This would be the first time I'd ever create an article on General Buhari. In as much as I believe we all have the right to vote for whoever we feel is best for Nigeria,I won't fail to speak the truth irrespective of whether it hurts anyone. The so called masses who are screaming sai Buhari,are the ones who would bear the brunt of the problems when things starts to unfold. There have been calls from several sectors for Buhari to honour at least,one presidential debate through which he'd be able to communicate his ideas to the electorates so they can see what he has in stock for us. However,he has refused to honor such and has turned down two of such debates. My motivation to write this article,arose after reading some of Buhari's plans for the economy.

If you're intelligent enough,try to read and digest the article below,and see the kind of major blunders which are capable of setting us back,that Buhari is about to embark on.




The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Buhari (retd), on Monday said if elected on February 14, he would ban the importation of basic items like rice and tomato in order to enhance local production of the products.

He also said his administration would focus on agriculture, mining, infrastructure and job provision at the top of its economic agenda.

Buhari, who gave a summary of how he intended to revive the economy in a meeting with the Organised Private Sector in Lagos, said his government would place emphasis on three key issues of security, tackling corruption and reviving the ailing economy.

The meeting, which had all the key members of the APC in attendance, was hosted by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

“How can Nigeria be importing virtually everything? How can we be importing even tomatoes? If I am elected, basic items like rice and tomatoes, which we have the capacity to produce, will be banned from being imported,” Buhari said.

The APC presidential candidate said his commitment to the Nigerian people would be governed by the highest consideration for how his policies would create jobs.

He also said he would focus on the provision of infrastructure such as power and roads.
Buhari, who said he agreed with the current administration on the privatisation of the power utilities, however, said there would be a need to also privatise the transmission segment.

According to him, the privatisation of the power sector has yet to achieve the desired result because after the handing over of the assets to private investors, the hard work to connect the various parts of the power chain, supply gas, install transformers and complete substations has not been done.

He added, “Our studies show that we will require no less than 200,000 trained personnel to support the initiative to provide power and light up Nigeria.

“Apart from the inherent direct employment that this will give, the reduction in the cost of production, the savings from self-generation by Nigerians, who currently spend a lot of their income on purchase of diesel and petrol to generate their own electricity, will reduce the burden on their disposable income.”

An existing plan to build a refinery in Lagos will be supported by the Federal Government, according to Buhari.

Another area of infrastructure investment that will receive attention, according to him, is road and highway construction from one end of the country to the other.

He said his administration would concentrate on roads and highways that linked the states, while state governments would be expected to connect their respective areas to the highways.

Buhari said, “Road construction alone will unlock value chain of opportunities for construction companies, builders, engineers, architects, quarry operators, cement and iron rod producers and suppliers.
“The successful opening up of Nigeria by the construction of new roads and highways will revive road transport, truck manufacture, tyre manufacture as well as engine oil and brake pad production on one hand. It will also create a demand for job for mechanics, drivers and those engaged in transport support businesses.“We expect a revival of all the interstate economies to thrive across Nigeria, providing support to travellers by way of canteens, restaurants, farm produce etc.”

He, however, said because corruption was affecting the performance of the economy, he would tackle it headlong if elected into office.

According to him, the alleged $20bn missing crude oil proceeds, which was estimated to be equal to about N4.2tn, were nearly a year’s budget.

He said with N5m per vehicle, the amount could provide 840,000 patrol vehicles to help improve on the security of towns and villages across the country.

The APC presidential candidate also noted that the amount could provide 311,000 buses that could revolutionise the transport sector of the economy.

He said, “If the average cost of generating one megawatt of power is about $1.5m (excluding gas and distribution costs), $20bn would have brought us over 13,333MW of power. What a difference that will make in the country!
www.punchng.com/news/ill-ban-importation-of-rice-tomato-buhari/

I'd take the points one after the other.

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Buhari (retd), on Monday said if elected on February 14, he would ban the importation of basic items like rice and tomato in order to enhance local production of the products.




In response to the above,my first question is: is Buhari in Nigeria? Does He understand what's even going on in this country?

When the tarrif on importation of rice was increased under GEJ's govt to enhance local production,what happened? Smuggling became the next thing and instead of it helping to boost local production,it was affecting it as people concentrated on smuggling rice in,through our porus borders. Govt had to review the policy and reduce the tarrif while on the other hand,giving incentives to local producers to grow rice locally,and also creating silos for storage and allowing them import a certain quota,to augment local production. Nigeria hasn't gotten to the level where our local production of rice,is sufficient enough to feed the nation. An outright ban on rice importation when local production capacity isn't sufficient enough,would only lead to the increase in the cost of this good,and also encourage smuggling. I as a person do not subcribe to importation of goods and services that we can produce here but to reduce importation,the right policies has to be in place. The only way to achieve this,is to enhance the capacity of local producers and give them more incentives so that cost of production can be lowered,thereby reducing the retail cost to the final consumers. When the price of the locally produced rice becomes competitive enough and it's not longer favorable for people importing,importation will defintely drop drastically to the barest minimum and at that time,we can now effectively place a ban on it. Anything other than that,would only make us lose revenue and cause inflation on the price of this commodity.


Buhari also claims He would ban importation of tomatoes;Nigeria does not import fresh tomatoes. As a matter of fact,Nigeria doesn't consume more than 40% of tomoatoes grown in the north. A large % of these goods get rotten at the farms before the farmers are able to transport them out of the farm to the market. This was stated in an article i read and in that article,it was stated that Dangote was looking at how to establish a factory that would be converting a large proportion of these raw tomatoes,into tomato paste.

Now,if Buhari is actually talking about placing a ban on tomato paste,I agree with that. But before such can be done,we need to get companies to start manufacturing tomato paste,on a large scale. I do not know of any other Nigerian company that is currently into the production of tomato paste,apart from Chi foods. Again,placing a ban on tomato paste that you do not have companies producing on a large scale,will only lead to the astronomical rise in both raw tomatoes and processed tomatoes. It is a fact that there are people who can't afford to buy raw tomatoes sometimes,due to the cost. The ready made alternative for them is processed tomato which is popularly known as "tin tomato". Placing a ban on tin tomato when local production capacity is inadequate,will only lead to the rise in the cost of tin tomato and raw tomato itself. This would simply be determined by the laws of demand and supply. When the demand for tin tomato is higher than the available supply,price is bound to increase. And when the price increases to a certain level,some people are bound to switch to raw tomatoes which would also increase in price due to a rise in the demand of it. And the end of the day,inflation is bound to set in. In case Buhari doesn't know,He should go and find out from the market women;there's hardly any woman that makes stew without using tin tomato.

The solution to importation of rice and tomato puree(processed tomatoes),is not firstly,placing a ban on them. The effect of such would be smuggling and loss of import revenue and inflation due to the rise in the prices of these products. The solution is increasing local production capacity,to the point where price would be a driving force to the reduction of importation. If an imported puree costs 30 naira,and the locally produced one cost same or a little less,there's no reason why anybody would want to import it,as it would be cost effective to produce and sell here,than to import.

Banning products indiscriminately,would only lead to smuggling and inflation and the masses would end up suffering it.

An existing plan to build a refinery in Lagos will be supported by the Federal Government, according to Buhari.

Another area of infrastructure investment that will receive attention, according to him, is road and highway construction from one end of the country to the other.

He said his administration would concentrate on roads and highways that linked the states, while state governments would be expected to connect their respective areas to the highways.

Buhari said, “Road construction alone will unlock value chain of opportunities for construction companies, builders, engineers, architects, quarry operators, cement and iron rod producers and suppliers.
“The successful opening up of Nigeria by the construction of new roads and highways will revive road transport, truck manufacture, tyre manufacture as well as engine oil and brake pad production on one hand. It will also create a demand for job for mechanics, drivers and those engaged in transport support businesses.“We expect a revival of all the interstate economies to thrive across Nigeria, providing support to travellers by way of canteens, restaurants, farm produce etc.”



The issue of building refineries,is one topic that has been argued on severally with different people having different opinions.

My take on this is a capital no. This is because of the bad attitude Nigerians display towards govt owned properties. We have 3 refineries and how many of them are working? Is govt not approving money for their regular maintenace? Why are they not working? Go round and look at most of the govt owned businesses;they are almost all in a sorry state. Govt businesses in Nigeria today,is the best way to become a billionaire. A vast % of what's being approved for these businesses,are usually siphoned into private accounts. For me,the best way to run govt business,is to privatize it partly,with govt holding at least 40% equity in these companies. When investors put in their own money,they'd make sure it works so they can recoup their investments,and make profits. Govt should also put in place favorable policies,and give incentives to investors in these companies so as to make it work. Anything other than that,will only amount to us going round in the same circle. Humans work in thse govt establishments;not angels.

Buhari said:

“The successful opening up of Nigeria by the construction of new roads and highways will revive road transport, truck manufacture, tyre manufacture as well as engine oil and brake pad production on one hand. It will also create a demand for job for mechanics, drivers and those engaged in transport support businesses.“We expect a revival of all the interstate economies to thrive across Nigeria, providing support to travellers by way of canteens, restaurants, farm produce etc.”

I'm sorry to say but this is typical nonsense. Which road transport is He planning to revive,when the no one form of transportation in Nigeria is road transport? In Lagos alone,there are alreeady too many vehicles on the road and that's why on every major road,there's always traffic. We should be thinking of how to continue with the revival of rail transport and water/sea transport. These would help us take off more vehiclesfrom the roads,and thereby reducing traffic and pressure on our roads. Water and rail transport if developed properly,can transport a large no of people at the same time,and at cheaper rates. A boat carrying 40 passengers from a jetty in Ikorodu to the Island,would be faster and cheaper than a bus carrying 20 people from Ikorodu to the Island. In essence,we should be more concerned on how to diversify our means of transportation both at inter-state and intra-state level. There's a lot of revenue that can be gotten from it.
On the other hand,what is the direct relationship of constructing new roads,and the manufacture of truck,tyres,break pads and engine oil? Does it mean if we do not construct new roads,nobody will manufacture trucks,tyres,break pads and engine oil? What kind of nonsense is this? Michelin and Dunlop were in Nigeria before;power situation forced them out due to high cost of production.

Buhari said: "because corruption was affecting the performance of the economy, he would tackle it headlong if elected into office.

According to him, the alleged $20bn missing crude oil proceeds, which was estimated to be equal to about N4.2tn, were nearly a year’s budget.

He said with N5m per vehicle, the amount could provide 840,000 patrol vehicles to help improve on the security of towns and villages across the country.

The APC presidential candidate also noted that the amount could provide 311,000 buses that could revolutionise the transport sector of the economy.





While I appreciate the need to tackle corruption headlong,I'm still waiting to see how this would be achieved in a democratic system of govt where the judiciary has become so currupt and irrelevant. It was in this country that a judge adjourned the case of corruption brought against a former governor,Peter Odili,to 2099. As far as I am concerned,the judiciary arm of govt,is the bedrock of corruption. If people are being sentenced adequately according to their crimes,maybe others would learn from it. The courst in Nigeria are seriously making corruption look like a normal thing.

Buhari feels 20bn dollars would buy 840,000 patrol vehicles for our security agencies;who would finance the cost of maintenance of this 840,000 vehicles? In a country where a large portion of our budget goes into recurrent expenditure,Buhari still wants to add to it? Well,I'm seriously at a loss here. As a president,I won't spend 20bn dollars buying patrol vehicles for security agencies,and still appropriating money yearly in the budget for the maintenance of the same 840,000 vehicles. That's a waste of scarce resources.

Word

Only illiterates will vote for this guy! And that might include those with "certificates"!

Waiting for the odoriferous OP to complete his foolish write-up.

Meanwhile, I want you to define 'illiteracy'. I wonder if you can stand the so-called illiterate (Buhari) in a debate/quiz.

Clueless chimp!

donphilopus:
Waiting for the odoriferous OP to complete his foolish write-up.

Meanwhile, I want you to define 'illiteracy'. I wonder if you can stand the so-called illiterate (Buhari) in a debate/quiz.

Clueless chimp!

You are right.
The OP cannot stand Buhari in a debate because he (Buhari) will definitely not show up or chicken out at the last minute, even if he was the organizer.

Lemme book space to counter your arguments as it seems you have sentiments.

alizenbohr:


You are right.
The OP cannot stand Buhari in a debate because he (Buhari) will definitely not show up or chicken out at the last minute, even if he was the organizer.

If you listen attentively to Buhari whenever he speaks, you would know he communicates in good English. Most of you shouting "Buhari is this", "Buhari is that", cannot even define 'illiteracy', yet you call him an illiterate. Can your parent stand him in a debate? (Sorry to say)

The super clueless pa buhari has spoken

alizenbohr:


You are right.
The OP cannot stand Buhari in a debate because he (Buhari) will definitely not show up or chicken out at the last minute, even if he was the organizer.

really??
when your clueless jonadunce ran in 2011, where were you.
buhari went to the debate and talked intelligently.
ya GEJ go play with dbanj.
try and know about yesterday before you talk about today

donphilopus:


If you listen attentively to Buhari whenever he speaks, you would know he communicates in good English. Most of you shouting "Buhari is this", "Buhari is that", cannot even define 'illiteracy', yet you call him an illiterate. Can your parent stand him in a debate? (Sorry to say)

My 'parent' cannot stand him in a debate because he would not show up on D-day.

God knows I don't have to listen 'attentively' to anyone around me to hear what he/she is saying. But I guess Buhari's communication skills must be better than that of the English man.

BTW, you can keep your apologies; no offense taken.
I'm guessing you are paid per word you type in every post.

Ciao!

holatin:
really??
when your clueless jonadunce ran in 2011, where were you.
buhari went to the debate and talked intelligently.
ya GEJ go play with dbanj.
try and know about yesterday before you talk about today

Ok.
So I guess Buhari is following in Jonadunce foot steps right?
Is Buhari then gradually becoming clueless?

#POSITIVE_CHANGE

It's very easy to know low-lifers like you. They are always very quick to throw insults at people. They can't argue objectively without cursing like motor park touts. I won't bring my self to your level. I have spoken my mind.

donphilopus:
Waiting for the odoriferous OP to complete his foolish write-up.

Meanwhile, I want you to define 'illiteracy'. I wonder if you can stand the so-called illiterate (Buhari) in a debate/quiz.

Clueless chimp!

kay1one:
Only illiterates will vote for this guy! And that might include those with "certificates"!

Hahahahaha

Falls off from mango tree

"Illiterates with certificate"


Bros u wicked o

donphilopus:
Waiting for the odoriferous OP to complete his foolish write-up.

Meanwhile, I want you to define 'illiteracy'. I wonder if you can stand the so-called illiterate (Buhari) in a debate/quiz.

Clueless chimp!

Do u have to resort to name calling?

Haba, be civil for once na.

alizenbohr:


Ok.
So I guess Buhari is following in Jonadunce foot steps right?
Is Buhari then gradually becoming clueless?

#POSITIVE_CHANGE

is boycotting a debate also the meaning of becoming clueless

It's an APC thing;you shouldn't be surprised.

Imoy:


Do u have to resort to name calling?

Haba, be civil for once na.