Why Yar’Adua insisted on N70 - Aide
By Idowu Adelusi - 24.06.2007

AS the strike embarked on by the Labour enters its fifth day today, the Presidency has given hints why it would not reverse the pump price of petrol to the old price of N65 per litre.


The Labour, which had ordered workers to down tools indefinitely since last Wednesday over the hike in price of petroleum products by the Obasanjo administration, three days before its exit, is also, among other things, asking the Federal Government to reverse the sales of Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries and implementation, without delay, payment of 15 per cent salary increase.


While the Federal Government has met all the demands of Labour, except the pump price of petrol which it pegged at N70 per litre, Labour has vowed to continue with the strike until total reversal of the pump price of petrol.


The Special Adviser to the President on Media, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, in a piece he wrote on the NLC strike and made available to Sunday Tribune at the weekend, said it was in the long-term interest of the people for the Federal Government to peg pump price of petrol at N70 per litre, even though such a decision may be painful.


Mr. President also decided that since kerosene and diesel are more essential for the vulnerable elements of our society, prices of such products should be reverted to the old rates.


Adeniyi said, “the position of President Yar’Adua on the vexatious issue of petrol pricing may be painful, however, it is the responsibility of government to take hard decisions, provided they are in the long-term interest of the people.”


According to Adeniyi, the president is of the firm conviction that to reduce the fundamental problems “plaguing our nation to Obasanjo is not only self-serving, it is the usual recourse to such opportunism in the past that has landed us where we are today.”


President Yar’Adua, whom he said believes in the principles of late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola that ‘if you are running and looking back, you will fall,’ is of the opinion that any government policy that impacts directly on the welfare of the people must meet the criteria for the rule of law and public morality.


Adeniyi revealed that the economic reform programmes of the Yar’Adua administration, founded on the removal of inefficiencies in public institutions and introduction of genuine and durable improvements, were bound to hurt the people, citing N5 per litre differential in pump price of petrol.


Adeniyi stated that the president immediately considered the demands of the Labour on Value Added Tax (VAT), by inviting the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Ms Ifueko Omoigui and the Solicitor-General of the Federation, to brief him and thereafter discovered that hike in VAT was illegal because the law governing the implementation of this year’s budget was based on 5 per cent VAT as approved by the National Assembly Act.


Also on the issue of 15 per cent salary increase, Adeniyi stated that President Yar’Adua directed the Ministry of Finance and office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to work out details, adding that not withstanding government advice which was against payment, President Yar’Adua ruled that it was imperative for his administration to pay the increase.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/24062007/news/news6.html

Adeniyi said, “the position of President Yar’Adua on the vexatious issue of petrol pricing may be painful, however, it is the responsibility of government to take hard decisions, provided they are in the long-term interest of the people.”

long time interest of OBJ + DANGOTE

dont worry babasin, one day you might become the dangote and richard branson of this world, just get with the programme first and network

I found this explanation from Segun Adeniyi both disappointing and boring.

He said FG left petrol price at N70 because of long term plans, he could not tell Nigerians what those long term plans were. Is it because they want to build more refineries or what? why could'nt Segun Adeniyi justify the increment from a government point of view?

Rather he was busy telling us proverbs from Abiola, that if you run and look back you will fall. What does that mean, meaning that Govt. can as well announce that petrol price is N1000 without a concrete reason because Abiola said if you run and look back you will fall.

I have always been against the strike by NLC because I thought it was misguided, but Govt aides need to do better by explaning policies clearer if they actually have a mission. Not talking trash.

Yar'Adua has nothing to say because he has no voice of his own. If puppet master Obasanjo is not saying it, it does'nt get said. When Obasanjo came to power in 1999, he repealed every policy and contracts of Abdulsalami.

Yar'Adua is unable to do this because he has no mandate! He is a product of a fruadelent election. He owes allegiance to Obasanjo, Iwu and INEC. He will only do what the puppet master wants, not the will of Nigerians.

@McKren

I appreciate what you noted about these summarising aides are PROs in my principle 4 of Nigerian Petroleum Development Strategies:

4]Very few people know how much Nigeria makes yearly. Nobody knows the amount in the Federation Account. Very few people understand why the fuel prices just increase. Nobody knows what their Constitutional Rights really are. Nobody knows how much NEPA, NTA, NITEL and NNPC make yearly. Very few people at the very top know the goals of the Nigerian state for this year and how it plans to achieve it so that they can know what role to play. Nobody knows anything! Ignorance here, ignorance there, ignorance everywhere. Mostly among the educated, because it is better not to know at all than to know little. It makes me wonder what the NTA and Radio Nigeria are for. Rather than educate the people with entertaining documentaries on how Nigeria will work, NTA is feeding us with propaganda. Propaganda that is totally needless. People live in the reality of things everyday so what good would any propaganda be. If I see 2 hours of electricity daily, and there are policemen collecting N20 at road blocks, what difference would it make if NTA says it's not so? Would I then believe them rather than the truth. Let's face it, Nigeria is not even developed enough for propaganda so I don't know what they are doing. We have to start seeing more of programs like Small Business 2000, Senate 109, documentaries on manufacturing and entrepreneurship, entertainment in the form of Nigerian musicals and Sports. In short, they should get Ben Bruce back to run NTA and sell 49% stake in it. So that in search of profitability, its management will seek to produce quality educative, entertaining and informative programmes. So that the masses are aware of their environment and realise that the aim of this country is not to stay afloat. KEEP THE PUBLIC INFORMED.


@McKren

I will also try to expantiate on what that man may have been trying to say with Strategies 1 and 3:

1]To the issue of fuel price, whosoever wants to sell petrol in Nigeria at N70 will be losing N25 per litre. Something must be done about this. For the longest time, government has borne this cost but it will not continue anymore. For those of you who do not know, or who refuse to know, the reason the government keeps fixing fuel price is to peg it at a rate where the marketers will not exploit the masses, where they can still give the masses a fair subsidy to shield them from the realities of the free market and finally to also set a price that will not be so low as to become unprofitable to the marketers and potential local refiners ultimately driving them out of business.
Reality check: an EVA BOTTLE (1.5litres) of kerosene was N180 in the market before the fuel price increase. ie N120 /litre from the market and dealers when the official price was about N60. Why is that? Do people believe that if five private refineries are producing only Kerosene in Nigeria and there is excess supply all over the country whereby anyone can walk to any filling station and buy at an official price of N100 /litre, it would be bad?
Now we end users are buying kerosene at N120 /litre comfortably (double the official price) because we know that it is not available. Would it be bad if we could buy it at the free market price of N100 and have it available in every nook and cranny?
This is the problem Nigeria is trying to solve, but the government is going about it completely wrongly. LET'S BE REALISTIC AND PRACTICAL.

3]Private Refineries Should be allowed to refine and sell petroleum products at free market price. They can sell Kerosene and possibly Diesel in The Nigerian market as it may be profitable to them, but they should be allowed to sell Petrol and the other fuels to neighbouring African countries at the international market rate. Gradually, the government can allow them to open their fuel stations where they will sell at the free market prices. Generally, N100 /litre of each petroleum product. So there would be the regular filling stations selling at N70 / litre where fuel is hardly available, and the queues are never ending, and there will be the local refineries' filling stations where fuel will be sold at N100 /litre, fuel will always be excessively available and there will be no queues. They people will now individually have to choose. This is what deregulation truly means. IMPLEMENT THE MUCH TALKED ABOUT DEREGULATION.

What an useless newspaper article! The only relevant paragraph is this:

The Special Adviser to the President on Media, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, in a piece he wrote on the NLC strike and made available to Sunday Tribune at the weekend, said it was in the long-term interest of the people for the Federal Government to peg pump price of petrol at N70 per litre, even though such a decision may be painful.

"Trust us: we know what we are doing, and we are not going to tell you." Are they taking us to be fools?

All well and good that PMS, kerosine and othe fossil fuel products are subsidized.
How did we get here, if not for the corrupt and inept policies of goverment.
Obasanj at the inception of his government to make queues at the filling stations a thing of the past. To this effect, he released some $800 million for the turn around maintenance. Till date, the rifineries are still in moth balls and Nigeria has to resort to buying gas on the open market.
If the refineries were working and private investors had been allowed in to build new refineries, gas (fuel) can profitably be sold in Nigeria for way less than N70. There will be no need for the alleged subsidy.

That Nigerians are ignorant of day to day running government is a design of the government itself. If people were conversant with the operations and revenue of government, it will leave no room for corruption and looting of funds.

Of the billions released to NEPA, phone companies and other utilities, what percentage of the funds are used mange the concerns. The ignorance on the land, is not the fault of the people. When you make an effort to educate yourself on the operations of government, your every effort will be frustrated. I have tried and found out the futility of even trying to make donations of needed police equipment to the country. If they don't get to 'chop' out of it, it doesn't happen.

I am dissapointed at Segun Adeniyi, this is the height of mediocrity.

I felt like throwing up when I listened to this guy yesterday evening. Is this not the same Segun Adeniyi of THISDAY?

Honestly, there is something in that ASO ROCK that we need to attack spiritually. If Segun a very vocal voice of the masses could fall so fast what would mere mortals like us do if we get to such positions?

In the spirit of this free information, I expect him to have given exact reasons why the price of refined products must go up with authenticated (not bedroom like Kupolukun or Kingibe) figures.

It is easy to critizes from outside but Segun Adeniyi knows better now!!!!!!!!