered the courage to say, “thus far and no more,” the least our lawmakers and other critical stakeholders can do is to offer their understanding and support.

However, while the argument for withdrawing fuel subsidy is compelling, there is an urgent need to carry along critical stakeholders in the media, civil society and labour because, to borrow an adage, it is much more productive to erect a fence at the top of the cliff than to build a hospital below. The days ahead are definitely bound to be very difficult and the month of December will be particularly critical. But I believe there is an extent to which we can continue to borrow from tomorrow.

The Ife Webinar on Sex for Grades
In the course of distributing free copies of my book ‘NAKED ABUSE: Sex for Grades in African Universities’, I contacted the Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife for their ‘allocation’. He immediately suggested a Webinar for the presentation where I could also speak on the theme of the book. That was what set in process the conversation of yesterday. I thank my brother, Laolu Akande, Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, who helped to secure the participation of his principal, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. His intervention yesterday was thought-provoking and should set the agenda for discourse. I also thank the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege whose bill on sexual harassment was recently passed by the Senate. That he attended much of the session that lasted more than four hours attest to his commitment to rid our society of the malaise. I also thank his Chief of Staff, Otive Igbuzor.

I must also express my appreciation to HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 14th Emir of Kano, the First Lady of Ekiti State, HE Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Secretary General, Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi, Director, West Africa Office, Ford Foundation, Mr Innocent Chukwuma and Prof. Joy Ezeilo of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. None of them hesitated when I called upon them and they made the session of yesterday very lively. In attendance also were many friends and well-wishers, including my Governor, HE Abdulraham Abdulrazaq who only got to know of the Webinar on Tuesday. I also appreciate the former Governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke.

There were also former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Steve Oronsaye, former Director General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Eng. Emeka Ezeh, Chairman, Caverton Group, Mr Remi Makanjuola, retired Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun President of the Queens College, Lagos alumni, Mrs Ifueko Omoigui Okuaru and Chairman, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) Mr Ekpo Nta.

My friends, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Waziri Adio, former Youth and Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi and Chairman of Phase 3 Telecoms Stanley Jegede were also in attendance. So were THISDAY Managing Director, Eniola Bello and his deputy, Kayode Komolafe and the ICPC Director of Legal, Mr Adenekan Sogunle. Chairman, Brooks&Blade, Ms. Funmi Onajide and my first boss in (Campus) Journalism, Mr Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN were also in attendance as well. I could also notice Father George Ehusani, Dr Ngozi Azodoh, Ms Ifioma Malo, Dr Okey Ikechukwu, Dr Chidi Amuta, Brig-Gen. Mustapha Onoyiveta (rtd) and several others, including Feyi Fayehinmi (Aguntasolo) who hooked up from London and Sister Tina Chikezie, from Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja. Prof Jacob Olupona also joined from Harvard. I am sure there were many others I could not see but will extend my appreciation the moment I get the full list of attendees from Ife.

Meanwhile, Professor Oluyemisi Obilade of the OAU did a brilliant job moderating the event. Professor Funmi Soetan not only worked behind the scene to make the event a success, she was one of the discussants yesterday. To Dr Monica Orisadare and Engineer Adewara, I say a big thank you. Prof Ogunbodede, the wonderful VC of Ife who insists on addressing me as chief, even when I am not one, will be hearing from my lawyer!

For those who may not have watched the event, below is the text of my presentation at the Webinar that had as its theme, ‘Finding Safe Spaces for Female Students in Nigerian Universities’. I spoke on ‘Sexual Violence Against Women: Why Men’s Voices Matter.
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Adeniyi is the spokesman of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the author of Power Politics and Death

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