Every “happy new year” in Nigeria has always come with the treat of deregulation here in Nigeria for the past couple of years. Government is very adamant to deregulate and yet, they have not given us alternatives to petrol/diesel consumption.
In Nigeria, everything depends on one fuel or another; you name it. Food (transportation), industry (diesel gens to power industries), entertainment (home, etc), communication (99% of GSM operators BTS are running on generator), etc. A marginal increase in pump prices goes a long way to affect every aspect of life of the populace.
It is very obvious that “our policy makers”  are putting the cart before the horse and really, they don’t give a 'Bleep' .  Over 70% of diesel sold is used to power industries and telecommunication structures because the public power supply is grossly unreliable.  Over there in Cotonuo, telecoms operators usually plan a power outage of a max of 5hours; in Nigeria (Lagos), you need to plan for 48hours outage; so UPS is not enough in Nigeria without a backup generator. The bureaucratic process of even getting on NEPA’s grid as a business entity is killing; if you manage to get on, then you start paying heavily for “no service”. Just think of it, even for Fasola (Lgaos state governor) to light up some streets in Lagos, he had to use generators. This is government to government o!
The same goes for private users who are at the mercy of NEPA (or is it PHCN now, really, I don’t see a difference). I have met many people trying to reduce their expenses on petroleum products buying inverters and I wonder where we really get off in this Nation called Nigeria. Our wastefulness knows no boundaries. But really, can I blame the poor guy trying to make his home livable for himself and his family?
It doesn’t stop there; many of my colleagues who live towards Ajah are now buying trucks and SUVs (unfortunately, Sanius has put an end to free loans for purchase of this vehicles now) in order to circumvent the massive road traffic between Ajah and VI. They use these monster trucks to tame the wilderness of sand along the Eti-Osa coast in order to beat the traffic. Imagine, one of my friends tell me get to work in 20mins from Adasanya to Oniru estate via the “Jeep sandtracks”. But I usually ask, at what cost? At the cost of your shocks, engine wear and tear and possible danger from the area boys around the tracks who also are known for digging ditches in the tracks to trap unsuspecting drivers so as to offer to help them out at a cost (I even hear there is even an ATM around there in case you are cash-strapped). The truth, I will most definitively do the same thing to avoid a 2hours traffic jam.
These are just tips of the iceberg. Imagine what deregulation would cause a society whereby its people are used to generating their own electricity, “making their own roads”, providing their own water and moving their own food produce from production farm to market individually. hmmmm
One day na one day, this deregulation would happen. Either you are prepared for it or not.
Soon, it would be too costly for some to run the simple “I beta pass my neighbor”; it would be too costly for some to use their trucks or suvs; it would be too costly to make those gsm calls to your wife (or girlfriend if that suits you) saying: “Hi honey, I just called to say I love you…”.
My question is, how are you preparing for this “imminent danger”?
Well, for me and my house…… 
1) Am trading in my suv for a 1.2ltr engine car
2) If you were living in Ajah, move to the mainland and start using BRT. You can be using Okada for your last miles.
3) Buy a prepaid meter
4) Start using fuel saving devices for my generating set and car.
5) Buy foodstuffs from mile12 directly, at least I would save some change
6) Buy coal pot and throw out my kerosene stove
7) Buy more processed/canned food so I wouldn’t need to run my generator for longer hours to keep my fridge/freezer cool.
Make the windows of my rooms bigger so I wouldn’t need to run my generator to use fan.
9) Pray.

To be sincere, deregulation is a good practice; but only when there are choices. See what deregulation has done in telecoms. If you cannot afford gsm, you can buy CDMA. Phone na phone. But considering the downstream sector; there is no alternative to petrol/diesel (well, I hear that LPG will soon be available too). You either drive a petrol car or a diesel car. Both are expensive. You are either using NEPA or running generator. So, as far as petrol/diesel is concerned, there would always be high demand. If we apply the natural laws of economics, more demand means higher price for supplied goods.
The only way is to reduce demand. If only there was an alternative to petrol/diesel. I hear some researchers are on the brink of a breakthrough technology to use water to power a car (sounds like bankPHB advert abi?). If there is anything like that, we need it now o!

So, my question to you today is…
How are you preparation for deregulation?