As early as December 29, 1987 ( 37 years ago ) Professor Mike Ozekhome, SAN, CON, OFR, had already addressed the Federal Government of Nigeria on behalf of the Nigerian masses over the issue of elimination of subsidies on petroleum products. Ozekhome had sued the then military dictator, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, joining the then Ahmed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) and the Attorney General of the Federation, against the removal of oil subsidies. This is an issue that still generates ripples across Nigeria today, as it is the common thread, the heart and soul of the Nigerian economy. Ozekhome had argued that it was a misnomer for the government to talk about removal of oil or oil subsidies since no one can subsidize its God-given natural product.
He had speculated that the government did not take note of the fact that oil was being produced in Nigeria unlike the countries profusely cited by the government where oil was supposedly cheaper. He had also argued that the government’s position was similar to that of a farmer measuring his piece of yam before eating it by comparing its value or price with what is sold to people who do not produce sweet potatoes.
He further argued that the government’s argument, as put forward by the media, was not sufficient to justify a sudden or gradual withdrawal of oil subsidies. The Honorable Justice Idowu Agoro, then of the Lagos State High Court, disagreed with Ozekhome in his decision on the preliminary objection filed by the late Moshood Adio, the then Director of Civil Litigation (later Chief Justice of state of Oyo and judge of the Supreme Court Court of Gambia). He dropped the suit on December 29, 1987.
The government, through Adio, had argued that Ozekhome lacked legal standing; that the action was speculative; and that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. The court agreed with him and held that no citizen could question or impede “the merit, desirability or desirability” of anything done or planned to be done by the president of the country or the Ahmed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC). The court further ruled that the decision “whether or not to eliminate oil subsidies is a matter of the absolute power of the AFRC, in which no court could dabble.”
He, however, concluded by assuring the plaintiff (Ozekhome) that all hope is not lost “as the record of the current military regime has shown that it is a government that listens” and that he believes that “all shades of opinion would be taken into consideration and evaluated before deciding whether or not to eliminate the oil subsidy.”. This optimism was apparently not shared by the IBB regime, as the government nevertheless proceeded to remove subsidies and increase the prices of petroleum products on four consecutive occasions (1986, from 20,000 to 39,500 per litre; 1988, from 39,500 to 42,000 per litre). liter). ); 1989, 42k to 60k; and 1991, from 60k to 70k). These increases in the price of fuel per liter have triggered mass protests in the streets by Nigerians who lashed out against the economic policy dictated by the IMF. Today, a liter sells for anything between N620 and N850. If the then and current governments had listened, Nigeria would not be in dire straits today.
Therefore, what Prof Ozekhome saw and fought for in 1987 (37 years ago) has come to haunt us ever since and to this day. It is like the case of a motion for the return to the old National Anthem, more meaningful and more aggregative, which he had also supported and won with the consensus of the 492 delegates on July 2, 2014, at the National Confab 2014. This was ultimately came true ten years later on May 20, 2024, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu passed a bill restoring the old national anthem. Surely, some patriots sit down, think and plan ahead for the good of the Nigerian nation. Below is the account of the story published by the National Concord newspaper on December 30, 1987.
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