FUEL PRICE INCREASE: TRIGGERING OFF A POSSIBLE EXPLOSION OF A PRESSURE COOKER OF VIOLENCE
Amid the waves of violent crimes of “YAHOO YAHOO” and ritual activities rocking the nation, EONS Intelligence on Monday dared all odds to spurn the hornet’s nest by conducting an unpopular opinion poll on the issue of “Fuel Price Comparison Against other African Countries”. On its Twitter page, it made a vague comparison of the current prices of fuel against other African Countries.
The reactions that trailed the poll were as heated as it was intense. The suppressed emotions of the citizens in a crime-devastated nation were unleashed on the handle. The intensity of the outburst increased to a crescendo that could translate into physical exchange, were it possible.
This is one of the rare opportunities Nigerians were given to openly express their views on the issue of fuel subsidy and its attendant consequences when the subsidy is removed and prices are increased.
Salient and valid points from the poll indicate that for the government to implement or consider subsidy removal, some basic amenities need to be put in place. Such examples cited include increased employment, enhanced standard of living, regular provision of light, pipe borne water, standard education, basic infrastructure among others.
Notably among the reactions that trailed the poll is the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics indicating a record-high increase in intra-city transport fares by over 283% on average owing to the rising cost of fuel subsidy in the last four years.
Further reactions trailing the poll indicate that the surge in crimes by youths across the nation is a pointer of a political vulnerability in a country that has failed its citizens woefully.
The reactions to the opinion poll by the citizens were loud that no indices justify comparing an oil-producing country like Nigeria that has failed to provide the basic amenities for its citizens with other countries.
Studies conducted last year further align with the majority of the views that in a country like Nigeria that ranks first as a country whose citizens live in extreme poverty at 12.6%, no justification may suffice to subject its citizens to additional suffering.
Inferences drawn from the poll indicate that the current wave of insecurity may be child’s play to what may befall the nation when fuel subsidy is removed with no new basic amenities in place to cushion the effect.
In justifying the need for government to even do more for the citizens in addition to the subsidy, the people cited Kazakhstan's government incident where the resultant rage that trailed the fuel price increase culminated in more harm than good.
Among the Kazakhstan’s uprising of unleashed anger, one protester said: "Every day everything rises in price. I mean groceries and everything else. Impossibly getting more expensive. Please take some action. It's not easy for ordinary people.
“The governments repeated and unfulfilled pledges of a better economic future have turned Kazakhstan into a pressure cooker of discontent, analysts told CNN. Longstanding grievances about unemployment and low wages especially in the heavy industries of western Kazakhstan have been turbocharged by a pandemic-induced recession and grotesque inequality.
"This is a government that is highly detached from the reality of what happens on the ground. It's a country where there are no institutions through which to protest; the only route is on the streets," Paul Stronski of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told CNN”.
According to Stronski, “authorities have announced many different plans to improve life and crack down on corruption but they are never implemented.
"People have been told things will get better but wealth is siphoned off," he said.
Findings from EONS Intelligence Monday opinion poll reveal in clear terms that Nigerians are living in abject poverty, resulting in an increased crime rate of all ramifications. The new forms of crimes make take a new narrative different from YAHOO YAHOO (Okeite, Owelle, Yahoo Plus), RITUALISTIC ACTIVITIES, BANDITRY/TERRORISM if any further attempt to stretch the citizens beyond the present elasticity rate by either increasing fuel prices or worsening the economic situation beyond the current state, will result in successfully triggering a “pressure cooker of violence”.
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