Petrol went from N145/liter to N162/liter; with electricity tariff going from about N30.23 per kWh to about N62.33 per kWh in the first week of September.

The federal government had to talk the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) out of a proposed strike on September 28, as tempers flared across social media platforms.

However, the economic strain on the citizenry continues, amid a dwindling economy made even worse by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that his administration can no longer subsidize petrol because government revenues have dropped by 60 percent; and that there has been no provision for subsidy payments in the 2020 budget. 

Umohinyang agrees that sustaining the subsidy on petrol and electricity no longer makes economic sense.

“Some of us have been accused that in 2012, we created the platform ‘Save Nigeria Group’ (SNG) and we occupied Nigeria by ensuring that the Goodluck Jonathan administration did not succeed on the issue of deregulation," he said.

“And I had reason to refresh their memory that Nigerians are not naturally people who develop phobia for paying bills. Under Jonathan, it wasn’t about deregulation. It was about corruption in the system. That was why the SNG under the leadership of our own Tunde Bakare was saying ‘Kill Corruption, Not Nigerians.’ 

“But like you rightly pointed out, at this difficult time. The Buhari administration has shouldered this issue of subsidy for five straight years. And if you know President Buhari, the passion he has for the people--and basically, his interest and target has always been the poor. 

“And I have told the president this--that look, for as long as you continue to uphold those democratic credentials, I will continue to support you to succeed. But the minute he begins to look the other way, I will use the exit door.

"And the president has reassured me several times that he will continue to maintain his position by upholding those democratic ideas that will push forward the frontiers of possibilities well beyond that which we met in office.

“And I want to appeal to the media and labour that look, for a government that has continued with this process of subsidy for five years to now come at this point to say, look, we need to take off subsidy...the president did not create the COVID-19 we are all going through. 

“This difficult time is not just affecting Nigerians, it’s across the world. If it wasn’t for the foresightedness of Mr. President, I’m sure by now we’ll be buying a bag of rice for N100,000,” Umohinyang says, adding that the decision of the federal government to shutter land borders and encourage Nigerians to grow what they will consume, was an economic masterstroke. 

“I agree that Nigerians are going through a lot of stress and that things are difficult. I agree that times are hard. But you see, there can be no better time to do a good thing. A good president is not the one who wants to please some groups of people.

"A good president is the one who takes hard decisions, even when it is unpopular. We must protect the generation yet unborn. We have to ask ourselves if we want Nigeria to remain after this coronavirus.

“We cannot be spending trillions of Naira on subsidy and then turn around to be borrowing money from China to fix our roads, our rail, our agro-businesses. It’s a painful decision to stop subsidy, but it’s a pain we have to endure at this difficult time of our lives. 

“For electricity, we say we have gone into privatization, but we are still dilly-dallying with electricity. If you look at the three stages of supply--the generation, the transmission and the distribution--you discover that a lot is being done in the generation, transmission is widening its capacity, but the DisCos seem to be a child of perdition.

“DisCos have essentially been the challenge the man on the streets has, whereby you generate 13,000mw, you transmit 8,000mw and the DisCos say look, I can only take 3,000mw because the customers are not paying. Electricity is not something you store. Government has been paying for the wasted megawatts. 

“Even though the Jonathan administration launched a power road map in 2011, nothing meaningful had been achieved. We are just beginning to see meaningful progress in that direction.

"What do you make of a government that continues to subsidize or fund privatized agencies like the DisCos? Can you point out the expansion in the DisCos between the time those entities were sold to them and now? 

“They have not been able to do anything because the privatization was political in nature. The core people who would have managed the processes, were not given the opportunity to. Look, the Yola Electricity company has been taken back by the government!

“Look at some of the clauses that went with the privatization. People say we should reverse the privatization since it’s not working. But go and look at some of the clauses that say when you reverse, you have to return their money, you have to pay about 20 percent interest. 

“So, it is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. And the government continues to spend billions of Naira on these DisCos.”

Umohinyang added that Nigerians will happily pay for steady, reliable electricity.

“Nigerians are not allergic to paying bills. It’s just that they cannot pay because you have not given them light. And that’s why the government has said you have to meter everybody. 

“If I decide to buy 5,000 units of power supply and you do not supply me light for a whole month, I should be sure that my money is there.

"So, a situation where you want to rely on estimated billing and try to torment and coerce the people into paying whatever is thrown at them, or ask them to negotiate after unfairly billing them...it is criminal for you to treat the people like that. I do not know anywhere on earth where this is accepted. 

“We cannot continue to sustain this process. If we do, we may not have the country Nigeria economically in the shortest possible time. I can also assure you that the government will not sleep over these tough economic decisions. There will be some form of palliatives to cushion the effect these will have on Nigerians,” Umohinyang said. 

Oil rich Nigeria imports the petrol it consumes, with four local refineries functioning at a fraction of their installed capacities or not functioning at all.

Ending a corruption-riddled subsidy regime was always going to be a politically dangerous move -- a string of rebounds in global oil prices could rouse the opposition and test the administration’s resilience.

Previous attempts, noticeably in 2012, to wean Nigerians off cheap gasoline led to major anti-government protests on the streets.

The federal government says it has spent close to N10 trillion on petrol subsidy in 10 years.