In a not too distant past, lot of Nigerians used to say they have NEVER benefited from Nigeria as a country.

So that was so untrue!

Wow what a logically impoverished argument written by an illiterate..

LegendHero:
For the past decade, people have been clamoring for subsidy to be removed but no president has the balls to proceed with it.

During the campaign season, the highlight of the campaign is all candidates vowing to remove fuel subsidy if they get elected.

So I don’t know all the blame game about about Subsidy removal and bla bla bla.

Tinubu already spoke about his palliative program to ease the burden on people and they already have committee looking into that and will be rolling it out soon.

Even if petrol sell for 1 trillion, subsidy is gone forever. I would rather activists and people should start pressuring Tinubu government to release the palliative programs as soon as possible like minimum wage increment, improving security/infrastructure, access to low interest loan for MSME as promised, and etc.

The Tinubu that I know will not back out. Subsidy on petrol is gone!!!

If its in national interest to remove fuel Subsidy which I strongly disagree with because their isn't no oil producing nation that doesn't subsidize for it's citizenry, sensible, rational procedure is to applied , A decayed tooth that needed extraction had a procedure, anaesthesia must first be applied before extraction.
But our case was that of extracting the tooth before contemplating how to apply anaesthesia. Palliatives that is been contemplated I doubt if it will reach 3 percent of the populace

Dotherightthing:


Yeah. But it took some investment...

Oil doesn't ooze out the ground and refine itself

so what's your point ? It's ok for politicians to get free lunch from the oil but when it comes to the masses there is no free lunch in life ?

Hahaha. APC slaves will not like this.

The best approach should have been stoping the subsidy thieves but this has practically been proved to be absolutely impossible as nearly all the past administrations, try as they did, failed to do so.

In the view of the above, outright removal becomes, and regrettably so, the next and only available option. We leave the thieves to their conscience and that is if they have any left. They are to blame for all the agonies.

“ …do they not think that they will be called to account?”

goldmatrix:
Wow what a logically impoverished argument written by an illiterate..

The devil's advocate is here!

Dotherightthing:


Road construction does not continue indefinitely

Rail construction comes to an end someday

But subsidy NEVER ends! Public refineries will never work!! Private refineries will never work!!!

all rubbish talk. And to be honest with you I can see the subsidy removal being positive because it frees up money for government but you should only remove the subsidy when dangote refinery starts full production so that the price still remains cheap because it is not being refined abroad

Racoon:
The euphoria behind fuel subsidy removal is dawning on general outlook of life in Nigeria today. This is a necessary evil we could have avoided many years ago, but the demons in the present government made it look as if it was not an existent policy, hence demonised the then govt. Today, they want to look like saints? No way!

Do you imagine that removing it earlier would make pump prices unchanged? Won't you wail at every change? Are you not aware that it's no longer affordable?

The Buhari and Tinubu you have campaigned for played the Robin Hood.

Bad policies Devaluation of Naria by Apc government is pushing more Nigerians in Poverty

Too much grammar sometimes seems to be the issue with Farouk. He makes it feel like rocket science, borrowing the word of Fashola.

It is indisputable that subsidies are designed to help the people. In the case of our country subsidy was designed to make some get extremely wealthy.

Deal with corruption and Nigeria will get better. One continues to wonder why we have three refineries and yet we fail to fix them. The funds made available to fix them are embezzled by a group of people who may be part of the subsidy fraud.

Again one wonders why NNPC under Mele Kyari, invested in Dangote refinery, a competitor in the same business. How has Kyari failed to fix the refineries and helped Dangote get richer?

Farouk cannot claim to be more in the know of events in the corridors of power than Obi, Tinubu and Atiku. If they agreed that subsidy must go, it shows then that they have more first hand information of issues in the economy than most other people.

Whether there was subsidy or not, whatever is saved from henceforth, must be judiciously applied to make the citizens feel more at ease.

Most subsidy programs established by goverment around the world often have a term limit and a definite objective it wants to achieve.

The petroleum subsidy in Nigeria has been going on for ever without a positive outcome or impact on the population.

Any subsidy program that cost continue to grow with no term limit will eventually become a problem for the goverment even without the level of Corruption in our system.

It's good to have a rethink and see the possible outcome of the policy.

After all, countries poorer than Nigeria in the coast of west Africa don't subsidize their petroleum products and they have been able to survive.

The good thing about democracy is that there's always a reset button if this policy fails.

Sangoamadioha1:


His argument in no way buttresses your point.
You are saying the timing is wrong but he is saying, which i agree with, that subsidy is necessary and govt should go against the corruption in subsidy administration and not subsidy itself.

The unwilling attitude of our leaders who are simply puppets to western interests spearheaded by IMF and World bank to go against the real culprits and the deliberate impoverishment of African countries is horrifying.

They want cheap raw materials from Africa and the only way is to force us to continuous devaluation of our currencies so even if they are at war, their currencies are still stronger than ours.... They have killed off most human rights activists and dissenting voices. MKO Abiola... Hmmmm

dalass:



The unwilling attitude of our leaders who are simply puppets to western interests spearheaded by IMF and World bank to go against the real culprits and imoroverish African countries is horrifying.

They want cheap raw materials from Africa and the only way is to force us to continuous devaluation of our currency

Very true.

LegendHero:
For the past decade, people have been clamoring for subsidy to be removed but no president has the balls to proceed with it.

During the campaign season, the highlight of the campaign is all candidates vowing to remove fuel subsidy if they get elected.

So I don’t know all the blame game about about Subsidy removal and bla bla bla.

Tinubu already spoke about his palliative program to ease the burden on people and they already have committee looking into that and will be rolling it out soon.

Even if petrol sell for 1 trillion, subsidy is gone forever. I would rather activists and people should start pressuring Tinubu government to release the palliative programs as soon as possible like minimum wage increment, improving security/infrastructure, access to low interest loan for MSME as promised, and etc.

The Tinubu that I know will not back out. Subsidy on petrol is gone!!!

Have you received any palliative? Have the government made any plans for the palliatives? The federal government accounting last week claimed that the federal government paid subsidy throughout June when you and I knows that it was removed since May. Get sense please.

Truth. The triple whammy of subsidy removal, single forex, and upcoming electrical rate increase is enough to jolt any economy into trouble. I have started calling this government, the government of Rehoboam. It is just that Buhari was no Solomon.

I agree with the essentials of this article, but the disingenuous, prejudiced, and extremely idiotic attempt to paint Peter Obi bad while somewhat extricating Tinubu himself from culpability leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Kperogi is a bastard

My question is:

Since the Buhari government and the previous governments before him fully deregulated diesel and kerosene, what tangible thing can they point to as proceeds from the money they have saved??!

Now that petrol subsidy was removed since May and we started paying for the full price, yet the government claimed it still paid till June (hilarious!). Even oil marketers will feel things because, people don't even buy from filling stations like they used to. Most generators are silent and cars only go out when absolutely necessary.

Removing petrol subsidy is cruel and shouldn't be cos it affects the price of everything. I wonder what we now even stand to benefit from being an oil producing nation self.

Racoon:
The euphoria behind fuel subsidy removal is dawning on general outlook of life in Nigeria today. This is a necessary evil we could have avoided many years ago, but the demons in the present government made it look as if it was not an existent policy, hence demonised the then govt. Today, they want to look like saints? No way!



Sorry did you read the article at all?

Not that subsidy removal is bad in it's entirety the write poised a lot of facts but still not making a concrete resolution.
In as much as I respect his article after taking my time to read through, understand his big Grammer's and strike a balance.
I concluded that no matter who the saddle pad of the country is in his hands amongst all those who contested in the last election, could have done better than what we are currently facing owing to the fact that there was no provision for the subsidy in the budget.
In Nigeria majorly, we tackle problems from the top and not the root simply because we gain a lot from the top and all that surrounds it
Also from the writers points do you know that our refineries are been maintained even though no results? so what are we saying? What happens to the money been used to service dummy refinery, what happens to those that were accused of the subsidy back in 2014?
All of them wants to remove subsidy without no plans on the refineries on ground, you will say how about dangote refinery? my reply will be that don't even go there at all. At the moment tell me which dangote products are cheap? Even though most of the materials are been sourced locally?
Do you know that even in the US petrol prices are not uniform in gas stations?
In conclusion until Nigerians free begins to not only ask questions from God like politicians but also take actions, we are in for a merry go rounding in any administration that comes to power

Fuel subsidy si actually not gone yet as we speak. The difference is that, the government was paying the subsidy before but now, the citizens pay the subsidy to the same marketers. Nothing has really changed. What a country!

Mr. Farooq you are well said, those that are defending the removal are mostly political jobber, who sold the conscience for little money or those who are ignorance of the effects. How would government dancing to the dictate of World bank, is there any developing nations that prosper through following their policies? Corruption is the bane of our development, but that did not bother them, subsidy is there concern. Inflation of contract cost, padding of budget etc is not problem but subsidy. NNPC MD who claim he is releasing 100 million barren of patrol under subsidy regime when we only consume 60 million was not arrested to account for balance, the Nigerian masses will now be a scape goat for his corrupt did. Also, the issue of saying our patrol are smuggled out, did they sack custom CC and DCC or ACC or other principal officers of custom? because the work they are assigned to do they failed to do it, why must they receive salary? All the argument as Faqood have stated is not tenable. Before government will ask people to make sacrifice the politicians must first lead by example.

ignatiusez:


Mr Farooq, I stopped reading your article when it's obvious that your article is too parochial, prejudiced and indirectly aimed at tarnishing an innocent man's reputation. Was it PO that removed subsidy? Why is your article unjustly biased against him? Try and be objective please.

he made valid points and arguments, but bringing Obi into it shows how tribal menace has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Nigerian society.

That Obi said he will remove subsidy doesn't mean he will remove it the way Tinubu did. There are more than one way of removing subsidy. It can be fighting the actual cabal which has been his watchword or actually waiting for Dangote's to come up. Afterall, Buhari said severally he will remove subsidy but never had the nerve to do so, it's simply because he doesn't want the already impoverished populace to suffer the more.

I will always maintain Nigerians are some of the easiest people to brainwash , just tell them what ever you are doing will affect the rich and they will support U 😅😅😅..this is how Buhari came to power and that's how Tinubu was allowed to remove subsidy under the guise that it was only benefiting those with Range rovers 😅😅😅

LegendHero:
For the past decade, people have been clamoring for subsidy to be removed but no president has the balls to proceed with it.

During the campaign season, the highlight of the campaign is all candidates vowing to remove fuel subsidy if they get elected.

So I don’t know all the blame game about about Subsidy removal and bla bla bla.

Tinubu already spoke about his palliative program to ease the burden on people and they already have committee looking into that and will be rolling it out soon.

Even if petrol sell for 1 trillion, subsidy is gone forever. I would rather activists and people should start pressuring Tinubu government to release the palliative programs as soon as possible like minimum wage increment, improving security/infrastructure, access to low interest loan for MSME as promised, and etc.

The Tinubu that I know will not back out. Subsidy on petrol is gone!!!

This right here is what Kperogi is talking about. Browbeating people with lies and propaganda.
This gentleman here forgets that a decade ago is actually 2013 a year after the Ojota rally. He's reengineering the narrative of subsidy removal to lack of political will from the unpopularity of the concept.
Can you sir tell us in clear terms, the palliatives program Tinubu has talked about?
Subsidy removal is an elite conspiracy from the right- wing APC movement. It was evil when they felt uncomfortable, needful when it served a purpose, and now gone when they have no need for it. But the fact remains the economic impact of removing subsidy is far worse than keeping it. It is almost at same level with the naira redesign policy only that there's no elite with the political nous and mileage to milk it.
Like I told you, subsidy removal as you have it presently is still an attempt. Crude in the international market is still below $100. Lets wait till it gets there as we always pray to increase our forex revenue. That's when we will know if subsidy is truly gone.
The naira floated few weeks back is already being defended by CBN

WorldRichest:
Thief Thief Jankoriko.


One of the subsidy thieves has shown his face. Ogun kee your Mama

At least try to be making sense. Farooq, a professor in the US is a subsidy thief.
Your presence in fp is a waste of space

Whenever this man wants to criticize Tinubu, he must find a way to mention Peter Obi's name...

the man said u can't aportion blame to the Tinubu-shetima administration for the problem caused by d subsidy removal but he keeps blaming Obi.

this prof guy always try to appear neutral in his criticism but discerning minds know he's a bigot deep down

It is a bare faced lie that transport costs have tripled. In some cases in Lagos, it remained the same. Where there were increases, it ranged from 33% to 100% if it was mass public transport like mini-buses to huge buses like the Lag buses.

This man has the Peter Obi trait of inaccurate data.

Yes, the subsidy removal has been painful, but truth be said, it was necessary.

It was no longer affordable in the first place. This year, government was expected to use 73.5% of government revenue to service debt. Money for fuel subsidy would be borrowed, swelling the debt and the servicing cost further. For Buhari, a known leftist, welfarist and populist to sign the Petroleum Industry Act into law which formally endorsed the subsidy removal speaks volumes. He was also a well known subsidy denialist.

The savings already gained are substantial. It was estimated the amount saved from the fuel subsidy in a month was 400bn. With the Naira now floated, the savings would be more. This money saved now will be split 50/50 between the federal and state governments (we all know that the governors control the local governments allocations).

However, the greatest benefit from the subsidy removal would be that it will lead to a refinery construction boom. Investors were pushed away from constructing refineries because of the subsidies. No bank would lend you $2b to build a 100,000bpd refinery when the end product is subsidized making it unprofitable and unpredictable.

Dangote and Bua were able to borrow funds because they had collateral from their extremely profitable cement businesses to use as collateral.

A refinery boom would create lots of job. It is estimated that Dangote alone would create about 50,000 jobs. The beauty of these jobs will be that they would be high paying jobs with full benefits. They would need at least 8,000 engineers. What of the multiplier effects? This also would be huge.

His is a 650,000bpd refinery. With a plan by 2030 for the nation to have 2mbpd refining capacity by Tinubu, this would create 2-300,000 jobs.

My social media channels are classrooms. And most times, I write things which deviate from the “typical” consensus. What if I tell you that fuel subsidies are not Nigeria’s main problem? What if I tell you that what you see as a “fuel subsidies” problem is actually inefficiency in government? When you do not know how much petrol you use, is that a fuel subsidy problem? When you do not control your borders, feeding smugglers, is that a fuel subsidy problem? When you pay for “imported” fuel which never arrived, paying fake invoices, is that a fuel subsidy problem?

Simply, when you fail on those and many, you need an excuse. Good People, there is no major country which does not subsidize fuel. But while they subsidize fuel, they use that cheap energy to drive PRODUCTION because energy is a very important component of the manufacturing process. China leads the world. The United States follows. Japan is 5th. With energy subsidies, they have a manufacturing base, and when they tax the outputs from those industries, they recover their money! Nigeria’s fuel subsidy problem is that it was designed to feed corruption.

The US postal service has not made a single profit in the last 20 years. That is a massive subsidy to improve the supply chain, across America, by making sure commerce works. But they’re smart: the money used to subsidize post office is recovered when profits of companies which depend on the postal system are taxed. Indeed, subsidy as a platform strategy.

Nigeria needs fuel subsidies to build a competitive production economy. Fuel subsidy is not the main problem; corruption is. Deal with corruption and you will get the "productive" dividend of subsidizing energy

Racoon:

https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2023/07/subsidy-removal-as-elite-banditry.html

Is there fuel subsidy in the America that he is writing from?

What is the difference between America and Nigeria, for them not to have subsidy, and still flourish as an japa destination to us