FUEL SCARCITY IN RELATION TO FUEL SUBSIDY..Which way out?

It is no longer news that the federal government pays billions of naira to marketers to subsidize this all important product yet we tend to ask each other,"who benefits more"? is it the young entrepreneur who only manages to buy 20litres a week to run his business or the rich business man who buys over 1000litres a week to power his business and household appliances?

Ok lets say the federal government pays say extra N20 on subsidizing a liter of fuel every Nigerian buys,this means in one week,the government would have helped that small scale entrepreneur with subsidy worth N400 while at the same time helping the rich man who has the money anyways to buy at unsubsidized rate with subsidy worth N20,000 yet during scarcity such as this,it is the low budget buyers that suffer more.

For about a month, Nigerians have been buying this same product above the potential unsubsidized price and we have been doing this without much ado yet i guess if the government announces today that subsidy is removed, we all we cry fowl.

So the question is if it costs billions of Naira to subsidize fuel prices and yet we still experience an occasional crises,why can't the government just forget the payment on subsidy and channel this huge sum into providing more amenities for the populace?

But the billion dollar question is.."was there suppose to be subsidy in the first place"? are we suppose to be importing a product we could possible refine by ourselves? If in Venezuela,they still sell a liter at N3.6 as i write and other OPEC(Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) give their citizens this same product at very reduced price then what is wrong with the Nigerian system?

Nigeria has the lowest minimum wage among all OPEC yet these set of people earning so low are expected to by this product as high as N130/N140 once the subsidy is removed and i keep asking if it makes sense?

The problem we face in my opinion has nothing to do with subsidy because in actual fact,there is never a need for it but corruption of our past and present leaders is responsible for the mess we find ourselves today.

Nevertheless,the truth is that for now considering other pressing projects that needs huge funding by the federal government,the best solution is for the government is to hands off from subsidizing this product and use the subsidy money to build more refineries,do a turn around maintenance on the existing ones or simply sincerely and transparently privatize the entire upstream and downstream sector while they focus on power and other schemes that will benefit the lot of Nigerians.

But this also means that Nigerians must be ready to pay for the corruption of our past leaders who deliberately allow our refineries to degenerate to the sorry state they are now for their own selfish interest of making cursed money from the sharp practices in the name of exporting crude oil and importing its derivatives.

This is a sacrifice most Nigerians are not willing to make especially when we are not even sure that the subsidy money that is expected to be used to execute other projects will not end up in the bank account of some corrupt people.

In conclusion,i believe that if the government of the day,can be sincere enough to put corruption in check,maybe Nigerians might just consider allowing a subsidy free regime for the incoming administration and pay the price for the wickedness of our past leaders in order to give the future generation a better Nation.

My take.