I think the Government should get out of subsidies and let the price of fuel float and lets see what the market does. It might be a blessing in disguise. Just like folks saying we shouldn't sell those moribund refineries and other government companies. Just think about the trillions wasted/looted. Ultimately removing subsidies is the way to go because it would surely spur building of refineries and lead to competition. In the short run we will feel the pain but in the long run it will benefit the overall economy.

Also just to throw this out. Pls everybody pull out your thinking hat here because i want to know how they came up with the percentage of people living with $1 or less a day. Me thinks this is a big fallacy. I've been looking around me and everywhere but can't seem to find anyone living with $1 a day. Even the poorest of the poor no dey live on $1 a day abeg.

1 dollar = 130 abi

1 big bread for breakfast is how much? now what abt tea, milk, sugar maybe water for the tea?

now how many pple can afford such? very few you know.

@ Watchung

Also just to throw this out. Please everybody pull out your thinking hat here because i want to know how they came up with the percentage of people living with $1 or less a day. Me thinks this is a big fallacy. I've been looking around me and everywhere but can't seem to find anyone living with $1 a day. Even the poorest of the poor no dey live on $1 a day abeg.

Why  don't you  present empirical economic evidence to show that  $ 1 day analysis is wrong? Also include in your report people who are jobless- maybe uni graduates.

My question for you ;  are market forces predicated on stardand of living? Why dont some EU govts allow their rail transport systems to be detected by market forces? Do you know that 1 out of 6 Americans depend on programs for poor?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003589315_welfare26.html

@adconline

tell them something; me don tire for all this $1 confusion.

I do not believe in any of these statistics and neither do many Economists including a renowned economist here at my uni.(you know the types who publish journal articles as often as you visit the toilet). They might be accurate for some countries in the developed world but are found wanting in developing countries. You can begin to imagine the errors that can arise from using the same indices for Nigeria and the U.S. The huge informal sector in the Nigerian economy makes the whole estimation a guesswork at best!

lol, you know what? the evil ones are the one rulling this nation, so what do you expect? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. More are still coming.

@davidylan (m)



perhaps you wanted to say "Gone, but not soon enough"


yeah: thanks

i beleive the keyword there is GONE.

Today he is "GONE" (mind not the grammar)[i][/i]

What a wonderful way to tell Nigerians bye bye.

Do I also hear that VAT is now 10%?

The issues concerning fuel pricing is clear.

Make your existing refineries work the way they are supposed to, at 100% capacity.

Let other companies come in and build more refineries. They can come to the public and raise funds if possible.

When you have functional refineries that can refine enough to cover local consumption, then importation will stop, and then you will have a competitive market where competition may force prices down.

We all see what has happened in the Telecoms sector. Even though we are still paying high tariffs, they are lower than what they were initially. We are also getting more range of services from the GSM companies.

How feasible this will be when you have some big fish who are very close to the powers that be, making their money from fuel importation is another matter entirely.

Na God handwe dey finally.

Barely 48 hours to the end of its tenure, the Obasanjo administration, yesterday, effected its sixth increase in the price of petrol in eight years. Petrol now costs N75 per litre from N65— a 15.4 per cent margin, with indications that the in-coming government may move it up to N85 per litre in an effort to keep the level of subsidy within manageable limits.

WHAT A SHAME TO "PEOPLE DETSROYING PEOPLE - PDP". OBASANJO HAS ALWAYS BEEN A JOKER, HE STARTED WELL BUT ENDING IN A BAD MANNER.

PLEASE, KINDLY ALLOW HIM TO RETURN TO OTA BEFORE HE RUINS OUR ECONOMY IN THE DECEPTIVE DISGUISE OF ECONOMIC REFORM, NONSENSE.

Its a global market and Nigeria cant be insulated by the global forces since its got inadequate refineries

Petrol is imported from foreign countries. Your refineries are not good enough nor are they many enough to cater for the whole of Nigeria.
Despite the fact that Nigeria has one of the cleanest crude oil in the world. I find it surprising that Nigerians still have problem refining its oil.

In Iraq, the pump price is $1.22 per liter
In UK, the pump price is $1.50 per liter
In US, the pump price is $0.84 per liter

In Nigeria, the price is $0.58 per liter

On the other hand,
Iran increased gasoline prices by a "whopping" 25 percent on Tuesday to $0.10 per liter

Na God handwe dey finally.

Well you will dey for God hands for ever!!

God will not come down to help; heaven help those who help themselves!

Are you kidding me! how many people can afford N130 a day for food. Pls lets stop being disingenous here even the regular folk on the street in Nigeria lives on more than  a $1 a day.

@adconline I don't need empirical evidence I use common sense. Yes there are poor people in Nigeria but to tell me that 50+% of the population is living on LESS THAN A DOLLAR a day is rubbish. Well u show me the empirical evidence and how those stats that claim this were deduced.

@Omoge very few people in Nigeria can afford to eat bread, eggs, tea? How much be loaf of bread sef? In some cases more than the so called $1. Bread is a regular on Nigerian tables FYI.

Well I still think that LESS THAN A DOLLAR A DAY stats are flawed and someone needs to convince me.

watchung:

Are you kidding me! how many people can afford N130 a day for food. Please lets stop being disingenous here even the regular folk on the street in Nigeria lives on more than a $1 a day.

@adconline I don't need empirical evidence I use common sense. Yes there are poor people in Nigeria but to tell me that 50+% of the population is living on LESS THAN A DOLLAR a day is rubbish. Well u show me the empirical evidence and how those stats that claim this were deduced.

@Omoge very few people in Nigeria can afford to eat bread, eggs, tea? How much be loaf of bread sef? In some cases more than the so called $1. Bread is a regular on Nigerian tables FYI.

Well I still think that LESS THAN A DOLLAR A DAY stats are flawed and someone needs to convince me.

i believe the stats are representative of legitimate earnings not hustling!

@babasin
i feel u 100%

u right

The sad thing is that if the Nigerian govt subsidized Petrol like countries like Venezuela, you would see Nigerians illegally exporting that to neighbouring countries and then for sure there would be a scarcity
What Nigeria needs is affordable gas prices, so that even the common folk can afford public transportation.
Not everyone (including those that make a buck a day) can fatham purchasing gasoline at this point in time.
Wages in Nigeria can only be increased in proper increments,,,err else inflation or worse hyperinflation will happen ie Argentina few years back.

stranger12:

Its a global market and Nigeria can't be insulated by the global forces since its got inadequate refineries

Petrol is imported from foreign countries. Your refineries are not good enough nor are they many enough to cater for the whole of Nigeria.
Despite the fact that Nigeria has one of the cleanest crude oil in the world. I find it surprising that Nigerians still have problem refining its oil.

So why can't we build new refineries or over-haul & expand the ones we have in order to increase our refining capacity? Why must we sell them off? If the new owners decide that it would make more sense to sell all they refine outside the shores of Nigeria, won't Nigerians be worse off? Last time I checked, they were not under any compulsion to sell any proportion of what they refine, in the local market.

One little example. In 1999-2000, ExxonMobil was exporting tons of LPG that they had extracted from their oil fields in Nigeria, to the international market. At that time, there was an acute shortage of LPG in the local market. Entreaties by local Nigerian gas marketers to Mobil, to sell a proportion of its LPG to them for retailing, were met with a rebuff. For Mobil, long-term contracts had been signed with their international customers, so there was nothing they could do to help the domestic market. When NNPC & other government officials stepped in, Mobil came up with another excuse. Their jetty was too big to accomodate smaller gas vessels that could supply the local Nigerian market with gas. The ping-pong of excuses, went on and on for months. Till date, I do not think this matter has not been fully resolved, because until 2003, local gas marketers were still appealing to Mobil for assistance. What makes you think that the new owners wouldn't do the same thing with our local refineries?

stranger12:

In Iraq, the pump price is $1.22 per liter
In UK, the pump price is $1.50 per liter
In US, the pump price is $0.84 per liter

In Nigeria, the price is $0.58 per liter

On the other hand,
Iran increased gasoline prices by a "whopping" 25 percent on Tuesday to $0.10 per liter

Do Nigerians earn global salaries? What does a university professor earn in Nigeria & what does his counterpart earn in the UK, US or even in Iraq? Why not use prices in Venezula as a comparison? Do we have any welfare system like the US or the UK has for its citizens, in order to cushion the effects of joblessness or inflation? Every country has some kind of subsidy for its' citizens, why can't Nigeria subsidise fuel?

JosBoy4Lif:

The sad thing is that if the Nigerian govt subsidized Petrol like countries like Venezuela, you would see Nigerians illegally exporting that to neighbouring countries and then for sure there would be a scarcity

What Nigeria needs is proper law enforcement. Period. The fuel smuggled across the border is not a hidden invisible transaction, it is visible. And like Oshiomole asked once, what has been done to combat it?

it is a parting gift so get use to it people. the man is wicked

OBJ really gave Nigerians a rude shock.
it was the worst parting gift a president will give to his people.
I'll implore Yar Adua to please reduce the fuel price 'cos fuel in nigeria is like the blood that flows in the lives of Nigerians.
Here in Abj, transport fares have gone!

watchung
@[color=#990000]adconline I don't need empirical evidence I use common sense. Yes there are poor people in Nigeria but to tell me that 50+% of the population is living on LESS THAN A DOLLAR a day is rubbish. Well u show me the empirical evidence and how those stats that claim this were deduced.[/color]

ANS:

I don’t know about, but your argument has to be completely true ie deductive or probably true which is inductive or unprovable which is absurd argument. Your common sense analogy is absurd, but $1 a day analysis  is much more probable to be true than your common sense, because  I can use my common sense to tell you that Nigeria is  not most populous country in  Africa. The burden of proof lies on you to provide with us any existing method to calculate what average Nigerian worker earns. By the way $1 a day could translate to about N4000 a month. Are U telling me that money is so small for folks in rural areas? The fact that our govt does keep track of what people in  Nigeria earn has made IMF, World. CIA and some other agencies to economically deduce those  benchmarks. By the way, this is the same system they use to calculate GDP of wealthy countries, oil output, economic growth,literacy rate etc.

Like Chuba Okadigbo said “you cannot subsidize oil, because it belongs to Nigerians”

Maybe you need read my previous comments.





ANS: What kind of market forces in Nigeria? Do market forces take into consideration that over 60% of Nigerians earn $ 1 dollar a  day to pay N70   (about $ 0.60) for a litre of petrol?

Question: The only reason why we make so much fuss in Nigeria is because cheap fuel is seen as our share of the national cake while politicians loot the treasury.

ANS Flawed economics theory, do you know the cost of fuel in Iraq, Iran, Saudia Arabia, Libya,UAE?  In the US,  its about $3.20 per gallon ( 1 gallon = 3.785 litres)  which is about $ 1.18 per litre. Mind you that minimum wage in America is $5.15 per hour while that of Nigeria is less than N10, 000   about $70 per month. So a Nigerian pays half of what an American pays for petrol even though an American earns about $800/per month which is above 100 percent more than what a ‘worker’ in Nigeria earns.

laudate:

What Nigeria needs is proper law enforcement. Period. The fuel smuggled across the border is not a hidden invisible transaction, it is visible. And like Oshiomole asked once, what has been done to combat it?

Nigeria needs to eradicate corruption, law enforcement would definantely be part of the plan,

[size=15pt]yeah uncle sege's farewell present . I say he is worst than hitler. Hitler on the other hand did not perpetuates his madness on his own people but Obasanjo will go down in Nigeria as the most foolish, uncultured, ill mannered, uncivilized and irresponsible President Nigeria ever hard infact he shld not be placed in the zoo because animals are more sensible than him and a disgrace to his generation  [/size]

I'll implore Yar Adua to please reduce the fuel price 'because fuel in nigeria

thats prb with Nigeria!!!!!!

@laudette
100% spot on!

Summarily OBJ is the worst thing to happen since Independence pl;ease can someone call Mamajama and other OBJ supporters to come and defend this.
OBJ is going and he now increases fuel price so that the strike would be on Yar Adua govt wicked OBJ
An Idiot to say the least

i wuld av said no comment but of course there is comment.
Pdp,'baba',all of dem be vampire and God pass dem.

Come to yankee and pay $3.25 a gallon it's not even summer and the price are up to the roof.

How many Nigerians earn Yankee's minimum wage?

Good question Donzman

come to think of it. im yet to hear anyone promising or threatening to fight it out with the FG o. which means the increment remains yours truly.
hmnmn. ok we go buy am