Audience Perception Of Federal Government Removal Of Fuel Subsidy In January 2012

1.2 Statement of the Research Problem.
Fuel is central to the economic pursuits of Nigerians, whose sustenance daily bread is tied to this bye product of Nigeria‟s rich crude oil deposits. The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) regulates the downstream Oil and Gas industry on behalf of the Federal Government and by the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), the downstream sub-sector of the Petroleum industry is deregulated for Petrol. Deregulation leaves market forces as the sole determinant of product prices. While over the years, many Nigerians have opposed the implementation of the policy in the Oil and Gas Industry, international finance and donor agencies like the World Bank and IMF have been very harsh in their criticisms of the successive governments that have sustained the policy for a single inherent flaw they condemned as harmful to the growth of the Nigerian economy. However it should be noted that there were obvious 11
flaws in the policy at inception and up to January 1, 2012 when it was removed there were more private retailers of petroleum products than the state owned NNPC stations. The regulatory framework (PPPRA) used to enforce the subsidy was weak, under resourced and suffered from the Nigerian disease. The secrecy and lack of transparency by the administrator of the subsidy (the NNPC) did not help matters either. Nigeria still could not make her refineries efficient. This means that Nigeria could not produce enough refined products for local consumption. Finally, due to the weak regulation by the PPPRA, some economic saboteurs/cabal were able to misappropriate the fuel subsidy money and channel it to their own personal pockets instead of using it for what it was intended for. These and more reasons triggered the federal government of Nigeria to remove the subsidy on fuel. By this removal of oil subsidy, the question this study seeks to answer is: What is the perception of the audience with regards to the removal of oil subsidy in January 2012?