A former governorship candidate in the 2007 elections in Anambra State, Chief Stanley Okeke, has dragged President Goodluck Jonathan before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, asking it to compel the president to remove forthwith the subsidy being paid on fuel in the country.

The plaintiff, who filed the suit through his cousel, M.A Ebute and U.B. Eyo, is also seeking an order compelling President Jonathan to refund to the Federation Account such sum earlier appropriated and/or approved under the sub-head of fuel subsidy funds or money as, according to him, same cannot be justified in the face of the pervasive corruption, perennial fuel shortage and long queues witnessed in petrol stations.

Also joined in the suit as second and third defendants are the Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke and the Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The plaintiff is also asking the court for an order directing the third defendant to stop further payment of fuel subsidy money predicated on the corrupt, illegal and unlawful fuel subsidy regime.

Okeke is again asking the court to declare that the fuel subsidy currently being funded by the Federal Government is a waste of public funds and, therefore, unlawful and illegal.

He also prayed the court for a declaration that the pervasive corruption inherent in the fuel subsidy scheme had caused untold hardship to the masses of the country and, therefore, is an abuse of the rights of Nigerians as guaranteed by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He also wants the court to declare that the fuel subsidy scheme, having failed to achieve the purpose for which it was meant, should be outrightly abolished as same had violated the Nigerian people’s rights as guaranteed by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

The plaintiff also wants a declaration that the failure of the second and third defendants in their ministerial duties to ensure a corrupt-free subsidy regime is a breach of public trust and a violation of their oaths of office as contained in the seventh schedule to the 1999 Constitution.

Okeke also asked the court to determine whether in view of the official corruption and abuse of office inherent in the fuel subsidy regime as evidenced by the ongoing trial of certain individuals in the Federal High Court in Lagos, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is competent to order the removal and/or abolition of the fuel subsidy scheme.

The plaintiff in a 27 paragraphed affidavit he deposed to in support of the originating summons averred that Nigeria under the leadership of President Jonathan now imports fuel from various oil producing nations for local consumption by Nigerians and that the importation is highly subsidised by the Federal Government.

Okeke stated that the only way to stop the high level of abuse of the fuel subsidy scheme is the removal of the policy by the Federal Government.

He further averred that recently in December 2012 the President 1st defendant submitted a supplementary budget of over N161,000,000,000 to the National Assembly for the payment of additional fuel subsidy money to the fuel importers and marketers.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/2069-jonathan-okonjo-iweala-dragged-to-court-over-fuel-subsidy

1st to commend.back 2 the topic jona should remove the subsidy policy from fuel,

Thse cabals receive their subsidy and also sell products @ above subsidy price

3rd to comment. I'm coming back to contribute reasonably later, ok? Make una no vex abeg I wan go read the article first. Ose!

make dem comot the thing na. Fuel sells for around 120 already. Mtchew

Pls oga jona can u step down?So we can breath a real fresh air pls,biko,we are tired of ur bad luck,everyday suprise/shoking/breaking news/bombin/kidnappin/crashing/resigning/increasing of our fuel price,jst step down or do u want 2 kill us all

[b]Guaranteed to piss some off!

December 30, 2012 6:32 pm

Opec cartel to reap record $1tn (Trillion)

Current members

Algeria
Angola
Ecuador
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Libya
Nigeria
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela

By Javier Blas, Commodities Editor

The Opec oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, will pocket a record of more than US$1tn in net oil revenues in 2012 as the annual average price for Brent, the benchmark, heads to an all-time high in spite of weak economic growth.

The windfall will provide fresh capital to some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the most influential members of the cartel, are home to three of the world’s 10 largest SWFs by assets under management, according to estimates by the SWF Institute.



With one trading day left before the year-end, Brent oil prices are on the point of seeing an average for the year of about $111.5 a barrel, higher than the previous all-time high set in 2011 of $110.9.

The benchmark closed at or above $100 every trading day in 2012, bar 24 in June and early July.

In January, Ali Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, said that the world’s largest oil producer aimed to keep oil prices at the triple-digit level throughout 2012. “If we are able as producers and consumers to average $100 I think the world economy would be in better shape,” Mr Naimi told CNN at the time.

The record run of $100-plus oil prices, coupled with strong production in the first half of the year, lifted Opec’s net oil export revenues to a peak of $1,052bn in nominal terms, up 2.5 per cent from last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy. A decade ago, Opec countries made just under $200bn selling their oil.

In real terms, adjusted for inflation, Opec’s revenues in 2012 were also the highest ever, surpassing the peaks set during the oil crises of 1973-74 and 1979-81.

The huge revenue windfall has been unevenly distributed among the members of the cartel, which controls roughly 40 per cent of the world’s oil supplies. Iran took a smaller-than-usual share of the pot as US and European sanctions crippled its energy industry, pushing down its oil production to a 32-year low. Between January and November, Iran earned only 6.5 per cent of Opec’s total net revenues, down from a a share of 9-10 per cent during most of the 2000s.

The shortage of Iranian oil helped Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE to pump more, profiting from record annual prices. Also, Libya’s oil earnings recovered in 2012 from the slump triggered by the 2011 civil war.

The huge inflows will shore up the finances of the 12-member group, particularly as some Middle East countries lift social spending on the wake of the Arab Spring.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi both need oil prices at about $80 a barrel to balance their budgets. Only a decade ago they were able to balance their budgets with oil prices averaging $25.

[/b]