Nigerians not benefiting from petrol price drop? My brother, that is the story of our lives

See ehn, I just read this FCCPC warning petrol marketers. They say Nigerians are not benefiting from the drop in crude oil price. My dear, na so e be since. When I was coming up in Ibadan, we used to hear say crude oil price don drop, but fuel still dey expensive. Nothing change. The marketers will find one excuse, say logistics or import cost or something. Meanwhile, we are suffering. I sent money to my sister in Ibadan last week, she said transport fare has not come down one naira. Not one naira. And the price of garri, the price of beans, everything still high. God is faithful but e no easy.

I remember when I was still in Nigeria, before I japa to London in 2008. Fuel price would drop small, and the next day transport fare would go up because the drivers say they are adjusting. But when crude oil price goes up, transport fare goes up immediately. The same day. So this FCCPC talk, I hope they follow through. But I have seen this film before. They will warn, the marketers will promise, and nothing will change. Meanwhile, the common man is just managing.

My daughter who is 14, she asked me last week, Mummy, why is Nigeria like this? I did not know what to tell her. How do you explain to a child born in London that the country where her mother comes from has all this oil but the people are suffering? I just told her, baby, it is complicated. But inside me I was thinking, it is not complicated. It is just that the people at the top do not care. Anyway, I don talk my own. Who else is tired of this cycle?