₦airaland Forum

Because Ghanaians OWN their democracy not GODFATHERS, be it in PDP, ACN, CPC etc.

In 2000 Ghanaians voted against Jerry Rawlings VP- John Atta Mills despite his being perceived by foreigners as the SAVIOUR of Ghana. They voted for the opposition John Kuffour who after two terms had his own VP also voted against for Atta Mills to now be president. Note that Rawlings' wife contested the primaries against Mills and lost.

Compare that to Nigeria, Obasanjo, Yar'Adua; Tinubu, Fashola, Aregbesola; perpetual presidential candidate Ayatollah Brouhari etc
In summary, when the people take an active interest in their OWN affairs rather than looking up to someone like them as a SAVIOUR then the society will be better.

I do not expect GEJ to reverse himself on the [size=13pt]deregulation of the petrol (PMS) market[/size] that is being misconstrued as removal of subsidy. 
A subsidy that the labour and civil society activists have variously described as phantom, non-existent etc.
GEJ needs to stay strong, bold and courageous till the end on this needful and mecessary economic policy of [size=13pt]deregulation[/size] that plugs a N1.3trillion corruption hole in the federal budget that could otherwise be used for more beneficial things for the masses if we are VIGILANT.
GEJ needs to retool his information team and strategy to dissipate the falsehood that is being peddled over this deregulation that will ULTIMATELY lead to better life after the initial birthing pains.

kulutempa:
Rep Asita Honourable, another Jonathan kinsman on his feet.  It would be nice if all the reps supporting removal of  subsidy can agree to a reduction in their salaries and allowances.

Are they not NORMAL Nigerians?
Have you seen a normal Nigerian on a suicide mission?
No one gives up priviledges without being FORCED to do so. This should be the focus of the OCCUPY movement.
Full VERIFIABLE disclosure on current individual salaries and allowances for ALL political office holders- President, Governors, LG Chairmen, Senators, Federal Reps. State legislators, LG councillors and their Personal/Special Assts., Aides, Parastatal chairmen and Board members etc. Then absolute amounts as targeted reduction over specified period.

ceejayluv:
As long as they have not talked about slashing their obscene salaries and allowances, they are not yet serious on the debate, The economy is at stake here and nobody is giving alternatives to curtail the budget deficit and sundry economic woes- SLASH YOUR ENTITLEMENTS BY 50%!!! then add the savings from subsidy removal. (my opinion)

Let them give specific amounts in millions of naira of how much they will slash from their salaries and allowances AFTER stating how much they earn currently.

dayokanu:
This Mulikat Akande Adeola is a disgrace to my constituency

I initiate RECALL procedure against her if you are serious.
Otherwise talk na just talk!

ekwah:
at muskeeto
"Their salaries is not the issue, make dem chop, their time go come,

The one wey concern masses na susidy,  wetin concern us if dem dey pay dem 2m if we fit till buy fuel 60naira, "

ah their salary na issue big time! settle down my bro and do the economics behind subsidy removal. please do not blind your judgement with sentiments o, just settle down and consider the consequences of subsidy, and its removal on the future of Nigeria's fragile economy. Those so-called senators' salaries and allowances should be slashed! haba! how dem go dey earn dat kind ridiculous amounts when people the suffer abeg for me, their salary and expenditures is a bigger issue o.

Thank you for seeing the big picture.

rhymz:
This yakubu guy from Kaduna is an insincere pretender, why is he not talking about their salaries.

He will have to be a Boko Haramite on suicide mission to do that!

maclatunji:
Honourable Kawu has mentioned the junket to South Africa by GEJ- Big shame!

And how much junket has he received from our taxes in the past eight months (May 2011 - January 2012)
Whil ordinary civil servants in the same government EARN N18,000 minimum wage  
Maybe the man and the other Reps are blackmailing GEJ for not taking them on the SA trip  

Former PENGASSON President is talking. Confirmed Labour man Akpatason!

Did he first mention how much he was paid as a NASS member since May 2011? Anything short of that opening statement is a joke!

rhymz:
The guys that are [size=14pt]not in support of the subsidy removal so far have been very shallow and a lot of them don't even understand[/size] the premise of the budget extension.

There is no good argument against government paying "subsidies" to briefcase petrol (PMS) importers rather than allowing private investors import petrol and build refineris on their own while government collect taxes and citizens remain [size=14pt]VIGILANT on how the taxes are spent[/size].

rhymz:
Fucktards trying to save face by taking advantage of public mood while they deflect us from the main issue, their [size=14pt]obscene[/size] [size=14pt]salaries and emoluments[/size] that is crippling the Nigerian economy. I hope it does not end around populist debate.
I no even sabi wetin dey make these idiots laugh, you guys had better be seriouos or risk a violent revolution.

3 Gbosas to your discernement.

nadkaf:
These guys are just playing to the gallery! Why are they not talking of fighting corruption, [size=14pt]cutting down their salaries[/size], or addressing the compounded security mess the country is in!!! There is little intellectual depth to these debates!

Each member should tell us how much he received in TOTAL including material benefits from the NASS since May 2011 so we know she is serious about her contribution to the debate.
Yeye KLEPTOCRATS.

Nicklee:
There is no law in Nigeria that pegs the minimum wage at N18,000. At best, it is the Fed. Govt. and some states that are currently implementing it. There is no set minimum wage for the private sector and people certainly earn less than N18,000. So setting our min. wage at N18,000 is actually being nice to Nigeria.

The minimum wage is just half of the issue. We need to also examine and compare with the [size=14pt]comprehensive[/size] remuneration of political office holders.
Can you believe that in Lagos where the "progressive" Association of Conmen in Nigeria (ACN) is in charge they have budgeted N96.4b this year for 40 legisLOOTERS, which is 20% of the overall budget of N491.8b. Vanguard

That means almost N2.5b for each legislator. Yet they increased LASU fees from 25,000 to 250,000. Femi Falana kept quiet. They introduced three toll gates for N900 one way, NLC & TUC said nothing.
Kleptomaniacs in government = KLEPTOCRACY  
This will continue as long as the citizens whom they REPRESENT settle for priviledges (crumbs) rather than ask for their rights(bread/cake made from their taxes).
The Yorubas say t'oju ba pofiri, opolopo eniyan l'ole- without adequate vigilance, most people are thieves.[/b]Hence the need to WATCH and hope/pray.
[b]Vigilance for Victory!!!

[quote author=Godman_n link=topic=839257.msg9901219#msg9901219 date=1325775836]As for Buhari, I honestly disagree with u. I think he is clean. He may not be smart and intelligent as a modern leader; he may be pro-Muslims, but he is honest.

But that's not even the issue; let us hold this ones that are there accountable[/quote]Mind explaining how Buhari funded three presidential campaigns and Supreme Court case with SANs without his own money or from those who stole on his behalf while in government?
It is part of the issue- seeking salvation in someone when we each can ask for accountability of our relations, friends, acquintances etc who ultimately are in the corrupt political and business elites.

@ Godman,

It seems you missed this part of my post:

Government has no business of doing business. Its role should stop at monitoring quality and other criteria to ensure fair competition and then tax the profits adequately. Anything else is an invitation to corruption as is evident in economies that are government-led.

Btw, Buhari is also a criminal just like the rest of them except that he knows how to disguise as a clean man just like other religious hypocrites.

The NLC & TUC should tell us FIRST why they did not protest to NASS for spending 25% overhead of our taxed income when Sanusi risked his job by confronting the legisLOOTERS in Abuja.

Precious G:
Telecommunication sector was deregulated. NCC is messed because we don't have good laws to work with. We are all aware dat MTN makes money from Nigeria n takes it to South Africa, but nothing is being done.

The revenue authorities are the ones to ensure the companies pay adequate taxes while NCC ensures quality services and fair competition in teh industry. But the workers can be easily compromised/corrupted if they are on N18,000 minimum wage while [size=14pt]do-nothing legisLOOTERS and their partners-in-crime at the State Houses earn mega millions[/size].
Yet the fake comrades in NLC & TUC do not want to address this pay disparity issue and the excesses in governance that short changes the workers.
Meanwhile please note that MTN, Airtel, Glo, Visaphone etc create jobs, pay salaries and have contributed to the recent growth of Nigerian music and entertainment industry through robus sponsorships.

Precious G:
SLS was bold enough to tell us dat our National Assembly spends 25% of FG overhead, and he was summoned to d Senate house. At d end of d day, d Senate went quiet cos it was true. [size=13pt]Nigerians did not react, NLC did not react, TUC did not react[/size]. Now our President is saying for Nigeria to move forward, we cannot continue paying for fuel subsidy, No problem. I agree its a necessary step but its being timed wrongly.

Our fake comrades in NLC & TUC did not react because they are hoping to also become politicians (comrade legislator, comrade governor, comrade president?) and earn such embarrassingly high amounts for making noise ONLY without making laws. That was why they settled for N18,000 minimum wage that cannot take anyone till month end.

denony:
those countries u mentioned above have steady light year in year out.
In your country people use fuel to get light and other things.

Thank you. I am sure the steady light is not also paid for partly by the government to the [size=14pt]marketers[/size]- or is it
Government has no business of doing business. Its role should stop at monitoring quality and other criteria to ensure fair [size=14pt]competition[/size] and then tax the profits adequately. Anything else is an invitation to corruption as is evident in economies that are government-led.
Btw, this [size=14pt]deregulation[/size] of the petroleum downstream sector coupled with active deregulation of the power sector SHOULD allow real investors come in for efficient production, distribution and pricing for the people's benefit leading to IMPROVED supply rather than the RENT SEEKERS who are milking us dry in the pretext of non-existent subsidy.

Kinikini:
anomimi,

I do not canvass for military style dispensation of justice but at the same time I expect the govt to become serious with stopping corruption.
The govt is def insincere with deregulation. It is a case of political office holders trying to wrestle slush funds from greedy business men i.e markerters so to provide more funds for looting by politicians. Both sides do not have genuine concern for the common man.

The government is You & I and the other 150m plus Nigerians. Not some alien from overseas or outer space!!!
Btw, do you know the name of your LG councillor? I do not mean her political party. Do you know how much she is supposed to earn LEGITIMATELY from her functions??
Same questions for your LG Chairman, State House of Assembly Legislator, National Assembly Representative and Senator.
Do you even know your electoral district names for all these political offices?
I look forward to your honest answer to these questions soon.

Kinikini:
This demonstrations should include demand to review cost of governance in Nigeria. It is absolute shame that there are too many political office holders contributing nothing to Nigeria and yet on high remunerations. Despite they still steal heavily from the govt coffers.
This democrazy is laughable. I have never seen where a political elite is so fabulously rewarded for so much incompetency. From Aso Rock to common councellors, it is same high remuneration for unpardonable incompetency.

So terrible.

That is what the fake [size=14pt]comrades in NLC and TUC[/size] should be fighting vigorously except maybe somehow as the Nation's news story shows they are also [size=14pt]benefitting[/size] from the shennanigans that has been sold to us as governance in Nigeria up till now

Kinikini:
Honestly, does this govt need to even mention this to us or send the greedy marketers to jail with military dispatch.

JONNA, please fight this corruption with your soul. Spare nobody.

In case you left Nigeria before 1999, we are no longer RULED by military dictators who can whip people and throw them into jail at will such as murdereous Ayatollah Buhari did. I can imagine you engaging soldiers, policemen, even fire brigade, KAI etc to forcefully recover a personal debt for you- right 
This is a democracy and you get your case built up solidly then charge the person to court where it is up to the judges to decide the matter.
In the meantime you can explore ways of discouraging her from embarking on a self-destructive route as is being done by the six marketers under investigation.

[quote author=Godman_n link=topic=839257.msg9898772#msg9898772 date=1325752565]Come rain come sunshine, the time for the people to take over our government for the good of our people have come.

Who is not on the street yet?[/quote]Did you post your reply from the street?
Which street?? In which town
Btw, how many Nigerians abroad are in countries where fuel is partly paid for by the government
Fuel is deregulated in the UK, USA, Europe etc where most Nigerians pray and fast just to get their visa and stay put.
Jonathan has made a bold, courageous yet unpopular move in the best niterest of the general masses who should rather ensure that political office holders do not SOLELY enjoy the benefits. Prices will go up now but once genuine fuel importers start bringing in products pending when refineries will work MORE the pump price will start going down. This can be done by re-examining the pay disparity/gap/differentials between ordinary civil servants in Nigeria on one hand and  political office holders- legislators, president, governors, LG Chairmen and their Aides, Special Assts, etc on the other.

FG places marketers under security watch (for sponsoring anti-[size=16pt]deregulation[/size] protests)

The Nation

A MAJOR crackdown on fuel marketers is on the way, The Nation learnt last night.

Security agents are worried over what a source said they see as a covert attempt to fuel the workers’ strike due to begin on Monday.

Under security watch are some marketers and labour leaders, who are believed to be planning to cause chaos nationwide.

Six marketers, who are said to be under probe for alleged covert financial support for some trade union leaders for the impending strike, may be arrested for interrogation, sources said.

Commercial banks have been under surveillance by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following reports of likely huge cash withdrawals by some marketers to back the labour movement.

Security agents are said to have uncovered plans by some aggrieved marketers to bankroll the action with over N1billion slush funds.

It was gathered that a secret meeting was held between some marketers and members of the National Assembly on Tuesday night till early Wednesday to lobby the lawmakers to restore fuel subsidy in the 2012 Budget.
A security source, who cannot be named because of his position, said: “There is more to the strike. Some aggrieved marketers, who have been importing nothing but benefiting from fuel subsidy, are out to destabilise the government.

“We may have no cause than to crackdown on a few marketers trying to destroy the nation’s economy for selfish ends.

“We are probing some marketers for taking undue advantage of the issues raised by Labour to cause mayhem nationwide.

“Security agencies have identified six of the marketers, who are the arrowheads of this covert plot to bring down the government.

“These marketers have voted over N1billion to hijack the labour strike to make the nation ungovernable.

“Some of these marketers will soon be invited for questioning. And whoever is involved might be tried accordingly.”

He did not name the marketers, who the source said “are unhappy because the removal of subsidy will put an end to cooking of records to get refund from government and diversion of subsidised imported fuel to neighbouring countries where they make triple profit”.

He went on: “They are also angry that it will no longer be business-as-usual. They are some of the beneficiaries of fuel subsidy.

“Unfortunately, they have made labour leaders to believe that they are backing Nigerian workers for a just cause.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “These marketers do not even want labour to explore the dialogue option being offered by the Federal Government.

But the CBN Deputy Governor (Operations), Mr. Tunde Lemo, said:  “If anybody is concocting huge withdrawals to finance a national strike, it will fail.

“I think we should all rally round the government to allow this deregulation to succeed. There will be initial pains but Nigerians will enjoy the benefits.”

Pressed further on the security reports, Lemo said: “I am not aware of anything like that yet, but I will be surprised if anybody does that. I don’t think anybody should contemplate that. And whoever does that will face the wrath of the law.”

edoyad:
Well you're making some sense there, but Akwa ibm's is a whopping 100 bn. less than that of lagos. And when you consider that more than half of A. ibom's is sourced from oil derivation funds, i don't think lag has done too badly.

Rather, the taxpayers in Lagos who bear the burden present and future (in terms of loans) to shore up the federal allocation are not doing badly in terms of the substantial contribution in the form of not just only PAYE tax but also different levies, fines, tolls, sundry receipts etc.
It will be intersting to see what Fashola does with all these money extracted from residents of Lagos hence the need for the breakdown asap.

Breakdown please anyone:

Revenue sources - FG allocation, IGR and loans.
Expenditure details- LASHA, Governor's office, capital projects, security/contingency votes etc.

It would be interesting to also have the budgets for Lagos since 1970, if possible.

That is how the bad behaviour of our neighbours affect our own lives.
Hence we should be vigilant and report ANYONE including our relations whose source of money is suspicious and also distance ourselves from such persons rather than adoring, honoring and seeking to also get our own share of their "smart" money.

This is absurd to say the least.
But then we are in a country of absurdities- suffering & smiling!

Good riddance to bad bigot scheming two-face Buhari.
Despite his last minute alliance with the closet ethnic bigot, Ribadun he stood no chance to the better of the bad candidates we had to elect from last April.
Buhari's CPC rigged massively in the states and areas where their supporteres dominate just as PDP did in their own dominant areas. It is certain that Jonathan would still have won with over 50% of total votes and 25% in more than 24 states and the FCT even without the work of some over-zealous governors and PDP chieftains in the SS & SE.
Whatever the case, Buhari's tacit endorsement of the cold blooded killiing of innocent southerners is awful, to say the least. He was offered the opportunity to call his troop of almajiris and under-aged voters to order on AlJazeera on after the elections but he only kept saying the elections been fraudulent.     
Obviously the young army officer who killed his fellow Igbo officers and men in the July 1966 counter-coup as reported on page 37 of:

http://www.omoigui.com/files/military_counterrebellion_july_1966.pdf

has not been able to overcome his deep seated hatred for non-hausa/fulanis Nigerians.

where exactly is the Mall located in Alausa?
Street/junction/major landmarks please.
Thanks.

What did Nicodemus promise Jesus BEFORE He proclaimed salvation into his house?
What do the many Nigerian big men politrickians, civil servants, bank directors & workers promise Adeboye BEFORE he proclaims God's favour into their lives

Princek12:
Naija don suffer. So now or brainiacs are now going to Malaysia.

Nor be today!
Na so dem from Malaysia come take oil palm seedlings in the 1960s. Today na we dey import vegetable oil from Malaysia

Individual congratulations to the guy as this does not change teh situation of the over 150m Nigerians trapped in the geographical entity.

[quote author=Ileke-IdI link=topic=823035.msg9746305#msg9746305 date=1323679966]"Malaysians on the other hand pay me almost N200,000 a month just for my research work, besides paying for materials, conferences and workshops. "I really need to say here that even though [size=14pt]I am not a Malaysian[/size], Universiti Teknologi Petronas, being the number one in oil and gas research in Malaysia, gave me all the necessary and enabling environment to operate and achieve this success.[/quote]Meanwhile so-called progressives are increasing tax-funded university fees to N300,000 while paying minimum wage of N18,000 to their workers
Na so we want take go from third world to first
This guy is lost to the developed world and I will be surprised if he ever makes Nigeria's national (dis)honour awards- Pity.

benlay:
It's so pathetic when some folks come here and post what they do not know, fuel/gas is a natural resources and Nigeria is one of the few countires that is blessed with it. The subsidy came in place when 'government' put people in place to sabotage the refineries so we could start/keep importing fuels to the country.
I will give you an instance -Libya (one of OPEC members)

USA, Britain and a few Scandinavian countries are also "blessed" with oil & gas natural resources. They give no subsidy but allow private investors do their business while government creates the enabling environment and monitors/controls just as is done with Nigeria's GSM since 2001. Evidence to support this governance model abound even in Nigeria. Moreover many able-bodied Nigerians are lining up and going to prayer sessions/vigils for visas to these countries where they have no fuel subsidy- WHY
One decade after we can see the difference with telecommunication service compared to NITEL that was on subsidy life-support without results. The same is true for Nigeria Airways. It is in the interest of everyone, particularly the masses to remove fuel subisdy.