us4naija:

@CAP28, What does US have to with your oil subsidy, stop making excuses for past inequities of Nigerian governtment and putting the blame on the IMF and US,

I guess you did not read the article by Nile Bowie who by the way is neither an African nor Nigerian for that matter. Sigh!  

ibedun:

When a child is born in Nigeria and celebration goes round, I often wonder what exactly are we celebrating?

One more fool adding to the flocks (millions) of brain death, self retarding set of people.

You expressed my sentiments exactly. That and the fact that the child is most likely going to grow up in poverty and with no hope of a better life.

cap28:

Yes it is indeed, and the worst part is that they have still got so many of us fooled.

This is why i say that 90% of nigerians are completely brain dead.

Acquring worthless pieces of papers in the name of educational qualifications does not equate to intelligence.

People here in the west with no academic qualifications can run rings around purported masters degree and phd holders in and outside nigeria because many of these fools have no understanding of the wider world that they live in.  Their narrow outlook on life limits them to seeing the world from the view point of a brainwashed follower  - a robot, completely devoid of the ability to reason and analyse issues critically.

These dolts never read books unless they relate to their immediate field of endeavour, this is why nothing in the world makes sense to them.  You would have thought that given our  history many of these individuals would seek to find out the root causes of our predicament, but no, they prefer to sit back and allow the white man to rehash and rewrite their own history, dumb fools!

Many of these fools were rejoicing when Qadaffi was killed - what they didnt realise was that nigeria along with other resource rich african countries have also been earmarked for destabilisation and destruction by these same western powers.  How ironic that less than 3 months after the libyan towns of sirte, bani walid and tripoli were razed to  the ground by the satanic forces of NATO they have turned their sights towards nigeria, the irony!  where are all these fools that were shouting and praising the NATO intervention in libya.  Where are these dim wits who thought that France had every right to invade ivory coast and kill thousands of unarmed men women and children in order to install their IMF puppet Ouattara.

The IMF hijacked the running of many african countries a long time ago but now due to the imminent collapse of america and europe's economies they are now ramping up the pressure and are resorting to even more draconian methods of siphoning the wealth from africa.

Okonjo Iweala has now been placed at the helm of affairs in order to push through the kind of economic reforms that will condemn over 80% of the nigerian population to an unending cycle of poverty.

I am so glad you can appreciate the level of frustration that i experience on this forum when trying to communicate with the endless flow of ignoramuses on here .

your point about the inhuman treatment meted out to Gbagbo and her husband is spot on - do you think those soldiers would have dared manhandle Ouattara's wife in that manner?

Do you think the french govt would have allowed any african soldier to manhandle a white woman and get away with it?

africans are fools and we are now dealing with the consequences of our stu.pidity.

I have long given up on Nigerians because most do not seem to get it that there is more to all this fuel subsidy than meets the eye. In addition, alot of Nigerians worship westerners and that is a big turn off for me. Nigerians and Africans in general fail to realize that once western nations succeed in occupying our lands, we will have nothing left. Running to go and sit in the western world will not solve any problems because the western economies are sinking and will continue to sink. One can never trully feel at home in the western world and so it pains me that our leaders have chosen to sell us short for a plate of porraidge. We Africans are the only people who have suffered so much in past in the hands of europeans/americans in the form of slavery and colonialism and yet, blatantly refuse to learn our lessons. We keep deceiving ourselves that oyibo means well for us when even oyibos like Nile Bowie has clearly stated that oyibo nations have never had the interest of Africans at heart. We just never learn as a people and every day, I curse the day God decided to give me parents from Nigeria and Africa as a whole because our people are such gullible retards who will never change.

@ Cap28

FYI - the current subsidy regime is the most efficient siphoning mechanism available. Any Western 'enemies' worth their salt will encourage the subsidy to continue in its current form where there is zero accountability and unbridled stealing by Western oil traders feeding on Nigerians alongside the complicitly corrupt oil industry.

http://cables.mrkva.eu/cable.php?id=15817

2. (C N/F) On April 2, Chris Finlayson, Chairman and Managing
Director of Shell Petroleum Development Corporation of Nigeria (SPDC), told Consul General and Econoff that a scandal is brewing within the NNPC over payments made to international fuel marketers. Finlayson said some marketers have been changing the dates when fuel shipments bound for Nigeria were loaded in order to take advantage of particularly high market prices. He said the total overpayment by NNPC may be as high as $330 million. Finlayson noted that Shell is not one of the marketers in question, but is becoming a leading fuel supplier for NNPC.

3. (C N/F) On April 6, Femi Otedola, President and CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, the largest supplier of diesel fuel
in Nigeria, essentially corroborated Finlayson's report. Otedola said over $300 million has been overpaid by NNPC for fuel imports, and that many leading international traders are involved. According to Otedola, NNPC contracts to pay its suppliers the market price on the day a ship is loaded with
fuel. He said NNPC recently discovered, however, that bills of lading were altered to reflect loading on days of high market prices. Discrepancies were found when comparing dates on the bills of lading with dates of landing in Lagos.

Subsidy removal will only increase scrutiny in the oil industry - something that doesn't benefit the Western 'enemies'.

You got your conspiracy theories wrong on this one.

Deboooooooo!
Thanks for the education.  Anything gleaned from folks back home?  Or has your band of naija-gypsies trekked halfway around the world with no more of them left on Naija soil? 


My stories cont.:

Talked to an older relative at the weekend.  They still have food because people previously planned and stocked their cupboard really well before the start of the strike.  See, this is something I could never do; If I buy more food than normal and then I am stuck at home?  They'll come check me in a week's time and find I can't fit through the door. lol.   
He says the subsidy removal was necessary because it is the neighboring African countries who are benefiting most from it.

Talked to another relative in Lagos today.  A normally meek and mild woman.  She said everyone is ready to fight it out with the government because the removal of the subsidy is ill-timed and is bound to wreak further havoc on people who are already suffering.  She said Saturday and Sunday, the strike was temporarily lifted so everyone could replenish and get more food and provisions for the coming week - strike continues this Monday.  I swear, if this chick is gonna hang in there for the long haul and get this revolutionary fervour, Goodluck is screwed!  It means normally passive compliant and patriotic Naijas are FED-UP!!! She said she hopes for continued "peaceful" protest as it has being all along - for the most part.  That what they are asking for is that this subsidy removal was ill-timed, and the certain things should have been put in place beforehand, incl., building and repairing of refineries.

cap28


Yes it is indeed, and the worst part is that they have still got so many of us fooled.

This is why i say that 90% of nigerians are completely brain dead.

Acquring worthless pieces of papers in the name of educational qualifications does not equate to intelligence.

People here in the west with no academic qualifications can run rings around purported masters degree and phd holders in and outside nigeria because many of these fools have no understanding of the wider world that they live in.  Their narrow outlook on life limits them to seeing the world from the view point of a brainwashed follower  - a robot, completely devoid of the ability to reason and analyse issues critically.

These dolts never read books unless they relate to their immediate field of endeavour, this is why nothing in the world makes sense to them.  You would have thought that given our  history many of these individuals would seek to find out the root causes of our predicament, but no, they prefer to sit back and allow the white man to rehash and rewrite their own history, dumb fools!

Many of these fools were rejoicing when Qadaffi was killed - what they didnt realise was that nigeria along with other resource rich african countries have also been earmarked for destabilisation and destruction by these same western powers.  How ironic that less than 3 months after the libyan towns of sirte, bani walid and tripoli were razed to  the ground by the satanic forces of NATO they have turned their sights towards nigeria, the irony!  where are all these fools that were shouting and praising the NATO intervention in libya.  Where are these dim wits who thought that France had every right to invade ivory coast and kill thousands of unarmed men women and children in order to install their IMF puppet Ouattara.

The IMF hijacked the running of many african countries a long time ago but now due to the imminent collapse of america and europe's economies they are now ramping up the pressure and are resorting to even more draconian methods of siphoning the wealth from africa.

Okonjo Iweala has now been placed at the helm of affairs in order to push through the kind of economic reforms that will condemn over 80% of the nigerian population to an unending cycle of poverty.

I am so glad you can appreciate the level of frustration that i experience on this forum when trying to communicate with the endless flow of ignoramuses on here .

your point about the inhuman treatment meted out to Gbagbo and her husband is spot on - do you think those soldiers would have dared manhandle Ouattara's wife in that manner?

Do you think the french govt would have allowed any african soldier to manhandle a white woman and get away with it?

africans are fools and we are now dealing with the consequences of our stu.pidity.

Thank you for this. It was heartening to read and note that there are still people who understand that external politics - at the very least - impacts on the lives of ordinary Nigerians as does local politics.  Moreover  makes a change from the very dull and infantile, tribalistic drivel that has come to  overtake and further dumb down the already dumb level of nairaland discourse.

debosky:

@ Cap28

FYI - the current subsidy regime is the most efficient siphoning mechanism available. Any Western 'enemies' worth their salt will encourage the subsidy to continue in its current form where there is zero accountability and unbridled stealing by Western oil traders feeding on Nigerians alongside the complicitly corrupt oil industry.

http://cables.mrkva.eu/cable.php?id=15817

Subsidy removal will only increase scrutiny in the oil industry - something that doesn't benefit the Western 'enemies'.

You got your conspiracy theories wrong on this one.

Additional commentary by bsimark Rilwane a non"IMF led" Nigerian economist who shares my vieews and understands the macro economic impacts of the fuel subsidy issue and gives an insightful recommendation for what needs to take place to tackle the backlash.


[flash=200,200]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uVKhpad2Ns&feature=channel_video_title[/flash]

We all know by now that the strike against the subsidy removal is over since GEJ agreed to a lesser increase than what was initially stated on January 2nd.  The compromise is 97 naira from a 2011 rate of 63 naira.

Okay, so the people I talked to on Monday said the official announcement from Labour came at 3pm local time.  One relative said she was going stir crazy stuck in the house for over a week - other than the weekend reprieve of food and provisions shopping - and was happy to be able to go back to her business.  They said they had lights most of the time, but were concerned that in the morning, there would be problems getting petrol.  hmmm.  Also, the old folks refused to let my sis go out to the protests; they said she was way too nosy and always has to put her eyes into everything, so they took her car keys.

Talked to someone else today and they said everyone is back at work.  I didn't get any direct info about the climate and moods of the populace.  Next time.

Motorcyclists on the queue for petrol at a filling station.  Courtesy: The Guardian (Nig.)

Nnenna1:

@Cap28 - what is your take on the South East not aggressively joining the fuel subsidy campaign (you are igbo yourself, right?). Their reasoning is that the protests are being sponsored by Cabals who have a stake in the subsidies, that Boko Haram should be held in higher status than this fuel subsidy, that there is "Igbo Marginalization," and that there have been many times that Nigerians should have protested when they (igbos) were in trouble (civil war, killings in the North and so on) but did not.

I'm disappointed with the ethnic politics and how Igbos have played a hands-off approach to this but I want to hear your POV.

I think they allowed themselves to be used by GEJ and his corrupt theiving cronies. Many nigerians have still not understood that tribalism is a tool used by unscrupulous polilticians like GEJ to divide and rule. GEJ has no loyalty to SS or SE people he merely uses them when it suits his purposes - what has he done for the people in those regions since he assumed office? I was following the protests and one thing that struck me was that every nigerian ethnic group was involved in them particularly the lagos protest.

GEJ is merely tryign to deflect attention away from himself and his criminal govt. Not all igbos sold out - i spoke to my sister back home and she confirmed that many igbos were not in support of the subsidy removal but the few who tried to organise were met with state sanctioned repression .

A distinction needs to be made between the corrupt igbo leadership we have in the east and the genuine views of the indigenous igbo people - any igbo person with a fully functioning brain should know that GEJ does not and will never serve their interests. This is a class struggle - between the elite which is made up of mainly northerners and some southerners and easterners versus the masses - this is a class war not an inter ethnic war.

Therefore those igbos who keep alligning themselves to GEJ are going to end up being betrayed when they are no longer of any use to him.

It makes me laugh when i hear GEJ talking about this mysterious cabal - is he not one of them?

I will not even attempt to discuss this rubbish about the so called fuel subsidy benefitting the so called cabal because it is a diversion away from the real issues. No 1 GEJ and his cronies are members of the cabal, no 2 the fuel subsidy story is nothing more than a pack of lies - a story concocted by GEJ and his fellow thiefs to justify the price hike. There was never any subsidy.

with regard to boko haram - there is more to that than meets the eye - dont you find it strange that there have been no attacks over the last couple of days of this strike? i think the govt know a lot more about this sect than they are letting on.

us4naija:

@CAP28, What does US have to with your oil subsidy, stop making excuses for past inequities of Nigerian governtment and putting the blame on the IMF and US,

they have everything to do with it.

the US have the highest voting rights in the IMF (18%) and therefore dictate and control its policies.

Christine Lagard - the head of IMF ORDERED GEJ to hike up the price of petrol knowing the misery and suffering it woudl bring to the nigerian masses.

dasparrow:

I have long given up on Nigerians because most do not seem to get it that there is more to all this fuel subsidy than meets the eye. In addition, alot of Nigerians worship westerners and that is a big turn off for me. Nigerians and Africans in general fail to realize that once western nations succeed in occupying our lands, we will have nothing left. Running to go and sit in the western world will not solve any problems because the western economies are sinking and will continue to sink. One can never trully feel at home in the western world and so it pains me that our leaders have chosen to sell us short for a plate of porraidge. We Africans are the only people who have suffered so much in past in the hands of europeans/americans in the form of slavery and colonialism and yet, blatantly refuse to learn our lessons. We keep deceiving ourselves that oyibo means well for us when even oyibos like Nile Bowie has clearly stated that oyibo nations have never had the interest of Africans at heart. We just never learn as a people and every day, I curse the day God decided to give me parents from Nigeria and Africa as a whole because our people are such gullible retards who will never change.

Take heart - the revolutionary spirit is beginning to awaken in some of our people - what i saw happening in lagos last week gave me hope.

cap28:

the US have the highest voting rights in the IMF (18%) and therefore dictate and control its policies.

Christine Lagard - the head of IMF ORDERED GEJ to hike up the price of petrol knowing the misery and suffering it woudl bring to the nigerian masses.

You really believe this?

debosky:

@ Cap28

FYI - the current subsidy regime is the most efficient siphoning mechanism available. Any Western 'enemies' worth their salt will encourage the subsidy to continue in its current form where there is zero accountability and unbridled stealing by Western oil traders feeding on Nigerians alongside the complicitly corrupt oil industry.

http://cables.mrkva.eu/cable.php?id=15817

Subsidy removal will only increase scrutiny in the oil industry - something that doesn't benefit the Western 'enemies'.

You got your conspiracy theories wrong on this one.

first of all there is no subsidy -listen to Professor Tam David West here:

[flash=200,200]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVWxjPVlncc[/flash]



and it has recently come to light that another govt official contradicted Deizani Alison-Madueke's testimony before a house of representatives committee proving that the subsidy issue was a complete lie.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-848856.0.html

The west is already milking nigeria dry - in 2006 Obasanjo negotiated a debt cancellation package which saw nigeria part with $12 billion despite the fact that we had already paid this debt off tenfold!!!!

In addition the IMF now dictate nigeria's economic policy they have stipulated as one of their conditions that nigeria sell off all state owned assets to western foreign investors , foreigners are  also setting up their corporations in nigeria where they will abuse and exploit nigeria's cheap labour creating more misery and suffering . They're also asking the nigerian govt to invest in what is known as sovereign wealth funds in order to help bail out THEIR OWN ECONOMIES - all of these are designed to transfer the wealth of nigeria into the WESTERN OWNED CORPORATIONS AND BANKS with the collaboration of the nigerian elite.

As i said earlier THEY ORDERED JONATHAN TO HIKE THE PRICE OF PETROL IN ORDER TO COMPLY WITH PRE AGREED IMF CONDITIONS - the subsidy issue is nothing but a lie being used to try and fool nigerians.

Although, the Nigerian ruling class is one of the most inept and most inefficient ruling classes in the world, it has a very close and cordial relationship with its western masters; and its master in the western countries definitely must have informed them that with recession in Europe and significant slowdown in America, which will inevitably negatively affect the Chinese economy, it is just a matter of time before the price of oil plummets. The crashing of oil prices internationally is currently on the agenda and this clearly explains why the Nigeria ruling class is seriously panicking. It understands quite correctly that unlike in the 80’s and 90’s, there is no easy cash to be doled out by the IMF and World Bank if Nigeria is financially stranded. Western banks are still battling with their losses in Greece and Italy and are not in a very nice position to carelessly hand-out money to an economy with a bleak future.

All this limits the available room for manoeuvring unlike in the past and this clearly explains why the economic policy of Goodluck, as dictated by the IMF through Okonjo Iweala, is taking on this aggressive form. The desperation to completely deregulate oil and gas, the aggressive sales of public property through privatization, cuts in education and public health, and the recent campaign for a Sovereign Wealth Fund, are policies aimed at saving the decaying capitalist system at the expense of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians.

Sovereign Wealth Fund and the IMF agenda
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned investment fund composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, property, precious metals or other financial instruments. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Some of them have grabbed attention making bad investments in several Wall Street financial firms including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch. These firms needed a cash infusion due to losses resulting from mismanagement and the subprime mortgage crisis. Most SWFs are funded by foreign exchange assets. How does this fit into the Nigerian ruling class’s popular slogan of “Government has no business doing business”? If it is in the interest of the ordinary Nigerians, Government will have no business doing business; if it is in the interest of the rich and their Western backers, Government will have a very strong reason to do business.

The global economic crisis has dictated this dramatically laughable change of policy of the IMF/World bank towards the “third world” countries. The IMF is no longer satisfied with massive sales of public properties at take away prices in the name of privatizations; it is no longer satisfied with huge cuts in public spending that further impoverishes the majority of Nigerians; the IMF has conveniently added to these policies the Sovereign Wealth Fund; that is, it is asking Nigeria to ensure huge savings from the proceeds from oil and other social cuts, savings not for the purpose of investing in Nigeria because “Government has no business doing business”, not for the purpose of improving the life of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians because “Capitalism is a system for the minority against the interest of the majority (1% against the 99%)”, but savings for the purpose of investing in the western market. How laughable does this sound? The poorer countries should not invest in their own countries where there is urgent and desperate need to do so, but should turn around and invest in the rich western countries because they are going through a financial crisis; that is, the rich will be fed from the belly of the poor!

http://www.marxist.com/nigerian-economy-the-impending-catastrophe.htm

my cousin protested in lagos. I thought he was joking until I saw d pics on facebook.

@ Cap28

You talk of pre-agreed conditions - pre-agreed for what purpose? Is Nigeria seeking loans or aid from the IMF that it required pre-agreed conditions?

Tam David West is simply playing to the gallery for the most part. When he says there is no subsidy, it is based on the premise that you sell oil based only on production costs alone, which may have been the case when he was in the petroleum ministry but is certainly not the case now. We can keep reverting to that argument but it is largely redundant.

The fact is, if you don't pay 'going price' for a particular product, you're inevitably sacrificing something - how much that figure is can be the subject of debate but the figure clearly exists else everyone else would be selling at 65 naira.

Apart from hollow statements that IMF ‘now dictates’ Nigerian economic policy, where is the evidence that it actually does?

Even when it comes to the so called SWF - the plan is to start off with $1bn - that is not even a drop in the ocean compared to the likes of the SWFs run by Singapore, Qatar and the like. Nigeria is extremely small fry in that respect, despite the grandiose over bloated sense of self importance we exhibit.

This is sheer escapism and nothing else - the IMF did not tell GEJ and co to spend $17bn of the excess crude funds in 2010, money we cannot identify a SINGLE project it has been spent on.

Instead of addressing the rampant corruption that is ultimately behind this subsidy removal, it becomes convenient to blame someone else yet again.

I am still waiting for that Naira devaluation that the doomsday "save us from the IMF" goons so precisely predicted.

debosky:

@ Cap28

You talk of pre-agreed conditions - pre-agreed for what purpose? Is Nigeria seeking loans or aid from the IMF that it required pre-agreed conditions?

Nigeria negotiated a debt relief package in 2006 - okonjo iweala was in charge of the negotiations, nigeria was permitted to pay $12 billion in full and final settlement of our supposed debts on the condition that we would agree to a number of other economic reforms - this petrol hike is one of many reforms that Okonjo iweala agreed to along with as well as the devaluation of the naira, privatisation of all govt owned assets and cuts in education and health care.

Tam David West is simply playing to the gallery for the most part. When he says there is no subsidy, it is based on the premise that you sell oil based only on production costs alone, which may have been the case when he was in the petroleum ministry but is certainly not the case now. We can keep reverting to that argument but it is largely redundant.

the question you shoudl be asking is - how come during buhari's tenure all four refineries were working?  and how come the price of petrol was never hiked during that period?

why did the refineries suddenly stop working once babangida took over?  as you can hear from Tam David West, IBB and his cronies sabotaged all four of the refineries because they stood to make more money by importing petrol and selling them at market prices to the nigerian populace.

The fact is, if you don't pay 'going price' for a particular product, you're inevitably sacrificing something - how much that figure is can be the subject of debate but the figure clearly exists else everyone else would be selling at 65 naira.

Apart from hollow statements that IMF ‘now dictates’ Nigerian economic policy, where is the evidence that it actually does?

Havent you heard of Structural Adjustment Programmes ?  why did IBB implement austerity measures in the 1980s?  why did the cost of living sky rocket from the 1980s upwards?
Why did nigeria renegotiate its debt releif package in accordance with IMF approved economic reforms in 2006?

Even when it comes to the so called SWF - the plan is to start off with $1bn - that is not even a drop in the ocean compared to the likes of the SWFs run by Singapore, Qatar and the like. Nigeria is extremely small fry in that respect, despite the grandiose over bloated sense of self importance we exhibit.

In those countries that you mentioned do they have non existent power supply, death trap roads, substandard education and health care facilities, do 80% of their populace live on $1 a day?

So you expect a country like nigeria that hasnt provided the basics of life to its citizenry to go investing $1billion dollars or more in extremely risky western run investment funds when its people are starving?

The worst part of it is that many of these investment funds have had a history of losing billions of dollars of other peoples money.  Only last year Goldman Sachs lost/stole $1.3billion of Libya's sovereign wealth fund - does this sound like a safe way to invest the wealth of a nation - especially a nation like nigeria with much more immediate and pressing problems?

This is sheer escapism and nothing else - the IMF did not tell GEJ and co to spend $17bn of the excess crude funds in 2010, money we cannot identify a SINGLE project it has been spent on.

Instead of addressing the rampant corruption that is ultimately behind this subsidy removal, it becomes convenient to blame someone else yet again.

but they (the US govt ) helped him into office knowign just how useless and corrupt he was and they are selling him the weapons that are now being used by nigerian soldiers to intimidate peaceful protesters on the streets of lagos.  These same weapons will be used to repress and kill anyone who tries to oppose him.

Didnt the US ambassador to nigeria - john Campbell in a wikileaks cable expose the fact that okonjo iweala had fraudulently divereted govt contracts worth $50 million to her brother? did that stop the americans from appointing her to oversee these current reforms that are being implemented?  do you think that if okonjo iweala committed that kind of crime in the US she would still be working for the world bank?

you need to wake up my friend.