Ben Bruce, Others, On Subsidy - the big shame of a country

Something to think about!

For a long time Nigerians have really been taken for granted and treated like 'MUMUs'.

About time this deplorable situation is brought to a speedy and well -deserved end !!!







WHY ARE WE DOING THIS NOW ? Let us remind ourselves the reason for this showdown. It is not about subsidy.

I keep repeating this fact. It is about the following indices that make our government big, wasteful and ineffective:



Big and overblown governments at all levels 70 Ministers

Over twenty Special advisers (on what?)

Every minister is entitled to 4 Special Assistants

Senate President earns 88 Million Naira monthly



His Deputy Earns 55 Million Naira monthly

Senators take home 14 Million naira monthly

It takes 1.4 Billion naira to maintain the NASS annually (Remember what Sanusi said about 25% of our GDP is used to feed people who only sit Tuesday - Thursday)



Our Governors exhibit such level of opulence shunned by the richest nations in the world.

Our 2012 budget has a deficit component to it.

We are supposed to borrow about 1.6 TRILLION NAIRA.



NASS will be paid from that!

Aso Rock will use 1 Billion of it to eat!

Aso Rock will use another 1 Billion to fuel generators.



The Vice President will use 58 Million Naira to buy newspapers

The office of Patience Jonathan will use 500 Million to speak bad English to you.



We will spend close to 500 Billion on International Travels In 2012, some state governors will collect 100 as security votes MONTHLY



They will continue to enjoy immunity clause!

Your hospitals will have no drugs.

Your schools will still have no quality to train a world class scholar.

Your roads will still be death traps You will still be a local government unto yourself, providing water, security, power and social security!



You will still pay more for petroleum products.

You will pay toll in 2012 on federal interstate roads.



If you will like this to continue in 2012, then stay at home and enjoy power as provided by PHCN!



The American President has only 2 aircraft, our president has 9 in his fleet and voted money recently to buy 1 more! #

The British prime Minister has only 2 official cars, our president has 23 in his pool and only recently voted 300m naira to buy 2 more bullet/bomb proof ones! #



Senators in the US earn about $6,000 dollars monthly and that's about what a university professor, or a director in a state dept, or a doctor with 20yrs experience, or a teacher wt 25 years experience earn too,



But in Nigeria a senator earns 245 million Naira per annum! that's d salary of 25 vice chancellors, or 50 medical doctors, or 60 directors, or 500 school teachers! #



The US, almost d size of Africa with about 500million people have 24 ministers, and 32 govt parastatals and commissions, Nigeria has 42 cabinet ministers, and over 50 government parastatals! #



America with about 500 million people and more mileage to drive consumes 39 million litres of petrol daily, Nigeria with 150 million people 60% out of which live in remote areas, yet our govt tells us we consume about 35 million litres of petrol daily!



IS SUBSIDY REALLY THE PROBLEM OF NIGERIA?

And a last one!!! President Jonathan last bought fuel with his own money in 1996 shortly before coming on board the NDDC! So also is a whole lot of them in government!



It is time to re-think and re-define. We have to remove money from politics. Political office holders should earn what civil servants earn. That's what they are: CIVIL SERVANTS!



Now, for some jokes ,

This I have to share; cracked me up. New Yoruba greeting: E ku subsidy! If any Muslim gets a baby around this period these are possible names: Male: Subsideen; Female: Subsidat,

Jonathan 2012 Budget And Lies
Posted: January 8, 2012 - 04:16
N280 million for two bulletproof Mercedes Benz saloon 600 E Guard at N140 million each

N356.72 million for new vehicles in the presidential fleet

5 Mercedes Benz 350 (semi plain/partial bullet proof) at N25 million each, 10 jeeps (assorted – Range Rover, Prado and Land Cruiser) at N10 million each, and accessories for these vehicles will cost N25 million

N57.43 million to upgrade facilities at the Presidential Villa

N127.50 million to overhaul power generating sets

N512.385 million to refurbish the family wing of the main residence

N385.35 million for land reclamation at the State House Medical Centre

N101.67 million for the rehabilitation of transformer substation in the villa




N97.95 million for extension/expansion of State House car parks (The more SUVs and cars you accumulate the more ground you need to park them in!)

N108 million for communication equipment at the Villa, Dodan Barracks and vice president’s guesthouse

N36.88 million to rehabilitate presidential/ministerial chalet at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, despite spending/budgeting N48 million for this last year

N52.87 million to rehabilitate 10 presidential houses on Ibrahim Taiwo Street, Abuja, despite allocating/spending N101 million

N530.57 million to rehabilitate the State House and Dodan Barracks, despite spending/allocating N628.64 million this year on the two properties

N357.731 million for repairs and renovation of the administrative building at the Villa, despite allocating/spending N302.29 million on this last year
N62.23 million for the rehabilitation of the banquet hall dome roof, despite allocating/spending N81 million on the roof last year.

N992.57 million for feeding the president and the vice president

If GEJ is serious about moving Nigeria forward, he should start with his government first.

1. Declare his assets
2. Sort out his bloated cabinet, with hoards of Ministers, Minister of state, Advisers, and all sorts of busy-bodies collecting fat salaries

3. Aggressively pursue corruption, not just pay lip-service to it.
Although deregulation of petroleum sales is good in principle, its not beneficial to the people under a corrupt regime like GEJ's government. They said we are spending N1.3 trillion, when the true figure is probably N300 billion - N1 trillion lost to corruption! Any serious president will take this serious. He shouldn't expect Nigerians to keep quiet about such monumental fraud, especially educated Nigerians.


4. GEJ should seek help from all Nigerians, rather than attacking some group of Nigerians(eg Lagosians). This group of Nigerians ignored their party to vote him to power. You can't just appoint the scribe of a party like ACN without talking to him first - not everyone is devoid of principle!

5. He should realise that the protest is more massive in Lagos because people in Lagos are very smart, and understand what is going on in the country more than the rest of the country. Lagosians are not just Yorubas only(before anyone read tribal associations to this statement), they are Ibos, Ijaws, Hausas, Fulanis, Yorubas - Nigerians of all tribes are fully represented in Lagos. To survive in Lagos, you have to have your thinking cap on - hence Lagosians tend to be more aware of how things really are, rather than what they are being told.

Nigeria is truly full of morons. How can a president say what he said. This man is really retarded!
Lagos is not a Yoruba state. Any president ignores Lagos at their own peril.
I can't believe GEJ said this!

To say that this guy is smart calls into question the quality of the assessor. What he is proposing cannot be done in isolation - other considerations have to automatically come in. This is just the idea of somebody who is one-track minded. People like this cannot see things in totality. Their selfishness blinds them so much. Its the dumbest idea I have heard in years!

Kunle-A is right. He cannot control the situation.
Customs and Police will extort money from you once its a new car - they just take more if the car is over 15years of age. You cannot stay within the law in a situation like this in a corrupt system that we have in Nigeria. If you decide to do this, frustration will kill you.

Cars over 15 years come in everyday in Nigeria. same with Right-hand steering ones - u just pay more.
Until we have a government that can clean up the system, there is nothing an individual can do, more than fight for democracy to get the right leaders into positions.

Good. No Igbo should come to this guy jonathan's help. He tried to have our 2nd niger bridge building sabotaged by PPP or whatever screwed up company that is instead of having the FG build it. What of the dredging of the river niger? Why has he sat and done nothing even though he is aware that we are being screwed. Forget that guy. Let'em burn!

What does it have to do with being an Igbo? Stupid tribalism again.
Let us talk about issues, not tribes !

I do not know much about this man appointed as chairman, but I remember when he was appointed the ambassador to the Nigerian Embassy in London;he made radical changes to the embassy services to the point that it was no longer looking like a Nigerian embassy. Immediately he left the embassy everything went downhill.

this statement proves that the leaders of the northern part of the country are the perpetrators of these atrocities. They have avoided condemning the widespread killing of innocent human beings that have occurred over the past few months. religious fanaticism is a very difficult thing to understand, irrespective of the level of education. It is also very possible that this man has started suffering from the initial processes of dementia, which can lead to clouded judgement and the making of stupid utterances. This is the kind of statement you expect from the brain dead. or, it could be that this man had always been brain dead all along , but we never realised it.Unfortunately, this statement will strengthen the evil people of Boko Haram.

I think it is wrong for any government to think of banning the use of motorcycle  in a place like Lagos. Nobody will like to  ride on a motorcycle if  the transport system is efficient.

 Traffic in Lagos is horrible and it is only the availability of motorcycles that is allowing the place to run to some extent.the Gov should provide an alternative first before imposing a ban on motorcycle riding for commercial purposes. People  Will automatically abandon motorcycles if there is a better alternative. the availability of motorcycles has saved me a lot of problem in the past. There was a time I had to  abandon my car while on the road to the airport because of the terrible traffic jam in Lagos.
Apart from the fact that, commercial motorcycles are relieving people of traffic problems, it is also a means of livelihood for thousands of people, if not millions.   what will these people do when the ban is imposed? this should be regulated and safety mechanisms put in place to protect the people. I also understand  if a ban is  imposed on certain routes. Imposing an outright ban is just wrong at this time.

THIS FASHOLA OF A DUDE MUST BE A BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH MAN!

In this day and age of infection everywhere. . .we still have rooms like prisons?
Are we still living in the era of MARY SLESSOR OR FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE?
Why do we always settle for substandard things?
Are Nigerians not good enough for private rooms at this stage of our existence?
Tuberculosis go just kill every pickin for this place finish.
You cannot see this kind of thing in ANY civilized part of the world.
The windows do not even have mosquito nets to protect immuno-compromised children.

A FOUR STORY BUILDING WITH NO ELEVATORS TO TRANSPORT SICK CHILDREN from their mothers' backs?
Abeg, any barry see any h-airconditioning unit protruding from any part of that building?
OOOOOOOOOOOOOH? I see internal air-conditioning units.
Wey the generator wey go work 24/7 in Lagos where PCHN is practically non-existent. AJEGUNLE FOR THAT MATTER?

Sinachay, (Mr New York - a lot of Nigerians think living abroad is something to show off about!), you are talking out of your ass, plainly out of ignorance bothering on idiocy!

I am a doctor - obstetrician, and I currently work in the UK. This is a very standard hospital setting. Can compete with the hospital where I work in the UK. Not all rooms need to be private in an obstetric ward, even in the developed world where they have a lot of money!
Please stay in America, and stop coming to Nairaland. Continue to wash plates and dirty clothes stained with faeces, and stop bothering about Nigeria. Nigeria can do without the likes of you!

This is a retrogressive step. People should not be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.  people who have this orientation  do not choose it for themselves. They just find themselves like that. unfortunately  these people cannot change their orientation. No   sane society should  punish anybody for their natural tendencies.

THIS IS NOT THE PAEDOPHILE YERIMA

NOT ALL YERIMAS ARE PAEDOPHILES, JUST AS NOT ALL OJUKWUS ARE SECESSIONISTS

this is the case Of the pot calling the kettle black. the problem we have is not about knowing the corrupt guys. We all know them. The only problem we have is how to catch them and prosecute them and confiscate their stolen wealth. I can list 1000 people, and Nzeribe himself would be included, it's no big deal.

the two of them there are corrupt  people  who are ready to steal money no matter what. I'm not to sure whether  we should be grouping the Gov  in the same category as these two individuals. The Gov seem to performing  adequately, and although it's unlikely that he would not get some benefits   here and there by virtue of his position, is not an out and out corrupt individual.

the question also has to be asked about reliability and dependability

What is this talk about not knowing who these people are? You all know them-Obasanjo, Jonathan,Abdusalam, Babangida, Shonekan, Buhari, etc all have daily allocation of barrels of oil credited to them. The amount of oil thry say Nigeria produces far exceed the official figures. These guys feel its their right to get these.
Nkonjo Iweala is a world.bank economist, and their economic prescription have usually been wrong for xiuntries like Nigeria. She doesn't understand all the issues. Before removing oil subsidy,they should deal with the waste and stealing firstalm

if ghadaffi had been a nigerian, he would still be alive. . . no one would have had the guts to stand  up to him

This is not true,  Nigerians are better than that. We have worse leaders than Gaddafi. If Gaddafi had been a Nigerian, he wouldn't have lasted this long – pure and simple.  in Nigeria, we have our own unique way of dealing with despotic leaders. Abacha was a worse leader than Gaddafi, and  he could only last a few years. Believe it or not, Abacha did not die  a natural death, he was nicely dealt with with minimal bloodshed

the criticisms expressed in this article are  objective enough, it's unfortunate that people are reading other meanings into it. I have been to the Lekki free trade zone myself, and there is very little going on. By now, one will expect some major activities  to be taking place,  all you see are just offices. There is nothing  anti-Yoruba in this article.   the governor is struggling with the reactionary nature of his predecessor. Even though you are in power, sometimes some people are just too big for you to cross

This man did not say this to be revealed to the public, but as this is Wikileaks, everybody's secret is coming out into the open. We should look at this therefore in the spirit of a leaked secret rather than an opinion that this particular person has offered openly for everyone to share. One thing everybody should realise is that the Obasanjo government was a civilian government which therefore need to satisfy many more people. The Abacha government was a very despotic government and really should not be compared to Obasanjo government. There was no doubt that there was a lot of corruption under Obasanjo government. The corruption under the military government was more restricted as they do not have to satisfy anybody. You either like it or lump it. Everybody accepts whatever they can get. The fact is Obasanjo government managed to achieve something in spite of the corruption whereas the Abacha government achieved nothing, apart from taking Nigeria backwards.

Hello people

This came from WIKILEAKS - leaked secret cables. Ribadu said this in secret, and he is right.
Cooruption under Obasanjo was worse, because Abacha was a military despot who does not have to satisfy many people, hence the corruption was restricted to a few chosen ones. But by far, Obasanjo's government was far better overall. Abacha virtually destroyed the country

The only things Nigerians understand is give them money or food, Tha satellite program started during Obasanjo's government. A satellite got lost, but the Chinese government is replacing it free of charge.The government need to invest i nall areas of the economy to better the lot of the people - this is just one of them. There was a time the US paid Nigeria a large sum of money for information obtained by our satellite - during Hurricane Katrina.

no country will invest in another country unless they have something to gain. The investors in America will only best in you if there is something to gain from you. Same with all the other countries mentioned. if the United States of America wants to invest in the power sector, they we only do it through their companies; the government would not directly invests in any business.
These companies will only invest if they can see profit; and they can be as corrupt as any other company in the world. Remember the Haliburton affair, involving the former vice president(Atiku). Simply because a company comes from a particular country does not guarantee good business practices.

It is our leaders who need to get their act together and scrutinise whatever companies they give contracts to; making sure that these companies implement the contract to the letter.

If you have on the hourly,, is there any restriction on how much megabytes you can download?

How much do these services cost?

With the way the precedent has been prostrating in front of corrupt past leaders prior to the election, it is obvious what his gameplan is likely to be – time for you to steal your money too.

God bless Nigeria

Please can anyone enlighten me about MTN data bundles? I am thinking of subscribing to the hundred hours plan for 30 days, but I am not sure whether there is any restriction on how much you can download within the 30 days. Can anyone please give me further information on this?

In summary, we can say what everyone is advising you on are:

Be modest, your post suggests some degree of arrogance and show-off
Respect your teachers, even if they appear less intelligent than you
Don't worry too much about what people say about you, concentrate on your work.
If you are a bit more successful in life, you are bound to have people being jealous of you, but don't let it weigh you down, this should be expected.

I don't think forgiveness can work in the situation we have in the northern part of the country. Forgiveness only works when people who have committed a dastardly action have remorse. Appropriate punishment needs to be imposed on people and states where incessant riots occur. These shameless leaders from the North need to be put in their place. Most Nigerians want to move on. It's just too much. Enough is enough. No country can grow with this kind of violence.