₦airaland Forum

Truckpusher:
[b]Well, it seems you don't understand how international politics works - A country like Nigeria that is situated in Sub Sahara Africa do no need any form alliance with any country militarily except for trade,commerce,tourism and technological improvement in medicine,manufacturing and general development.

The US will never ally with you for any reason unless you're strategically situated against or for their interests and once these two are out of the equation then such alliance has to be questioned and scrutinized unlike South Korea, Vietnam,Turkey,Egypt,Georgia,Saudi Arabia and their second world war allied members and recently Ukraine that they are planning to make a NATO member state by fire by force against Russia's wish which led to the annexation of Crimea.These are their allied nations where their security, Israel's security,oil security and security against the spread of communism is the major factor for such alliance.So , tell me what form of alliance are we allying with this strange bed fellow?

Don't talk about oil - They've stopped buying oil from us ever since they started their shale gas because they were already planning an economic war on Russia.

So, tell me which country is given us so much fear to seek any form of alliance with the US?
[/b]

Funny dude, you completely overlook the fact that the US military is probably the most advanced and equipped force on earth today. Entering into a military alliance with them means that to some measure Nigeria will gain from its vast knowledge and expertise in this area. Do you want us to wait till a rogue country with North Korea-like ambitions crops up in our region before we start scrambling for alliances? Is the multi faceted threat of religious fundamentalism not a sufficient reason to want to have them by our sides.

Your argument would have had some merit if Nigeria had a considerable expertise in weapons and arms development but alas we don't have that. Even countries like South Africa and Australia that are geographically far from immediate threats still enter into alliances, (and they have a developed arms industry than ours) how much more do we need such alliances?

The trick is to forge alliances where our interests are secured.

Sibrah:
He does not have to stop collecting anything. The is a provision for what ihe is getting and it dates back to admin before him, most important is the fact that what is available to ex-head of states is far reasonable compared to some governor getting 25 million.

What the governors collect is approved by law, it's not like it's illegal per se, it's just that it is excessive.

Buhari has to show that his "entitlement" as a former HoS is fair and that of former governors is not. That will be hard to do without some element of double standards, in the interest of fairness he should stop his first before he can go after that of the governors. I doubt this will happen.

Truckpusher:
Going alone on what? wake up bro ,they called it military pact and not industrialization pact.
Are we being invaded?
Are we at war with an enemy we can't take care of ?
You all said Jonathan failed and now Buhari is treading even a part that Jonathan refused once he noticed the double standard from Washington.
Mark my words, we are making a mistake here.

You are giving too much credit to Jonathan, I doubt he noticed any double standards.

Anyway so you think Nigeria, that is not a known arms producer should sit all by itself instead of allying with superpowers that clearly have an edge in military matters? That must be a very naive form of national pride, nations fortify and strengthen themselves by allying with others. Nothing wrong with this as long as each nation enters into alliances where it stands to gain most.

Sibrah:
Why didn't the Governors start it? They are more guilty cos the saw what's bad and decided to benefit themselve rather than protect the people's interest.

It goes to show that the bulk of our governors have just been a greedy lot but as I said Buhari has to start with himself if he wants to put an end to this practise. Till he stops receiving the allowances that is given to him as a former head of state he will achieve very little here, in fact all he can do is persuade and encourage, nothing more. Till then it's all hot air to me.

drlawizle:
Is it allowed to gist about d episodes already watched here?

I don't think so. The Spoilers thread is nowhere to be found.

Sibrah:
Really!
That does not make what the governors are doing right, somebody has to correct all of them and I am glad Buhari is.

No excuses for the governors at all but Buhari should have to start with himself if he is sincere about this.

Truckpusher:
Unfortunately too many iidiots are beginning to praise this dummy of a man for this diplomatic disaster that he is about to unleash on Nigerians.


Encouraging any close military ties with the US at this time when Boko Haram have been weakened is a blunder that would see terrorism flourish here.

Mark my words.

I would rather trust my common sense as a leader of a country than look East or west - They do not have the interest of any black nation in their agenda and we are far way smarter to be sucking up to their asss in the 21st century.

Jeez ! small small we dun dey enter another round of neocolonialism?

Buhari if you try am eh the thunder that would fire you would be manufactured in Okigwe.

Are you of the view that Nigeria or any nation for that matter can go it alone in this era of globalisation? If that's true then you are gravely mistaken.

TheOtherview:
What do you know about research?
Ever taken the time to study Russia's encroachment into the Baltics? Ethiopia under Mengistu?
I bet you have absolutely no inkling of the annexation of Finland, Kaliningrad, and lands across other frontiers, by the USSR.
Empire building of any sort is akin to a handshake that goes beyond the elbow, get it?

@texazzpete is absolutely right - you dine with all of them with a long spoon, if you've got any sense at all.

I didn't even see your post before I sent in my rejoinder to his post. Nice one. How anyone can say a wicked Russia is better than the US is just completely comical.

chidekings:
bro do ur research well..a wicked russia is 100 percent better than a good USA

What research? You obviously are not a student of international relations. Look at nations that depended solely on Russia as allies and see how they turned out.

Sibrah:
Buhari is right on this, how can a governor serve for 8 years and give himself life pension? What about worker who put in 20 years. To make it worse these people while in power give themselves all manner of aides who get pay and normal pension too.

Doesn't Buhari himself receive an allowance for life for forcefully taking over government in 1983?

PassingShot:
Has anyone said it will be easy to achieve?

Surely you must equally agree that it is commendable for GMB to even think in this line.

At the end of the day we will all assess Buhari by the things he was able to do not the thoughts he had no matter how commendable they may appear.

I refuse to be swept up in all the euphoria that is going around just because Buhari is now president elect, let him deliver first before I start pouring outbthe commendations.

PassingShot:
Did you read that he will persuade and encourage the states to repeal the laws?

Persuasion and encouragement? That's all he can do. Surely you will agree that this is going to be very difficult to achieve, I wonder what he will tell the likes of Fashola, Akpabio and Tinubu to give up their juicy after-office allowances.

C'mon,how can these people manufacture stories like this with inpunity?

Sahara Reporters and its long running romance with falsehood.

Fellonigerians:
In figuring out whether the cost of a product can come down, you look at the cost components. According to PPPRA the breakdown of the price of fuel based on average Platts’ data for December 29, 2014 showed the following:

Landing Cost - $644.92 per metric ton or N82.41 per litre (cost and freight (N72.40K), traders’ margin (N1.28K), lightering expenses (N3.91K), Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA charge (N0.67K), financing (N0.35K), jetty/depot thru’ put charge (N0.80K) and storage charge (N3.00K)).

Distribution margin - $121.22 per ton, or N15.49 per litre (retailers (N4.60K), transporters (N2.99K), dealers (N1.75K), bridging fund (N5.85K), marine transport average (N0.15) and administrative charge (N0.15K))

Total cost to about $766.14 per ton, or N97.90.

Therefore, price of fuel can be reduced if we refine enough for our local demand because aside from the cost of the product, some of the components especially charges by middlemen and agencies and businesses can be removed or reduced.

Am not an expert, just trying to analyze this in simple terms. I don't expect it to get to N40 immediately, but once you reduce the price by stopping importation of fuel, you can now go further to closely analyze the actual cost of producing fuel in Nigeria, and it could possibly go down some more.

Interesting submission however when matters of the cost of petrol come up I usually look around to see if/where other nations are experiencing the same thing because crude oil which is the source of petrol is an internationally traded commodity, it is subject to an international trend in a manner of speaking. How come in other countries without any form of subsidy in place and where they have fully functional local refineries they are not able to buy petrol for $0.02/litre (~N40)?

Even with the drop in world crude prices I think that figure is very unrealistic.

People should disabuse their minds from these unrealistic expectations. Even if Buhari magically repaired all our refineries in a fortnight there is no way he will achieve this feat.

Fellonigerians:
If he can get our refineries to start producing at even half of their capacity, will be a good start. 75-100% capacity equals and exceeds our local demand. Dangote's refinery will come on in 2018, and triple our local demand. We can then be exporting the excess to our neighbors and be generating income for the country.

We are talking about reducing fuel to N40/l in 2015 or the near future. I say that is unrealistic. Even with 142 refineries in the USA they don't buy petrol for the equivalent of N40/l.

^^ not you too? SMH.

Read the report and reason it out yourself, where did Shell give the FG that kind of money? How much did the company make as profit during that period?

People should stop jumping into threads without asking if the details of the threads add up or even make sense.

I've got to run out of here before I lose sight of reality.

^^People are still here talking about a false or misleading report.

It is true what they say, NL is fast going to the dogs. SMH

eziokwu2015:
I am not advocating for Subsidy. That's a last option for countries that can't refine or their refineries are not meeting local demand.
Why Subsidy? We have four refineries, why cant they work? If govt can't run them, then sell controlling shares to the organised private sector and let them run the refineries. If my memory serves me right, OBJ did sell the refineries but NASS incited Yaradua's govt to reverse it. DIezeani promised Nigerians that the "original manufactures" will carry out TAM and put them back in shape. We spent $Billions, yet we are still at ground zero.

Look at the Nigerian budget and the frivolous expenses of the state/ presidency, Different MDG's, the NASS etc. We can do better than these and channel these billions to tangible things that will benefit the common man.

Subsidy is the last option for countries that can't refine or meet local demand? Oga that's not why subsidy was put in place o.

Even if government curbs the excesses in its spending selling petrol at N40/l will still be unachievable, for that to even happen it means there will even be a larger subsidy than what we have in place now.

Any talk about reducing petrol to N40 now is unrealistic at best.

I'm I the only one here who is yet to see where this report says Shell paid the FG $48billion?

eziokwu2015:
If we maintain a lean/ moderate govt both at the state house/ presidency and NASS, its possible to subsidize fuel cost, health cost, transportation cost, provide adequate energy to the citizens and even loan to other African Nations. We can grow our reserves to $100 Billion (if we are prudent)

Subsidy will not help in growing the country's reserves. It is ideally a temporal measure till the industry it is applied to is roboust enough. I am no expert on these matters but I can tell you that if it's subsidy which you are advocating for then this country will continue to remain the way it has always been.

$48 Billion?

Where in the report does it say that Shell paid the FG $48billion from 2010 - 2014, I must have missed it.

If it can shown, how much did Shell make as profit during those years.

It doesnt add up.

tbaba1234:
Power reform started under Obj. Governance is a continum. You do not enter government and press reset, you improve what is on ground.

Sounds less like change and more like transformation, no?

tbaba1234:
Definitely not five years.

Your brand of optimism verges on the unreal. You mean to tell me that you believe that fixing the four existing refineries back to full capacity and building news ones, all in a bid to improve our local refining capacity can be done in less than 5 years?

989900:
Until February when the Naira virtually got murdered, Venezuela, Egypt, Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Bahrain, Libya, and a few others had pump price at about N40/L or less.

Even now, pump price is still roughly N4/L (u heard that right 4Naira/L) in Venezuela,N22/L in Libya, N32/L in Saudi.

They still get free gas to all households in Turkmenistan, and 120 Litres free petrol every month (not sure if they still give out that much lately).

You are listing countries that subsidise the cost of petrol for their citizens, this wouldn't have been a problem except that we all agree that subsidies are ultimately counter productive, should not be in place for a very long and have to go sometime.

Go back and look through countries that don't have any subsidy on petrol, which is what I stated in my initial post, and check if any of them buy petrol for N40/litre.

tbaba1234:
Fixing already existing refineries will not take five years.

Dangote refinery will also come online soon.

How soon is soon? Do you know how long it takes to commission a new refinery? I can assure you that given the state of the government owned refineries fixing them will take a considerable amount of time.

tbaba1234:
Many agree subsidy must go but government should improve local refining capacity first. That way, the shock is managed.

Nigerians are in for a long thing if that's so, fixing the refineries/increasing local refining capacity is a project that will span several years, maybe 5 years in the least. When will Buhari then remove the fuel subsidy if that's the case?

arsetalks:
It is very possible with sincerity to fight the subsidy scam. Gej and pdp have been shouting cabal in the oil subsidy, are these people invisible? Or how come nor of them have been brought to book?

Remove or reduce the scam in that industry and you would see how possible N40 per litre is.

There is no where in the world that petrol sells for the dollar equivalent of N40/litre. Even the countries that are enjoying the fall of petrol prices without any subsidy from their government don't buy petrol at that price. Quit trying to maintain this obstinacy of yours, this is the most unrealistic thing to expect from Buhari.

brownlord:
These media houses should respect themselves, If they continue like this I sense that dreaded DECREE 4 in no distant time

Are you by any means silently praying for a return to dictatorship in Nigeria? Hmmm

BluePearls:
Mhen, how did they let dis happen? four episodes leaked? enough suspense ruined..or was it intentional?

I doubt it's intentional, HBO has nothing to gain from leaking the show. Thing is many people will watch these four episodes at once then revert to waiting for one episode a week in the near future. Funny.

iamoyindamola:
I dnt think there's continuity in dis season
Cos y is tyrion with beards

Obviously some time had passed, perhaps a few weeks, since his act of patricide at KL.

#This is not a spoiler!

2fine2fast:
Integrity pays.
Now he doesn't have to pay rent
For at least four years in the same Abuja.
The only difference this time is that he is
now occupying the most beautiful, powerful
and secured house in Abuja.

Sai Baba

There are building more beautiful than the state house here in Abuja, you know.