Oil price increases in Nigeria have been a touchy issue ever since Olusegun Obasanjo, then a military head of state, introduced it as an economic policy on October 1, 1978. Although it was a hard pill for the people to swallow, their resistance  then  to that policy cannot be compared to what it is today. The reason is that over the years, previous governments have not used the funds that accrued from such price increases for the development of the national economy as a result of deep-seated corruption in government. But the impression previous governments which had adopted that policy  had given to the people was that such funds would be used to provide good roads, efficient transportation, potable water, uninterrupted power supply, quality education and modern health facilities among other basic social amenities  for them. But this has not been the case. Instead, a few people within and outside government have used the politics of subsidy removal to amass wealth at the expense of the generality of the people.

Based on such bitter experiences in the past, it is almost an impossible task for any government   to get the support of the people by tying  its ability to provide basic social amenities on oil subsidy removal. This is the experience of President Goodluck Jonathan who insists that he can only fulfill his election campaign promise of transforming Nigeria economically through a policy of full deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry. This means that the federal government will totally withdraw from importation of petroleum products with effect from January 2012 and allow private entrepreneurs to take over. In simple language, government will no more subsidise such products and so that it can use the money for that purpose for development that will benefit the poor. Removal of oil subsidy means that Nigerians will pay more for petrol and associated products. This is not sweet music to many ears. Consequently, labour unions and civil society groups have already served notices that they will resist the policy which they describe as anti-people. But President Jonathan is not bothered by such threats and insists that oil subsidy removal is irreversible. As opposition to that proposal continues to mount, the president is also perfecting his war strategy to achieve his objective. This is the topic of our cover story this week titled: Fuel Subsidy War. Sebastine Obasi, senior staff writer, who anchors the story, has all you need to know about Jonathan’s strategy and how the opposition groups plan to counter it. Enjoy it.