In my last note, I wrote that Nigeria’s rural economies have been disconnected massively from the urban economies. Yes, during the holidays, the traffic reduction in the rural areas was noticeable and drastic. Simply, the fuel re-pricing and the broad removal of fuel subsidies have distorted and disconnected rural Nigeria from the urban one, as many could not afford to travel during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Understand that without logistics and supply chain, economies struggle. Our fuel subsidy removal has caused severe pains in our rural economy, and I want the leaders to pay attention.
Here are two things to consider:
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- Every country subsidizes something. Nigeria can subsidize fuel without the corruption part. This table shows the leaders on energy subsidies; Nigeria is not even recorded because our subsidy is insignificant. Notice that China’s manufacturing policy is tethered to its smart energy subsidy playbook.
- We must make sure the postal system is working so that the rural areas can link back to the urban areas of Nigeria: “The US postal service has not made a single profit in the last 20 years. That is a massive subsidy to improve the supply chain, across America, by making sure commerce works. But they’re smart: the money used to subsidize post office is recovered when profits of companies which depend on the postal system are taxed. Provided there is no corruption, the government has no need to turn the post office into a direct profit-making machine. Recently, the government tried to clean the books, and even after, the postal service still recorded red! That subsidy is a platform strategy as we do in startups.” Simply, a working postal service will deepen the economic ties between rural and urban Nigeria.
US Postal Service Net Income/Loss By Year
- 2021 – $9.7 billion loss (projected)
- 2020 – $9.2 billion loss
- 2019 – $8.8 billion loss
- 2018 – $3.9 billion loss
- 2017 – $2.7 billion loss
- 2016 – $5.6 billion loss
- 2015 – $5.1 billion loss
- 2014 – $5.5 billion loss
- 2013 – $5 billion loss
- 2012 – $15.9 billion loss
- 2011 – $5.1 billion loss
- 2010 – $8.5 billion loss
- 2009 – $3.8 billion loss
- 2008 – $2.8 billion loss
- 2007 – $5.1 billion loss
- 2006 – $900 million surplus
- 2005 – $1.4 billion surplus
- 2004 – $3.1 billion surplus
- 2003 – $3.9 billion surplus
- 2002 – $676 million loss
- 2001 – $1.7 billion loss
Good People, Nigeria needs strategic subsidies on energy and logistics; what should be eliminated and phased out is corruption. Imagine instead of saying “The fuel subsidy is gone”, we say “The fuel subsidy corruption is gone”. The latter would have improved every Nigerian by now.
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We are extractive by default here, so, rather than thinking of what to give to support the economy and the people, we are focused on what to take, extort or steal. And when some manage to become successful, we still become greedy and angry, looking for ways to take more from them and bring them down. This is what witchcraft embodies, and we practise it directly and indirectly at scale here.
Any time we can’t find more people and businesses to destroy, we automatically switch to self-sabotage mode, because we cannot live without destroying ourselves and everything around us.
This is a strange land, filled with strange people. The biggest tragedy? We are not even bothered.
Never write or say good things when bad people die here, no pretense. You gain nothing for being clowns.