By Adekunle Adekoya

Fellow Nigerians are currently writhing in agony as they battle to make the best of two self-inflicted crises — petrol scarcity, and an unusual scarcity of banknotes. These two crises , in unison, have stretched human endurance beyond elastic limits in our country. First, the crisis associated with petrol scarcity. For more than three months, we have had to live with the scarcity of this all-important commodity, since November 2022. So far, all kinds of unwholesome practices associated with scarcity have become big business, with many of us cashing in on the situation to do brisk business and make money out of the misery of fellow human beings.

What is galling about the petrol scarcity is that those who manage our affairs in that sector are yet to tell us exactly what caused the problem, and from there, get to grips with the situation and restore normalcy. Instead, what we have been fed with have been drivel, and there seems no respite, even as pump price of petrol has shot upwards to as much as more than N500 outside Lagos. From the President setting up a panel to end petrol scarcity, his main assistant, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva blamed the rooftop price of petrol on marketers, who he accused of profiteering. Each time there is petrol scarcity, many filling station owners and operators start dispensing from just one pump out of a minimum of four or six, or eight, thereby creating queues. Then pump attendants introduce their antics: some charges are levied before the buyer can be served. In a country that runs largely on generators, many have to carry kegs to buy petrol. Those carrying kegs also pay extra charges before they can be served. All these charges have nothing to do with the price at which the commodity is being sold. It so happens that it is usually during the periods of petrol scarcity that pump attendants achieve upward  appreciation in their standards of living. They are ugly Nigerians trying to look beautiful.

In the case of the Naira crisis occasioned by re-designing of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes, many of our ugly compatriots have been making hay while this inglorious sun is shining. There have been reports of bank staff hoarding the new notes, while some other Nigerians have been playing unwholesome games with them, such that both old and new notes are just not available. Right now, the worst culprits seem to be PoS operators. They have cashed in on the Naira crisis to make money. From N200 previously charged for a N10,000 withdrawal, they are now charging anything from N1,000 for N10,000 to as much as N3,000 for a N10,000 withdrawal! Is this business or wickedness? The PoS operators have become very ugly by this.

But I still do not blame them. I blame the initiator of the policy, Mr. President himself, who seems not to have injected sufficient rigour into execution of the policy. I am of the opinion that Mr. President assumed that Nigeria of 1984 when he was military Head of State during which he re-minted the Naira is still the same as Nigeria of 2023. Yes, it’s still the same country, the ethnic groups are still the same, Rivers Niger and Benue are still there, but just about every other thing has changed, including the operating environment, and our president didn’t seem to have factored all that into executing the Naira re-design policy. Noble in intent as it is, the poor execution which has made it inflict needless agony on Nigerians suggests that another look needs to be taken at execution. By the way, Mr President said last week that he will do something in seven days. Today, the seven-day time-frame he asked for has expired, and we are waiting. I hope that by the time you are reading this, he would have made a pronouncement or announced another measure that will soothe the pains of the two self-inflicted crises. Meanwhile, I urge my ugly compatriots who are making money from the misery of the rest of us to start having a rethink. I have always been of the opinion that Nigeria’s leadership problem is actually a creation of the followership. I mean, leaders are drawn or co-opted from among the people. If the people are no good, when they get to leadership positions, they will not suddenly change. For instance, an oil official that is practiced in diverting tanker-loads of petrol to neighbouring countries will have no problem diverting shiploads of crude if he becomes oil minister. If we want a good country, we have to create it by changing our attitude. Given the way PoS operators have  conducted themselves, I wonder what would have been our lot if the earthquake that just devastated Turkey and Syria had hit Nigeria. People would be scurrying to make money from the disaster! That ill becomes us as a people. We must rise above these shenanigans and really begin to take care of each other. If we had more empathy for each other, there would have been no crisis from either the Naira re-design policy or petrol itself. Let’s stop being our own enemies.