The immediate past governor of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, has said that the fear being expressed by Nigerians over the Federal Government’s proposed deregulation of the oil downstream sector is misplaced.
Mr. Ladoja, who spoke shortly after the Olubadan of Ibadan, Samuel Odulana, Odugade 1, formally installed him as the Ekerin Olubadan of Ibadanland, at the weekend, said the eventuality is not as gloomy as many Nigerians fear.
He said experience has shown that when a sector of the economy is taken away from the government’s control, it tends to do better.
“Subsidy or deregulation is coming to the same thing,” he said. “They want to give it to the market forces. So far in Nigeria, when things are left for the market forces, they tend to be better. There was a time Nigerian Airways was run by the government. If it is the same again today, will anybody be able to travel? There was a time NITEL was the only telecommunications company in Nigeria. Initially, we thought the GSM will be expensive. But today, even my driver has two lines. Now everybody is able to communicate. We tend to exaggerate about the deregulation issue. Maybe we are afraid of the unknown. I do not see anything wrong with deregulation if it is going to bring prices to a level that all of us will be able to afford.”
He said the subsidy, as being currently financed by the government is an aberration that would only end up amounting to waste for the country.
“Some of us who understand the industry well know that, today, there are a lot of wastes. Demurrage and the likes. All these are passed to the government in the form of subsidy. Why should I pay for the inefficiency of an organisation like the NNPC?” He said.
“If NEPA has been privatised, for instance, are we going to be using generators? Every average home in Nigeria today uses generator, even if it is ‘I-better-pass-my-neighbour’ (the most affordable generator). Whether deregulation is good or not, let us wait and see. I do not think that we should worry ourselves about it yet. Do not let us write anything off because we are assuming that it is going to bring some hardship to us.”
Self-inflicted pains
The politician said he also thinks the nation needs more than electoral reform to give it a better political future.
According to him, the unpalatable political experience of Nigeria is self-inflicted.
Ladoja said unless Nigerians change their perception of politics and democracy, constitution amendment and electoral reform will amount to waste of time.
“The election problems are not because the provisions of the law are not good enough,” he said. “It is because of the human element. When somebody did not win an election and the powers that be say ‘declare him’. When the challenger goes to court, is it not the electoral act he still cites in court? The psyche of Nigerians is what we should look at. Nigerians must decide that we now want democracy. Democracy has its own rules and if we do not play by the rules, we will commit foul. This is the situation. I do not think the problem of Nigeria is that of laws.”
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