Society Teeters on Brink of Chaos When Ignorance Reigns Among the Educated, Says Owei Lakemfa

Fuel prices in Nigeria surged by an average of 40 percent shortly after the United States, US, and Israel launched an attack on Iran, with diesel prices skyrocketing by 50 percent.

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This drastic increase led to a spike in transportation costs, forcing many Nigerians who could not afford the hike to resort to trekking.

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Mr. Peter Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State, expressed his concern over the plight of Nigerians and the devastating impact of recurring fuel price hikes on the industry.

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He argued that the rapid increases in fuel prices demonstrate the vulnerability of Nigeria's economy to external shocks and its quick response to foreign events.

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According to Obi, the reason for this vulnerability is that most countries, whether oil-producing or non-oil-producing, maintain strategic petroleum reserves to cushion against supply or price shocks, allowing them to release part of these reserves to stabilize supply when disruptions occur in the global oil market.

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However, Nigeria lacks such a buffer, resulting in the immediate impact of global disruptions being felt in the country.

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Obi emphasized that countries that plan and build mechanisms to absorb shocks during global disruptions are better equipped to handle them, whereas those that fail to plan become vulnerable, illustrating the old maxim that "when a country fails to plan, it has already planned to fail".

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The Tinubu administration responded to Obi's comments, stating that "when someone who once held the office of governor begins to make such sweeping conclusions about a complex global energy market, it is frankly embarrassing".

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This response was seen as an attempt to belittle Obi's advice that Nigeria should plan against external shocks, rather than engaging in a constructive debate on the issue.

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The Presidency further criticized Obi, saying "a former governor should know better than to reduce a multi-layered economic issue to a simplistic talking point", which was perceived as an attempt to mystify economics and reduce serious matters to crass propaganda.

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The Tinubu Presidency also told Obi to "sit a conversation out when one does not fully understand how the system works rather than jumping at every opportunity to malign Nigeria", which was seen as an insult and an attempt to silence constructive criticism.

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After stripping away the insults and illogical conclusions from the Presidency's reaction, it claimed that the recent rise in fuel prices in Nigeria is not primarily due to the lack of a strategic petroleum reserve, but rather because the fuel market is now largely deregulated following the subsidy removal by the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

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The government presented deregulation as a solution, but this approach has been criticized for prioritizing market forces over the interests of citizens and the economy.

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According to the Constitution, the essence of government is the security and welfare of the citizenry, and any government that cannot prioritize this should not retain the mandate of the people.

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Obi's argument is that Nigeria, with its abundant crude oil resources, should build a system that can withstand basic shocks in oil supply, rather than being controlled by a cartel that dictates prices.

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This is a basic monopoly that no government should accept, and it is what Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, warned against when he said that individuals act out of self-love rather than benevolence.

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The government claimed that in a deregulated system, petrol prices respond directly to global oil prices, exchange rates, shipping costs, and supply risks, but this should not apply to an oil-producing country like Nigeria.

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Such a country does not need to buy crude at global prices, requires no exchange rate, eliminates shipping costs, and supply risks are virtually absent, making it clear that the Tinubu administration's argument is flawed.

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The Presidency acknowledged that even countries with large reserves, such as the United States and China, maintain them primarily for serious supply emergencies, wars, embargoes, or major disruptions to global supply chains, which is the current situation in Nigeria.