Various arguments have been put for and against subsidy removal and I'm bewildered to say the least that nobody sees beyond the present. My take is let GEJ suspend the process. Let the economy shut if it has to. Then by the time we start to kill one another for food, hopefully we would see the need to go after these cabals ourself if they have not yet relocated to europe or somewhere in the Americas. GEJ PLEASE SUSPEND SUBSIDY REMOVAL AND SPARE YOUR YOURSELF THE TROUBLE YOU DIDN'T START. I trust my countrymen to come and start saying go ahead when the reality of the impending doom comes.

Just Watching!

Why should you trust a gov't (not only GEJ's gov't) that can't manage just 4 refineries in an oil producing state properly, with executing 1.3 trillion Naira properly (making sure the benefits of the removal surpasses the additional burden of extra 76naira/litre)?

Why should you trust the president or any elected officer in this gov't or the past with the insane amount of corruption and misappropriation we all can see going on?

If the gov't's sincere, why can't they "earn the people's trust" by proactive actions instead of begging "trust us"?

I have a deal for iweala.
fight corruption and incompetence in the subsidy regime and
bring it down to 300billion for this year.

let the management of Npdc have a target
of 150,000bbl/d by dec 2012.

on january 2013 subsidy will go by 50%
and by dec 2013 Npdc should guarantee
200,000bbl/d

on 1st january 2014 subsidy must go 100%.
with or without the refineries on ground,
then if im sacrificing, I will know it has a
limit pending when refineries that will
utilize the cheap oil on ground arrives.

tell me what im sacrifising for today?
eternal slavery borne from the incompetence of a corrupt administration.

I and my generations cannot and will not
sacrifice for Govt's incompetence.

I support this

Why Gain A Kobo To Lose A Naira? By Dr. Okonjo-iweala

Because a bird in hand is the only bird.

I AM CRIP WALKING WITH MY HANDS THROWN IN THE AIR AND BOTH MY MIDDLE FINGERS RAISED TO THE SKY SINGING . . . 4LK GEJ , 4LK IWUALA AND 4LK THE NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

* im out . . . Peace *

Mrs minister, if you intend using SURE-P allocation of N20.5 billion to increase mass transit, who told you we are short of mass transit?
Why not borrow the "Ben Bruce transport subsidy plan" and use this fund to subsidize the transport sector as it is done in other countries where every commercial transporter that uses PMS (not Diesel) to run their vehicle can buy petrol at a reduced price so that cost of transport would reduce for an average man and price of goods and services would be affordable.

Dr. Okonjo-iweala she is a menace to the society why is she talking of this rubbish , her children all of them are in abroad and she is here talking rubbish .

Gej, so we should be the one to suffer the pain because you want to fight corruption, we all know that corruption is ruling Nigeria, if there is no other way you think you can fight corruption then leave Nigeria the way it was. I don't think corruption can fight corruption it will only worsen the situation.

I really hope they get this subsidy thing right! Because if they don't the human toll will potentially tear subsaharan africa apart. The entire world will not be able to contain the carnage and yes another mighty human catastrophe will be witnessed. GEJ luck got you into Aso rock, Luck will not help you to govern properly. If this thing goes wrong there will be nowhere on earth for all of your cohorts to hide. Nowhere!

The SURE Programme is one of the most specific public works programme I have ever seen. This government must be commended for taking a bold policy action. Nigeria will definitely be better with this.

I totally support Ngozi Iweala, if we do not remove this subsidy we will EAT ALL OUR SEEDS WITH NOTHING TO PLANT.[/b] With the surrounding countries with no subsidy the subsidized oil will end up in neighbouring countries. We want to have good roads, housing, education and we do not want to pay for it, yet WE ARE READY TO RUN TO WESTERN COUNTRIES WHERE THESE THINGS ARE AVAILABLE AND WE PAY 22-45% AS TAX ON OUR EARNINGS.[/b]
 A good student denies pleasure, works hard to pass an exam and enjoy promotion.Let us save NIGERIA and REMOVE THIS SUBSIDY.[/b]
But Government must provide more cushioning effect by subsidising locally produced food crops, and other basics of life at least until we start refining and petrol prices starts falling.

We heard the same story with PTF, and today, it's d same news. This govt isnt even sincere enough to cut it's own N1billion per year food! So what makes this stories different?

Well said DARA1234. Kudos

Where is this boko haram when you need them ? These boko haram ought to be one the side of the people so we can use them to keep these vagabonds in power at bay.how can iwala tell us this when the naira will eventually end in their pockets ?

All these people supporting the removal of this subsidy are not members of d nairaland parliament. They are sponsored agents of d Govt or benefitting from them in one way or the other.
Any right thinking Nigerian will agree with me that Nigerians should not be made to pay for the ineficiency of NNPC.
If the President with all the powers vested in him and the state machinery at hsi disposal cannot bring these people to book and bring our refineries to optimal capacity let him then resign.

I am so dissapointed as a Nigerian

With All due respect to our World bank Presido and CME, her argument is watery and one-sided.

There are two sides to this equation. The generation side and the expenditure side. If you attack this problem from just one side, you will fail, because you get an imbalance. We have seen older democracies resort to pumping money- read subsidies to jump start their economies. Every economy cannot run purely on textbook demand and supply. Sometimes they need subsidies to ratchet up demand, which causes manufacturers and retailers to sell, which brings money to the economy.

If you tax (or remove subsidies), you affect the generation part of the equation, by increases net accruals to government, but on the expenditure side, your citizens have less money to spend, so your economy goes down the drain, as prices rise, demand drop and people get out of work. That is precisely why the other subsidy removals have not worked. They targeted subsidy removals, prices shot up, the Naira depreciated in return and at the end, the removal became meaningless as we are now back to square one.

This current removal, will continue to cause naira depreciation until we get really reasonable. For me, what the government need to do is to audit the whole process around fuel import and egress from the border and bring some people or groups to justice. That is the starting point. The next stage is to look at political office holders' emoluments- travels, estacodes, security votes etc, Save money from there first, fix the refineries, build more refineries and de-bottleneck Atlas cove discharge point before you are ready to talk about deregulation.

Okonjolo-Iweala, MLK, Malcolm X, Desmond Tutu, Mandela, Real Revolutionaries!

DARA1234:

I totally support Ngozi Iweala, if we do not remove this subsidy we will EAT ALL OUR SEEDS WITH NOTHING TO PLANT.[/b] With the surrounding countries with no subsidy the subsidized oil will end up in neighbouring countries. We want to have good roads, housing, education and we do not want to pay for it, yet WE ARE READY TO RUN TO WESTERN COUNTRIES WHERE THESE THINGS ARE AVAILABLE AND WE PAY 22-45% AS TAX ON OUR EARNINGS.[/b]
 A good student denies pleasure, works hard to pass an exam and enjoy promotion.Let us save NIGERIA and REMOVE THIS SUBSIDY.[/b]
But Government must provide more cushioning effect by subsidising locally produced food crops, and other basics of life at least until we start refining and petrol prices starts falling.

I can't believe unreasonable people like this still exist in Nigeria.What a shame!

All Nigeria problem is based on fuel Subsidy ?

Madam weldone ooo!

All who die in this struggle, their blood will never leave you !

Okonji-Iweala is a supposed to be a Havard and MIT graduate with years of experience in the world bank, so one can dare to assume that she is intelligent enough to handle nigerias present economic situation, right?? Not really!!

I don't know whether our leaders are daft or just pretend to be or maybe its just outright wickedness and insensitivity but HOW is it possible to provide 1100 let's say 50 seater buses and they call it mass transit (pallative for the subsidy removal)??!

Simple arithmetic -how can they say that providng transport for 55000 people out of 160,000,000 (less than 0.03% of population) is enough of a palliative for the impoverished 90% of Nigerians?

What of food prices? Are farmer and traders going to transport yam and basket of tomatoes on these 1100 buses? What of school fees? What of our generators that provide light for us 90% of the time since PHCN is just useless? What of all the other basic social amenities that are our fundamental human right the government is making look like they are doing us a favour

Does Ngozi, and Dizeani and Jonathan queue to buy fuel, or use their salary to run a generator?? If they did, they would even be ashamed to call a meager 1100 buses "mass transit"

Havard should recall that womans certificate. She is a disgrace to the educated.
Even if fuel subsidy removal is in the long run in our best interest, corruption will never allow all the FGs plans to work. Na Naija be dis!

The rash removal of the subsidy just shows how fake our democracy is-govt for the rich and powerful, not for the people (99%).

GEJ no try at allllllll!!!

I want to ask madam, that is fighting corruption with subsidy? Did your economic team, follow due process to procure these 1100 buses according to the Public Procurement Act? How many local bus assemblers (not Manufactures) bid-ed for the deal? Was it advertised in the dailies as provided by the law, or is the excuse that, in the best interest of Nigerians it was rushed to stop the protests. Meanwhile the protests is not about the subsidy removal it is indeed the expression of the people that they do not trust how these moneys would be invested. These palliatives have once again proved the point, let's watch and see how the rail contracts will be awarded,

You people simply miss the point, subsidy may be the answer but because of your antecedents, we do not trust you guys to manage it as much as we do not want the cabal to gain. Reversal is not saying give it back to the cabals, there alternatives you people have refused to consider. at least start to expose them and expose their cohorts and agents in government, show us examples of serious fight against corruption, NOTHING to show!

good, but is nigerians ready to listen to these?

This is rubbish, Okonjo, the IMF and world bank and GEJ shoulod go after the cabals taking illegal money from subsidy into kirikiri prison now, since they know that fuel subsidy is a channel of corruption, they should know who and who they are paying this subsidy to, and if they want to be transparent, they know how much they have paid out and to whom, get them and throw them into prison as a starting point for fighting corruption, and we Nigerians will support him.
But if he GEJ cannot face the cabals, he has no business being in government as our president. He should resign at once.

talking about buses, 1,600 or 1,100 buses for Nigeria's population of about 150 million is quite laughable. In the city of London alone with population of about same as Lagos state, there are over 2000 buses, including luxury speed trains and taxis, telling us that 1,600 buses will cushion hike in fuel pump price is rubbish and dumb on the part of our president, he should resign now NOW NOW NOW.

No-one is saying the subsidy was a good thing,. simply this: Be intelligent and gradual with it's removal.
increase price by N20, do something, increase by another N20, do something else, so the people can see. [b]SELL [/b]the idea to the people, and the people will bless you for it. You don't just expect any trust from the people that are so beaten and traumatized by it's leaders.

That is too assumptive and synonymous with raape.

In my field this is like forcing me to buy software I have not tried or know nothing about, without my consent.
The very manner in which it was done alone is enough to shatter all trust.

Poverty is a big disease that can plagues people reasoning and makes them ignorant to know what would benefit their future ! I can see that in many people's comments here. I hope things work well just the way they are planned. To be sincere with you guys, the removal of subsidy is not such a bad thing.

^^ And because you sit in an air-conditioned house, you feel gradualism should not have been applied abi?
I probably make more money than you, to be modest, but even I do not support the way this was carried out.

Nor do i support the gall and insensitivity of the president to propose (decree?) such an outlandish personal budget for himself in the light of current circumstances.
With [b]WISDOM [/b]must one rule.

^^^
Jeez! Did you type that out of  your a.s.s? I didn't comprehend a sentence from that!

"Once beaten twice shy", they say,
but Nigerians av been beaten many times, now we are double shy!

all4naija:

^^^
Jeez! Did you type that out of  your a.s.s? I didn't comprehend a sentence from that!

Which simply confirms my earlier doubts of your possession of a functional brain.

^^^
Do you have to respond to my post in the first case? Zap off my comments dude!!!