Today, the 29th of May 2023, the 16th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was sworn in. I couldn't care any less, but he (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) has wielded the helm of a great, but frail and dying country, and we can only hope for the best. I was sitting in the room when I saw the notification; Inaugural Speech from the Newly elected President. It was odd because I am only enjoying the holiday because of the inauguration and I didn't even know about any of it. The road to his being elected was a cataclysmic event, to say the least, but irrespective of our desires, a leader has been chosen and we have to fully back him. From here on out, I can only see a bright and agile set of citizens and youths, ready to take full control of their land. A people ready to live and practice the system of government that it has failed to do since time immemorial.
In his inaugural speech, the newly elected president spoke on a lot of things. The need to curtail and curb the rising level of insecurity and terrorism in the state. Vowing to completely rid the state of the evil that has eating deep into the fabric of the nation. He also spoke on improving infrastructure, getting the country out of national debt, and working on the country's overall economy. Among all these promises (which we have become used to), what he did say that caught my attention was the suspension of fuel subsidies.
To put it simply, it is the action taken whereby the government pays part of the cost for fossil fuel energy which translates to the consumers paying less or the producers requesting less. Fuel subsidy = lesser cost of fuel. No fuel subsidy = costlier fuel. Now this obviously is not good news for an average Nigerian like me. The price of transportation would be higher, and inflation would surge. This is one of the many negatives of suspending fuel subsidies. Perhaps the main one. But there is another side to the coin. It is speculated that the FGN pays about three trillion nairas in cost for fuel subsidies as of last year. Those funds could be channeled into other things to improve the living standards of the people. The president did say the funds would be used to remodel the economy, but as always promises are easy to be made but difficult to be fulfilled. Now we hope for the best.
Tell me what you think though. How would this decision impact the state of the nation?
