Eminent lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has bared his mind on the state of the nation.

He said; “With respect to the attempted fuel hike by PPPRA which has no power whatsoever to make the announcement accredited to it, I was made to understand that based on a security report that Nigerians were prepared to challenge the increase, the government came out to apologise.”

“But as far as I’m concerned, the government is merely buying time because the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has insisted that the prices of fuel be determined by the so-called market forces.”

“You will recall that when the last announcement was made, the government came out to say, ‘we’re under high pressure from the IMF and that henceforth, market forces would determine the prices of petroleum products in Nigeria.”

“But it appears that the government has realised that ultimately, it has to factor insensibility, sensitivity and concerns of Nigerians. If the government had thought that with the agreement reached with the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, there would be no protest in Nigeria, that’s no longer the case.”

“As we saw last year, the ENDSARS movement did not involve the NLC or the TUC, yet it organised one of the most successful protests ever held in Nigeria.”

“So, I’m convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that any unpopular measure would be fought by Nigerian people whose patience has been overtaxed by the government.”

“You see, I’m not going to apologise for the irresponsibility of the Nigerian government. I am not going to enter into any debate about fuel subsidy. This is an oil-producing country, which in the 70s had four functional refineries. On yearly basis, a huge sum of money is earmarked for fixing and maintaining the refineries.”

“If those refineries are not working, if new refineries have not been built by the government, if we now have to import fuel from abroad including from African countries that do not produce oil, there can be no justification for visiting the irresponsibility of the government on the Nigerian people.”

“The government claims that smugglers are moving litres of fuel from Nigeria to neighbouring countries. Again, do you blame the Nigerian people, if the government cannot curb the criminality of smugglers? All the suggestions that have been made to the government to curb the menace of smugglers have been rejected.”

“So, I cannot offer any apology for the mismanagement of addressing the challenge of supplying fuel to Nigerians. Other oil-producing countries including Angola, Algeria, Saudi-Arabia etc, apart from meeting domestic requirements are making billions of dollars from the export of fuel. In Nigeria’s case, what we are making from the exportation of crude oil is allegedly spent on the importation of fuel.”

“It is a disgraceful act on the part of the government. Take the issue of smuggling, for instance, I have suggested to the government that merely building mega stations in those neighbouring countries, and selling fuel at a controlled price, will render smuggling totally unprofitable.”

“After all, our banks and telecommunication companies are operating in our neighbouring countries. Why is it so difficult to build mega stations in Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and other places? Niger has oil, Chad has oil, and so what is the big deal?”

“I have said it before now, it is not rocket science to build modular refineries. Within nine months to one year, the government can build modular refineries. Can you imagine that top officials of the government have announced to Nigerians to expect a miracle when the Dangote refinery commences the refining of fuel?”

“Isn’t that a shame that a government is saying that a businessman, an individual, can build a refinery that will refine 600,000 barrels of oil per day while the government cannot maintain four refineries and build new ones? It is not acceptable.”

“The government has swallowed hook, line and sinker the neo-liberal policies dictated by IMF and the World Bank, whose implementation have continued to pauperize the Nigerian people.”

“The government has not been able to confront its imperialist masters with homegrown ideas in addressing the monumental crisis confronting the economy. If you are following the debate in the National Assembly with respect to the diversion of over N4 trillion by the NNPC, between 2010 and 2016, as confirmed by the Auditor- General of the Federation, they said the money was used to fix pipelines etc.”

“For goodness sake, there are scientific solutions for dealing with pipelines. In one of the offices of the NNPC, you can install a system that will monitor all the pipelines in the country. But the NNPC is not prepared to acquire the system.”

“So, the N4 trillion was alleged to have been spent on maintaining pipelines. But as far as the law is concerned, all revenues generated by the country shall be paid to the federation account. The President cannot spend a dime without appropriations.”

“So how can an agency of the government say publicly, that they will spend N4trillion without appropriation? So these are the issues. Nobody is in control of our country, hence the PPPRA could just wake up one day and say ‘oh, we are going to sell a litre of fuel for N212, and the President as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, was not aware and nobody has been fired. These are the issues we have to address.”

“Is there governance in the country? Does anybody care about the rule of law? Because by virtue of section 6 of the Petroleum Act, it is only the Minister of Petroleum Resources that is empowered to fix and determine the prices of petroleum products, not market forces, not PPPRA, not NNPC.”

“I didn’t write the law. If you want to transfer the power to fix and determine the prices of petroleum products to market forces, you have to amend the law.”

“Market forces exist in the imagination of imperialists. The prices of goods are fixed even by the United States which is the leading capitalist country in the world. At the end of the day, you will discover that the manipulation is perpetrated in the Central Bank which has decided to dollarise the Nigerian economy.”

“So as far as the country is concerned, there is the Price Control Act which has imposed a duty on the government to fix the prices of essential commodities in the country.”

“We also have the Petroleum Act which has imposed a duty on the Ministry of Petroleum to fix the prices of petroleum products. So as far as our laws are concerned, there is no place for the determination of prices by market forces.”

– Source: VANGUARD