That the general Muhammadu Buhari administration is pushing Nigeria beyond its elastic limits is very obvious. With apologies to the grammatical Obahiagbon, it is audible to the deaf and visible to the blind.
One of the major percussors to the impending implosion is the callous attempt by the members of Buhari’s administration to move the pump price of PMS, a.k.a. petrol, from its current price of N167 to a distant and painful N302 in no time.
This is as taxes have been imposed on virtually every service in the country. For an administration that was voted on the mantra of change, this is nothing but a deliberate deceit and perfidy.
For the records, Buhari increased the price of PMS from the N87 per litre that it sold under the PDP to the current N162. At the same time he allowed an astronomical hike in electricity tariff from N30.23 per kwh to over N66. The same thing happened in the case of the price of diesel which rose from N150/liter to N330!
This jas caused companies many hardships. A lot of small businesses trying to survive have been closed because of the price of energy. This has increased poverty and misery in the land.
This same administration met value added tax (VAT) at 1%. They raised it to 7.5%, raising the prices of everything by 100% across board.
This has left many Nigerians asking what the exact mission of the APC is if not to inflict pain and hardship on Nigerians to satisfy their selfish interests.
With the tension in the land, coupled with the burgeoning insecurity in the land, we are all at the risk of a massive anger from across the country that is going to be worse than the #EndSARS protest of 2020.
The time to rethink such a painful policy is still available to Mr Buhari and his handlers. One of the most cataclysmic steps a government can take during a time of such critical issues is to ignore the people and proceed on its own path according to the advice of self serving lieutenants.
Mr Buhari would be walking into the trap set by his own aides and acolytes who obviously are advising him wrongly.
President Buhari is advised to review his policies and not add to the pain of the people any further.
Usman Okai Austin
Writes from Abuja
