Coordinating minister for Economy and Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala almost wept on yesterday as she practically begged Nigerians to accept the government’s proposed removal of petroleum subsidy saying that by the end of the year 2011, government would have spent N1.4 trillion on subsidy, about 30 per cent of its total yearly expenditure.

“What we are asking you Nigerians to do is to give us a chance. We know there is lack of confidence in government. We need to rebuild the trust. Even those of us in government are tired of complaining. We can’t succeed without you. Give us chance to perform and see if we can make that change”, she said.
Addressing members of the public at the town meeting organized by Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) in Lagos, Okonjo-Iweala begged: “Please give us a chance to make the difference this time. We pledge not to disappoint you again.”

Okonjo-Iweala, alongside the minister for petroleum, Diezeani Allison Madueke and the central bank governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi were at the gathering to present the position of federal government over the fuel subsidy removal.

Practically overwhelmed by the outpour of emotion displayed by members of the civil society and the audience, the finance minister had to resort to pleading with the people, urging them to see reason with government.

“Yes we know that cabal exists and it is expected that government should go after them, arrest them and send them to EFCC. But Nigerians needs to show understanding and give us chance this time around. Lets us not transmit this mistrust to the younger generation”, Iweala said.

Earlier, both Okonjo-Iweala and Petroleum minister, Madueke had put forward the argument while fuel subsidy removal cannot be sustained. According to the Finance minister, Nigeria had spent about N1.4 trillion to subsidized fuel in a year.

Madueke on the other hand said government had realized three mistakes of the past by allocating the turnaround maintenance of the refineries to outsiders.


sourcehttp://www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150733:okonjo-iweala-begs-nigerians&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

madam you are mad!!!

These people are very wicked

morgist:

madam you are mad!!!

Seconded !

Where is Boko Horam when you need them?

Okonjo- Iweala:  Can we slash your salary and politician's by 100%? I understand you are paid in "foreign currency".

Over-rated, inconsiderate, unsympathetic and wicked people. What are the lower class of the social strata going to do? How will they pay their transport fare to work or feed when everything increases in price due to subsidy removal? Oh, I don't blame you, because your kids are outside Naija schooling; they won't be affected. HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where has our national treasure gone? What certainty do we have that this project won't be like the others?

Geez, this woman spew rubbish and make me hate her the more.

Thank God she agrees with Sanusi.
Nigerians are truly daft!
Remove the bloooody subsidy. . .let awon Oando push the cost to mentally-lazy Nigerians.
That maaaaaaaaaay just make them mad enough to set those nauseating, thieving cabals ablaze each Sallah/Christmas season.

Mu che che che che che che cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

This is gooooooooooooooooood news!

I am sorry but while I do not doubt that Mrs Iweala's request is guided by what she thinks is in the economic interest of Nigeria, her position is so divorced from reality.

Removing the Fuel Subsidy will simply create a new set of funds for politicians to embezzle.

The justification for removing fuel subsidy or increasing taxes in Nigeria can only start from where proof that the rest of our resources has been used judiciously ends and that means proving corruption and waste has been eradicated or reduced to the barest minimum.

Until Iweala can stand tall and say yes, corruption has been reduced and we have been putting Nigeria's money to good use; she has no business crying because she wants to remove fuel subsidy. She should know better.

To be honest I find her tears unfortunate and regretable!

madam iweala, the day u decided to join this devilish pdp govt the second time, i knew you have gone mad. they have initiated you into their dark world of wickedness.
please madam iweala, we nigerians are begging you to die by fire.
how cruel can you be to beg us accept hardship? do not forget, if anything happens, we will kill all of u and your family members. the money you all are sharing is our money.
how many of u buy or spend money on fuel?
you earn fat salaries along side your devilish colleagues yet you can't sacrifice some for peace to reign.
i was in abidjan in 2009 when gbagbo increased their fuel price. the masses rejected that but the ministers intervened and pay the additional fees from their salaries. trace this news and understand what am talking about.
a minister in ivory coast cannot compare financially with a councellor here in nigeria yet, the love their people enough to make sacrifices.
if only jonathan and sambo will spend N1B on food alone in a year, how are you as a minister of finance looking at that madness.
madam iweala, you have lost that which you are known for and it is a shame that u are now an enemy of the masses.
we are in a democracy where the decission making is a function of the majority and not criminal minority.
go and sleep woman because you have been bought over.

what is ur confident on removal of petroleum subsidy because i know u are perfect woman like a man,pls wat is implication of dat and wat are advatage and disavantage of it pls help nigeria people dere is plenting of poverty in nigeria

Please Madam Minister, don't feed us your trash. Over the years, you people in Government have given us enough reasons to distrust you and i beg to inform you on behalf of Nigerians. We would keep doing that until, Did this people go to school or do they think even small? What is the fuel subsidy for, to help the importers import abi. If there is no import, there is no subsidy. Why don't we start by 1. Retaining the subsidy and managing is transparently with minimal corruption. 2. Concentrate on building local capacity to produce 3. take away a certain percentage of the subsidy with local production subbing the importing quota 4. Continue in that light until we do away with fuel subsidy say in 3 to 4 years with less suffering from the Nigerian people. Jonathan, you said you went to school without shoes, now we have shoes and you don't want us to go to school. You are wicked.

Don't worry. . .Be happy ma!

I use to think okonjo knows everything and will guide d dunce in aso rock in designing policies that r popular and far reaching but low n behold, okonjo of obj's era is nw something else. Y v they zeroed their minds in fixing d refinaries? They just dont want to talk about it. Pls nigerians, if we refine our crude oil through our refineries, will there be any nid 4subsidy in the first place? Y begging nigerians to 4give d gvmt over its inability to arrest and prosecute d so called cabals dat r sabotaging d nation economicaly? Y begging nigerians to voluntarily die as a result of d harsh economic policy u want to bring upon them? Madam, wasnt there subsidy during obj's time n we were able to pay back billions of dollar debts n also save up2 $60bn dollars in d federation account and also had excess of which we created an account called the excess crude account were these monies were deposited of which #5.5trn has been remited into dat account which has nw bin squandered? We v always made our budget on almost $30 lesser from what the true cost of crude/barrel is sold for, meaning we v always had excess and evn whn d price for crude drops at the international market it doesnt v any adverse effect on our budget cos we v always framed our budget on a lower price as against d real price making us always v excess cash frm sale of crude. Were r those monies madam? Where r d infrastructures built from those excess cash realised? Madam, what v we done to you this time arround that made you so indignant and chose to call down this economic evil against an entire nation whose 95% citizens lives below 1$/day? Madam, has comon sense erroded you as well cause we knew that your boss has never had any before. Its realy unfortunate that u are willing to sacrifice ur people, i mean all well meaning nigerians who recieved your appointment with great enthusiasm to ur frnds at IMF & THE WORLD BANK where u owe ur allegence and not to the Nigerian populace that so loved u. Shame on you okonjo and a bigger shame to mr president who knows just nothing.

I stand very solidly behind the govt and the economic team on subsidy removal. My only disappointment is that they should have stuck to a date rather than go from 1st Jan- 1st April - 1st Jan. That was not a straightforward act regardless of the reasons they give.

Apart from the fact that a cabal have grossly abused the subsidy regime by round tripping, if they were to become upright today, we might save some money from no round tripping but will continue to lack growth where it counts.

The oil sector should be 1000 times more developed by now, but no investor would put his money down in a sector where the government ensures that market price of a product remains below production cost. The alternative is to have a 2-tier price for crude oil for local use and export, but that would be suicidal and would only create another SFEM a la Abacha .

I agree that all the TAMs at the refineries have been shoddy because of sabotage caused by beneficiaries of fictitious figures. I also agree that those involved in any shady deals should be prosecuted. However, the problem needs to be addressed from the root while treating the offshoots at the same time. FUEL SUBSIDY IS THE ROOT !

The refineries are not working at 100% capacity and I will give the government the benefits of doubt when they say that they are working towards achieving optimum functionality of the refineries. Even if they were fully operational, a fundamental issue remains; they still buy crude at international rates, so what gives? In my opinion, the cheapest we can buy petrol after buying crude oil at internal rates would be circa N90 – N120.

Now NNPC needs to be self-financing as they have all the resources to achieve that. The calculation of the BOM of the cost of petrol should reflect every item ranging from the cost of pencil in NNPC office in Abuja to fractionating columns at the refineries.

My point is that fully functional refineries will not eliminate subsidy at selling price of N65, which means that we will continue to have stunted growth in a sector with expendable resources and creating zero added value to the sector.

I do understand the scepticism of the average Nigerian with regards to judicious use of any money accruing from subsidy removal, but you cannot refuse to build a house just because you think that your builder might use your blocks for his own house. A smart person will continue with the building while keeping the builder in check or use another builder altogether, but the house must be built.

All our neighbours like Cameroon, Ghana and Benin pay more for petrol than us and they haven’t died.

The government is making an effort to tackle an issue head-on and the least we could do is to support the government. I also like to get cheap petrol but I must think in terms of long-term outcome.

I salute Jonathan, Iweala,Sanusi,Madueke and the economic team for this brave act and I hope that they don’t let us down.

Thesame woman that's being paid in dollars is asking poor nigerians to sacrifies. Howmuch has she sacrified for the country? Madam, save your crocodie tears abeg. Heartless woman!

na wa o