Subsidy is good. Most countries in the world give their citizens one palliative incentive from time to time and they come in the way of subsidies. Many countries in Africa, Asia and South America make sure their citizens purchase or get hold off those items OR goods they produce and have comparative advantage over other nations at a cheaper price. In Cuba, Cubans buy Cigars for next to nothing, same thing in Venezuela their citizens buy petroleum products next to nothing. Nigeria of course should have comparative advantage on oil products but unfortunately our Refineries are not working to full capacity.

That is our Refineries are producing less than the demand for the nation domestically hence license has to be issued to private oil firms to bring in the necessary demand to meet local consumption. Obviously these guys bring in the oil at world price valuation, for obvious reason that cost cannot be transferred directly to the consumers which is me and you and everyone out there hence the subsidy.

But Today that conduit called subsidy has over-grown into an uncontrollable monster with several heads. Today the Presidency cannot tell you with all certainty how much this misadventure would cost the nation because of the endemic corruption that has pervade every step of that supply chain. One cannot not pick a specific area as the main culprit, as one area is detected another unexpected expenses rears her ugly head making what should have cost N300 Billion last year balloon to over N1.6 Trillion Naira. Only God Knows what the cost would be in 2012 if Subsidy was continued relentlessly.

Where do you start with such a bureaucratic monster that keeps on growing a new head once one of the previous head has been detected and cut off. Have you people forgotten that Nigerians are master scammers, they think ahead when planning to make a kill, once one loop hole goes down there is always a plan B to take over from where the previous one end.

When our dear lady came in(Ngozi Iweala) and saw the bureaucratic mess she had to suggest that on this occasion "we have to throw away the baby and the bath tub", the rot was so nauseating that revamping or sanitizing it would have being one herculean task hence scrapping it in its totality and going back to the drawing board was seen as a more sane option.

So Ladies and Gentlemen,  you should bear and understand Joboy's agony on this issue, what I would urge you to do is follow that N1.8 Trillion Naira savings to its logical conclusion, making sure it does not end in some corrupt officials pocket. Already the Government has started spending the savings by buying buses to cushion the pains,  I know the buses are not enough but that is an encouraging start, rather than disrupting the country by rioting we should endeavour bearing in mind that it was barely 7 months ago we gave Jo Boy a new mandate for 4 years, and that mandate would or should last for 4 years, we cannot say we don't like his policy now, it is like stopping a football match half-way when one team is leading and proclaiming that that team leading won the match,  while there are still many more minutes to play.

We need to educate ourselves on our democratic system and practises,we have chosen the American Presidential System and once you have given your mandate in a Presidential System, that mandate is a bitter pill that has to be swallowed until the next election cycle. We are not practising parliamentary democracy where elections can be called at any-time especially when the opposition are gaining grounds on the polls.

So rioting next week is an un-necessary waste of precious time, that energy should be use to fight the Boko Haramites amongst us who are doing more damage to our social, economic and political cohesiveness than any other insurgency in our history.

That is my 2pence on Subsidy!!!

@knowall, am sorry but your post makes you sound like you know nothing about certain issues.

if you think the strikes/protests are not well thought out, then what have you to say about your government's thinking faculty?
did they not know that the sudden removal of the fuel subsidy would translate into a sharp hike in transportation prices? why then did they wait till they had removed the subsidy, before PROMISING to supply buuses, buses I am yet to see? how come we never heard of the details of the so called "palliative measures" before the subsidy was removed? doesn't it tell you that either they didn't even have any palliatives in mind and were just bandying the word around or whatever they planned, they knew Nigerians would not accept because it would be too paltry. 1,600 buses? for 36 states? and 43 for a state like Lagos? does that SOUND well thought out?

the government went to acquire an injuction stopping the strike from going on; the very same government that already has a record of ignoring the law when it deems fit, now expects others to obey. is that well though out as well?

the government failed to mmake serious attempts to convince labouur and Nigerians of it's SINCERITY (forget about it's plan. our governments always come up with good plans; even IBB's SAP had its good points. just that our government lacks sincerity and once the money appears, the plan goes out the window). all we saw were Lammmido Sanusi, Okonjo-Iweala and Allisson-Madueke reeling out figures and telling us to trust government (scenarios we are all too used to) and some silly adverts on NTA. what has the government done to come down to the grassroots, to the real Nigerians who are suffering the impact of the suubsidy remmoval, and convince them, not just on the workability of the plan, but it's SINCERITY to make it work? NOTHING? does that look like good thinking to you?

A sincere government would begin to implement the palliative measures (like the silly buses) waaaaaay before removing the subsidy. that shows it has preempted any possible negative effects that would result from the eventual removal of the subsidy. it would also make the people trust in the government's plan. remember, government is about trust. has the Nigerian government done enough to make the people trust it? NO. does the removal of the subsidy BEFORE Nigerians and the FG have yet to come even remotely close to a ompromise sound like it is calculated to inspire trust? so is it well thouught out?

look, a majority of Nigerians know we should not be subsidizing fuel. however, a majority of Nigerians do not trust governmment either. That is why Nigerians want to see government's handwork and sacrifices first, before they make another sacrifice. what are the sacrifices from government? slash the pay of our top level political class by at least 50%. fix our refineries. plug other loopholes that allow waste in the system. before you start talking about subsidy removal.

i've said it before, the question is not about if the plan is good or not. it is about if this goernment is SINCERE enough to implement and so far, its actions have proved that it is not,

I'm worried after discovering there was no subsidy in the first place. You only remove subsidy when there is subsidy

True there is no such thing as subsidy in a concretized sense,(that is the Govt. only pays what is in your invoice) and year on year, Government does not know how much each company would supply. But there is some agreement for some oil firms and some charlatans to supply PMS that is they have being given the mandate to bring in oil- that YOU can call any name hence why it is called Subsidy. The big question or should I say the big fraud is whether these callous men bring in the oil or not, the corrupt men in the ports stamp the papers of these bogus oil companies insisting they supervise the delivery.

These fake transactions would now be presented for payment and such payments almost always go through. The fact is no one can say with all certainty that the goods were delivered that is the endemic corruption inherent in this so called 'subsidy business'. By removing Subsidy the fake oil exporter would have to deal directly with the end users me and you, you can only sell goods that you have, once it is established you have no goods to sell,  u get no pay, but under the old system of subsidy you get paid for supplying nothing. So which one is better.

So rioting next week is an un-necessary waste of precious time, that energy should be use to fight the Boko Haramites amongst us who are doing more damage to our social, economic and political cohesiveness than any other insurgency in our history.

interesting, so how do you suggest "we fight" boko haram? whose job is it to do that, the Nigerian citizenry or the security forces? since when did it become the responsibility of the average Nigerian to battle terrorism?

my brother, you need prayers

Have Nigerians ever wonder why we always get fuel scarcity despite all these companies bringing oil left, right and centre surely we should be having oil glut over supply but alas the opposite is the case.

KnowAll:

True there is no such thing as subsidy in a concretized sense,(that is the Govt. only pays what is in your invoice) and year on year, Government does not know how much each company would supply. But there is some agreement for some oil firms and some charlatans to supply PMS that is they have being given the mandate to bring in oil- that YOU can call any name hence why it is called Subsidy. The big question or should I say the big fraud is whether these callous men bring in the oil or not, the corrupt men in the ports stamp the papers of these bogus oil companies insisting they supervise the delivery.

These fake transactions would now be presented for payment and such payments almost always go through. The fact is no one can say with all certainty that the goods were delivered that is the endemic corruption inherent in this so called 'subsidy business'. By removing Subsidy the fake oil exporter would have to deal directly with the end users me and you, you can only sell goods that you have, once it is established you have no goods to sell,  u get no pay, but under the old system of subsidy you get paid for supplying nothing. So which one is better.

this is getting exasperating. why don't you tell your government to build refineries or fix the existing ones? do those countries that export fuel have twelve headed presidents? with all the oil we have, should we be importing petroleum products? if we refined our own fuel, will there be need to deal with exporters that try to defraud the system? why don't you guys ask your goernments sallient questions, for goodness sakes?

look, you are one of those Nigerians that never learn; those Nigerians that pick up one government policy and run away with it, instead of looking at how previous similar policies have worked out and learning lessons. it is because of people like you that Nigeria is where it is today.

There is strong eagerness especially amongst the youths to copy what is happening in North Africa, but come on lads" Hello is any one at home" let me remind you lest u have forgotten, we have a democracy at the moment,  so there no reason to needlessly waste your lives fighting over a non-issue.  

KnowAll:


The money saved can do wonders, you can employ more security personnel, like more Immigration, customs and Military personnel to man our borders and so forth. I have always supported a two prong approach to the subsidy issue, the Government should look into the excessive pay and allowance of the Legislature, that would be a tough battle for GEJ but anyhow u look at it we are stuck with GEJ for 4 years because we practised a Presidential System. Any other usurpation of power would be an illegality.

employ more personell? are you serious? since when did the Nigerian millitary or the Nigerian Police Force complain of a shortage of personell? again, you are failing to tackle the real issues; how competent are those that we have? that is what you should be asking. more personell just means more recurrent expenditure, less money for capital projects and more half baked policemen demanding N50 on our streets. is this what you are truly suggesting?

think again

employ more personell? are you serious? since when did the Nigerian millitary or the Nigerian Police Force complain of a shortage of personell? again, you are failing to tackle the real issues; how competent are those that we have? that is what you should be asking. more personell just means more recurrent expenditure, less money for capital projects and more half baked policemen demanding N50 on our streets. is this what you are truly suggesting?

think again

You see the Police as it is, is a damage institution putting more men into a rot like the Police Force we have now is like throwing good money on bad rubbish. That force would need to be revamped in its entirety and it cannot be done in 4 years. A Palliative step WOULD BE for, the Government to encourage Security Companies to shoulder some of the security responsibilities so as to supplement what the Police are doing, that way the cost would not be on the government but on private individuals, I wrote a piece about security and how 10 million Nigerians can be absorbed into that industry if properly regulated. You would need to go and read it.

My people make we open our eyes oh, this subsidy na bad news oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!