Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Chapter IX: The Politics and Policies of Oil Deregulation in Nigeria:
Implications and Policy Suggestions
leaders hope to force President Obasanjo to back down from the
increases in Nigeria's retail oil price.
Often times, the issue therefore transcends the oil prices. Strike
leader, Adams Oshiomhole of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) had
said: “We are now challenging the Obasanjo government for ignoring
the Nigerian National Assembly and its stated concerns about oil
deregulation.”
He adds: “Obasanjo would rather use Nigeria’s limited resources for
investment in industry and infrastructure than for subsidizing retail
oil prices. But in a country where two-thirds of the population lives on
less than a dollar a day, people are more concerned with the struggle
for survival than their future.”
Donors and multilateral lenders have taken the government's
intransigence as a sign that the administration is really prepared to
push through the reforms, despite the political risk. A British
government development official in the Nigerian capital reportedly
notes approvingly that Obasanjo is "really serious about this economic
agenda," in which the elimination of fuel subsidies is part of a wider
plan to put the country's finances back on a sound footing for the
future.
In whichever case, the consequences are dire not just for Nigeria
and Nigerians, but also for the international community, most of all
the United States of America, being the fifth largest importer of
Nigeria’s oil exports.
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