As it says in the title

(Note...this is a message not all would like. If you quote me to call me stupid, a slowpoke, a cornfused fellow, or any other form of abuse, it would be reported to the moderators. I did not abuse you, so show some courtesy. It does not mean you cannot disagree with me, just be polite about it. And I will be polite).

So..

As many have said here, we should cut the jumbo salaries of politicans. They won't get any argument from me, because I myself think so too. Our politicans are paid too much money, and often times collect too much money and too many new cars for nothing.

Meanwhile we are a poor nation, a broke nation, with most of our income going to debt service, after years of APC misrule. Basically, APC, instead of diversifying the economy and raising tax to gdp in response to oil price being too low....borrowed and borrowed to pay for everyhting. I also still have not forgiven THEM for opposing GEJ's subsidy removal...note that I did not and have never supported PDP...but that subsidy removal of 2012 was our last chance, and we blew it thanks to mass mobilization.



But, if we cut salaries could we pay for subsides with the money


1. Let's look at expenses for 2022

National Assembly budget : 134 billion naira

Villa, the villa at Aso ROck : 40.2 billion

Consitutency projects :100 billion

And now fuel subsidy money for 2022....4 trillion naira. or 10 billion dollars.

Now if we add up all the budgets for NA, Aso rock villa and constituencies...we get 274 billion naira, which does not even come up to one quarter of what Nigeria spent on subsidy in 2022.

2. Let's look at 2023

NA Budget 228 billion naira
VIlla budget : 21.1 billion naira
Constituency projects: 10 billion (est).
New cars : 76 Billion naira

Subsidy costs for 2023: 3.4 trillion to June 2023 (amount is higher now that we know subsidy has been paid since October 2023).


See the issue.

Now, I believe that

1. the national assembly and presidency should cut things, because we are in economic wahala

2. The new cars were uncalled for

3. The 1 billion for committee meeting is emblematic of corruption in Nigeria, and should be scrapped posthaiste.

I do believe that

But as you can see, we cannot pay for subsides if we cut costs of government at the center. We could pay for other things...better primary schools, better secondary schools, public toilets, good rural roads, some electricity projects, etc.(maybe even electricity subsidy...it cost 140 billion last year)...but not subsidy on petrol.

(FIN).

nairalanda1:
As it says in the title

(Note...this is a message not all would like. If you quote me to call me stupid, a slowpoke, a cornfused fellow, or any other form of abuse, it would be reported to the moderators. I did not abuse you, so show some courtesy. It does not mean you cannot disagree with me, just be polite about it. And I will be polite).

So..

As many have said here, we should cut the jumbo salaries of politicans. They won't get any argument from me, because I myself think so too. Our politicans are paid too much money, and often times collect too much money and too many new cars for nothing.

Meanwhile we are a poor nation, a broke nation, with most of our income going to debt service, after years of APC misrule. Basically, APC, instead of diversifying the economy and raising tax to gdp in response to oil price being too low....borrowed and borrowed to pay for everyhting. I also still have not forgiven THEM for opposing GEJ's subsidy removal...note that I did not and have never supported PDP...but that subsidy removal of 2012 was our last chance, and we blew it thanks to mass mobilization.



But, if we cut salaries could we pay for subsides with the money


1. Let's look at expenses for 2022

National Assembly budget : 134 billion naira

Villa, the villa at Aso ROck : 40.2 billion

Consitutency projects :100 billion

And now fuel subsidy money for 2022....4 trillion naira. or 10 billion dollars.

Now if we add up all the budgets for NA, Aso rock villa and constituencies...we get 274 billion naira, which does not even come up to one quarter of what Nigeria spent on subsidy in 2022.

2. Let's look at 2023

NA Budget 228 billion naira
VIlla budget : 21.1 billion naira
Constituency projects: 10 billion (est).
New cars : 76 Billion naira

Subsidy costs for 2023: 3.4 trillion to June 2023

How many people benefit from the National Assembly budget versus the number of people that benefit from the subsidy. Oil profits is for all Nigerians and not a select few.

Tianamen1:


How many people benefit from the National Assembly budget versus the number of people that benefit from the subsidy. Oil profits is for all Nigerians and not a select few.

For now, the problem is that we cannot even afford subsidy or the bloated national assembly or presidency budgets.

Our debt servicing was at May 29 , 2023 eating up 90 percent or more of our revenue. Part of that was due to subsidies.

At some point, we have to accept we have been living a fake life, and we don't have the money again for goodies...unless we either raise tax to gdp or pray that oil rises to 140 dollars per barrel...which is not going to happen.

We are in a bad state. Yes, APC caused it, because when oil prices were low, they did not diversify, but borrowed and borrowed, until they could borrow no more.

You truly need to stop focusing on subsidies as this is not what is crippling Nigeria. You have had a lot of conversations with different nairaland members. It should be obvious to you that our exchange rate is the main issue. I explained to you that the average price of a gallon of fuel in the United States is the same today as it was in 2006. The price of fuel only went down and then returned back to its historic highs. I have also explained to you that the spending of the excess crude account savings expanding the economy and created the need for outsized budgets. This is the main culprit of our issues. Other oil mono economies are not suffering what Nigeria is going through because the saved their money and did not over expand their economies. Growth needs to be gradual and sustainable.

Your focus should be on increasing exports, reducing imports, reducing inequalities and educating the future generations of Nigerians. Any other discussion would not lead to any productive conversation or outcome.

nairalanda1:


For now, the problem is that we cannot even afford subsidy or the bloated national assembly or presidency budgets.

Our debt servicing was at May 29 , 2023 eating up 90 percent or more of our revenue. Part of that was due to subsidies.

At some point, we have to accept we have been living a fake life, and we don't have the money again for goodies...unless we either raise tax to gdp or pray that oil rises to 140 dollars per barrel...which is not going to happen.

We are in a bad state. Yes, APC caused it, because when oil prices were low, they did not diversify, but borrowed and borrowed, until they could borrow no more.

Even if you increase the price of fuel, you still have to deal with the exchange rate, inflation, insecurity, education for our youth, increase exports and decrease imports. These are the bigger issues.

If the government only increases the price of fuel and doesn’t start working on other issues, the price of fuel will still rise again and there will be a need to further increase prices

The government should increase taxes on the very rich to improve its debt to revenue. Our tax to gdp is abysmally low and Nigeria is a very unequal country.

Tianamen1:


Even if you increase the price of fuel, you still have to deal with the exchange rate, inflation, insecurity, education for our youth, increase exports and decrease imports. These are the bigger issues.

If the government only increases the price of fuel and doesn’t start working on other issues, the price of fuel will still rise again and there will be a need to further increase prices

Yep, all true, but as you can see, the fact that debt is eating up our income is also what is causing exchange rate and inflation issues.

I blame this, as I have said here many times, on failure to diversify. And getting back to diversification is going to take a long time, so we are stuck here for now. (And this government is not doing anything about it).

We are not the masters of our destiny anymore...and it is due to overdependence on oil

nairalanda1:


Yep, all true, but as you can see, the fact that debt is eating up our income is also what is causing exchange rate and inflation issues.

I blame this, as I have said here many times, on failure to diversify. And getting back to diversification is going to take a long time, so we are stuck here for now. (And this government is not doing anything about it).

We are not the masters of our destiny anymore...and it is due to overdependence on oil

The debt is not what is making the naira lose its value. Tinubu could have actually borrowed more money to defend the naira. He chose not to and his decision is what has crippled the naira. He had a false belief that Buhari’s policies chased away foreign investors. The truth is that the collapse in oil prices in 2014 was what made foreign capital to flee from Nigeria.

Nigeria has one of the lowest debt to GDPs on earth. Our problem is with government revenues since Nigeria runs a rentier economy. The government needs to tax the people it has made insanely rich.

Ps
COVID 19 made almost every country on earth to print money to keep their economies moving. When countries take coordinated actions such as this, currency fluctuations do not happen, since currencies are relative to each other.

Tianamen1:


The debt is not what is making the naira lose its value. Tinubu could have actually borrowed more money to defend the naira. He chose not to and his decision is what has crippled the naira. He had a false belief that Buhari’s policies chased away foreign investors. The truth is that the collapse in oil prices in 2014 was what made foreign capital to flee from Nigeria.

Maybe, but we are also not (slightly off point) taxing most of our GDP, so debt repayment comes from our oil income, which accounts for 80% of government income.

That is also where most of our debt repayment money comes from, as well as government spending money

And that is where the money to buffer the naira well well.

I'm glad you see that the oil crash caused current situation so tospeak

Where Buhari and TInubu failed chiefly for me is THEY DID NOT DIVERSIFY THE ECONOMY, and they DID NOT RAISE TAX TO GDP ratio adequately. Things that IMF Has been yelling about for a while.

Nigeria has one of the lowest debt to GDPs on earth. Our problem is with government revenues since Nigeria runs a rentier economy. The government needs to tax the people it has made insanely rich.

Not just the rich, the 70% of people who do not pay tax to federal and state govt.

Ps
COVID 19 made almost every country on earth to print money to keep their economies moving. When countries take coordinated actions such as this, currency fluctuations do not happen, since currencies are relative to each other.

But we kept printing even after the storm passed, plus EMefiele's project on the naira was not allowed to succeed.(though it would have been a temporary fix long term).

Sometimes am confused, when ordinary people say all these policies that they think make the country better, is it that there are no smart people in the Ministry of Finance to come up with all these policies, or are there those big cables in this country preventing implementation of this policy because I still don't always get a logical explanation to this .

Also, we all work in a structured organization, we come up with policies that would help us, and we implement them immediately, even do we may not have the capacity to implement them all at that moment, we can prioritize the important ones, why can't we do the same for Nigeria this thing does baffles me a lot, why can't we implement policy that would stop this suffering , or is that they enjoy us suffering

nairalanda1:
As it says in the title

(Note...this is a message not all would like. If you quote me to call me stupid, a slowpoke, a cornfused fellow, or any other form of abuse, it would be reported to the moderators. I did not abuse you, so show some courtesy. It does not mean you cannot disagree with me, just be polite about it. And I will be polite).

So..

As many have said here, we should cut the jumbo salaries of politicans. They won't get any argument from me, because I myself think so too. Our politicans are paid too much money, and often times collect too much money and too many new cars for nothing.

Meanwhile we are a poor nation, a broke nation, with most of our income going to debt service, after years of APC misrule. Basically, APC, instead of diversifying the economy and raising tax to gdp in response to oil price being too low....borrowed and borrowed to pay for everyhting. I also still have not forgiven THEM for opposing GEJ's subsidy removal...note that I did not and have never supported PDP...but that subsidy removal of 2012 was our last chance, and we blew it thanks to mass mobilization.



But, if we cut salaries could we pay for subsides with the money


1. Let's look at expenses for 2022

National Assembly budget : 134 billion naira

Villa, the villa at Aso ROck : 40.2 billion

Consitutency projects :100 billion

And now fuel subsidy money for 2022....4 trillion naira. or 10 billion dollars.

Now if we add up all the budgets for NA, Aso rock villa and constituencies...we get 274 billion naira, which does not even come up to one quarter of what Nigeria spent on subsidy in 2022.

2. Let's look at 2023

NA Budget 228 billion naira
VIlla budget : 21.1 billion naira
Constituency projects: 10 billion (est).
New cars : 76 Billion naira

Subsidy costs for 2023: 3.4 trillion to June 2023 (amount is higher now that we know subsidy has been paid since October 2023).


See the issue.

Now, I believe that

1. the national assembly and presidency should cut things, because we are in economic wahala

2. The new cars were uncalled for

3. The 1 billion for committee meeting is emblematic of corruption in Nigeria, and should be scrapped posthaiste.

I do believe that

But as you can see, we cannot pay for subsides if we cut costs of government at the center. We could pay for other things...better primary schools, better secondary schools, public toilets, good rural roads, some electricity projects, etc.(maybe even electricity subsidy...it cost 140 billion last year)...but not subsidy on petrol.

(FIN).

Personally I like your posts... very enlightening (fact based) and seem neutral.

I also respect your ability to keep cool. I often return fire with more more fire. 🔥

TheFacelessMan:
Personally I like your posts... very enlightening (fact based) and seem neutral.

I also respect your ability to keep cool. I often return fire with more more fire. 🔥

Thank you very much for your compliment. But I am not always calm by the way,I can get nasty at times.

But what keeps me calm is a realization that in a year's time no one is going to remember my arguments and comments here. In ten years time no one would even think about them. Why get too upset?