₦airaland Forum

efisher: *I'm ignoring every unnecessary and immature squabble with other posters*

@ Topic, The target of fuel subsidy removal is not to solve all our problems but to ensure the more efficient use of our resources. I have interacted with some of the top players in the refining business and one point that stands out whenever they talk about Nigeria is the fact that Nigeria is in a good position to refine locally except for the impracticable policies that stand in the way. What do they mean? Two major (basic) ingredients are required for success in this business. They are:
1. Access to free on board (FOB) Crude
2. Access to Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) market.

Guess what: we have both! The problem however is that the CIF market is subsidized and regulated by the government. The only antidote therefore is to deregulate it. Subsidy however, stands in the way of deregulation.

The argument at this point should not be whether or not subsidy should be removed but how it should be removed. Should it be in phases? Should an alternative be provided b4 its removal? Should a new market to support local refining be created? Etc. These are the issues on which we should be exerting our brain power.

The above is a truly brilliant summary. We run everything in Nigeria upside down. It is suprising that govts have expected private refineries to take off when the CIF market is subsidised; there would be no way for them to compete and turn a profit. We need to ask ourselves why not one of the 18 private refinery licenses awarded in Obj's time have borne fruit.
We cannot continue with ad hoc policies of military regimes that absolutely lack in philosophical grounding and have led us to the barren ground we now occupy.

The fuel subsidy is a communist policy that effectively puts every woman, child and man on welfare, yet we claim to be a capitalist nation. It is a similar policy that see's every state and LG on welfare with monthly beggar paychecks from Abuja, yet we wish to develop.

For us to benefit from petroleum, the sector needs to be entirely deregulated as applies elsewhere. To that end, it is also good to see that among the plans for the subsidy removal is a new framework that will see NNPC stop having a hand licenses and instead becoming a standards body with no money to share out. Hopefully, the PIB will also be given accelerated viewing and passed in the next few months; then the full benefits of deregulation will become visible.

Gbawe: If you see issues clearly you will note that it is highly likely Yar Adua and GEJ, without doubt, used "independent" marketers

Why tell lies? Or speak from both sides of the mouth?
How can something be "highly likely" and "without doubt?"

Lets stick to facts, without seeding our arguments with dishonesty and meat sellers innuendo.

Onlytruth:
^

My brother let them go already! lol

You are right! But we need to fully understand where these people are coming from in order to give them what they want without unecessary bloodshed.
This is the shocking thing CPC national secretary Bubu Galadima had to say:

[size=14pt]'Reward Boko Haram'[/size]

Opposition parties and in particular those in the north, such as the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), say the government is underestimating the amount of support Boko Haram has among the population.

CPC national secretary Bubu Galadima said many people in the north felt marginalized and excluded from wealth and opportunity.

"The people are sympathetic to certain principles and ideas," he told the BBC.

"If people feel they are being denied anything or an injustice is being meted out to them then there is a likelihood that they will take the law into their own hands and help themselves."

Mr Galadima, who is from near Damaturu, where last week's attack took place, raised the case of the former militants from the oil-rich Niger Delta who were given generous financial packages from the government to keep them out of trouble.

"Why didn't the president crush the Niger Deltans? That's a questions a lot of people in this part of the country are asking," he said.

"Instead they are being rewarded for the economic destruction they brought Nigeria. Why can't the same be true for Boko Haram?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15690981

Could the reason for boko haram be the realisation of Arewa Republic? It is not farfetched.
There are core-Northern elite who have realised that they will never again have an iron grip over Nigeria, so they might want a breakaway Arewa that they can sit on; just like they sat on Nigeria.

For those who the the core-North is just sand, they should think again, every part of Nigeria (including the core-North) is blessed with minerals and all neighbouring countries that share the Lake Chad basin have discovered oil.
It is 99% certain that there is oil in the core-North, and that could explain boko haram and why there could be method to the madness.

Even though the core-Northern elite have staunchly refused to condemn boko haram, there have been repeated calls by the very same people for govt to offer amnesty to the terrorists or to negotiate with them. This is a rather curious position, it raises the point that boko haram members are known to those making the suggestions; otherwise, who will broker the deal?
When the amnesty for the ND was tabled to Yar Adua by GEJ, he actually personally took a helicopter without security to Tompolo's den in the creeks and talked one on one with the deadly militants. Is any of the core-Northern elite willing to take such a risk, or are they willing boko haram on in the expectation that they will be rewarded with Arewa, an empire that they can milk as they milked Nigeria?

-Beaf

afam4eva:
Please interprete the bolded.

It would help boko harams evil strategy if they can keep the South divided by not destroying the environment that has seen men like Bisi Akande calling their murderous rampage a revolution (amongst similar utterances to come from his party).

chipmunkey:
My prayer for the rest of the year is that the bomb attacks don't get to Lagos.

The SW is the area in the South that is most lukewarm to boko haram, so it would be id!otic strategy for them to bomb Lagos.
Let us pray instead, that Delta state youths stop being bravely stup!d and stop bombing Muslims.

muyoto:
some people are clearly after the downfall of this government. It is becoming clearer by the day.

make it look like a religious war, but their real intention is for the crises to approach a point where a military intervention becomes glaringly inevitable.

and what better way to achieve that than to get Christians & Muslims and go after each other.

I bet they (whoever the are) will be pretty disappointed that other than the isolated incident in Delta State, there hasn't been a more ferocious retaliation to the Xmas bombing.

Dude, military intervention is impossible in this day and age. Any such adventure will immediately lead to a bloody war.

It is simply that the core-Northern elite do not want the country to make progress under GEJ, so they are attempting to divert govts attention from development to security. That is the real goal of boko haram.

Evil Brain:
The way forward is to invest the little money we have in areas that will grow the economy, instead of wasting it on government salaries, security vote and presidential food.

We need to spend the bulk of our budget on power plants, railways, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, sewage systems, mass transit, broadband networks. If the government can just do it's own little part, the Nigerian people will lift themselves out of poverty.

The poblem is that the people in power have no interest in doing the right thing. Take subsidy for instance. I understand that susidising fuel is not the most efficient use of our resources, but the governement has taken the N600billion budgeted for it last year and put it in next year's recurrent expenditure. Trust GEJ to find an even more useless way to waste our money.

And how do you hope to achieve these things out of thin air? All you are doing is scratching the surface, the problem is deeper and it is that Nigeria is a hurriedly knocked together entity that lacks the sort of deep philosophical grounding a countries like say, the US have.

The only solution to Nigeria's problems is an end to chaos, it is not ill-fitting subsidies or throwing money at problems in an ad hoc way as you have requested. You cannot simply begin building roads and bridges, there has to be a clear-cut reason why. Every road, bridge, school etc must be built to secure a clear-cut, well thought out, predefined purpose; otherwise money would have been thrown into a chasm to disappear forever and further add to the chaos that is at the root of our problems.

What Nigeria needs, even before spending a dime, is a defining national ideology that can only be born out of a brand new citizen-state contract.
The route to the brand new citizen-state contract is a wholesale constitutional change that will redefine how Nigeria is made up; what responsibilities states, LG's and the FG hold toward the citizen and what is expected in return from the citizen. True federalism.
Right Now, there is no bond between citizen and state in Nigeria as there is in other countries; Nigeria to most Nigerians is at best a piece of land on which either they or their parents were born, it is this feeling of not belonging that feeds the ever growing ogre of chaos that is the Nigerian system.

There has to be a defined framework a country works to and its citizens need a definition of their nationality that reinforces their self-worth, belonging and personal philosophies of existence. The people are what matter, they determine the national psyche and its ability to produce and innovate; empty bridges and soulless roads do not matter. Ask mao's China; out of perennially embarrassing droughts, farmines and pestilences that killed millions in the 70's, they have stormed to World leadership a generation later. It is the people and their contract with the state that matters, not bridges and other lifeless things.
A simple test for most; will you die for Nigeria?

This is the thrust of what I stated in the original article:

Beaf: No country can succeed or even function without a national ideology, currently we flounder in every direction and at every task, and that is because we lack the unity of purpose a shared ideology can forge. We do not even have a simple motto or phrase around which Nigerians can feel empowered and energised.
Ideology gives root to productive defined structures and feeds them to produce society that is always optimally productive. It creates the harmony that can drive a diverse people to act as one and achieve mighty things. Therefore, it goes without saying that Nigeria must discard her current chaotic structure, which is at the root of all of our problems, from corruption to tribalism.
We must instead, strive for a structure  that is ideologically driven, one that is egalitarian and inspires confidence in the young and old.  The new structure, optimised for our multi-ethnicity, would guarantee a sense of belonging and duty in every citizen. The new structure would need to be a deeply thought out form of true federalism.

With true federalism, a massively populated country like Nigeria would always put the right foot first and develop at a pace that would be the envy of other nations. True federalism is the job we need to complete.

Throwing money at bridges and roads etc without a backing national philosophy will only see us churning water without results. Development is not a surface thing, it requires deep thinking and application. It requires strong institutions imbued with the enduring philosophies and ideology of the state. Strong institutions outlast individuals and fads, they embody the standards that banish chaos, enforce due process and unshackle creativity to explode; because even the efforts of the lowly are guaranteed to be rewarded without a wink and and a bribe.

koruji:
GEJ never disappoints with his simplistic solutions. Increase the size of the corrupt & incompetent police without any iota of reforms to its structure, processes, function and administration - that should teach BH!!!!

Do you yet know the details of his plans or are you just gossipping and rumour mongering as usual with mama Bisi?

oyb:
our dumb failure at character assasination is at it again.

amazing, this hypocrite ,  a thug who regularly spams with ejiotic gifs pretends not to know that evil brain is a gamer and the gif is gamer bragadaccio, take me on and i will kick your Bottom, sort of like the way beaf is regularly shafted with no vaseline by his intellectual superiors on nl

in any event, anyone would be mildly disturbed when contemplating the simpleton in aso rock

You are an exemplary definition of the word, fool.
There are very few people outside the insane that will defend a threat to ra'pe; its possible that you have actually gone mad from your bouts of red-eyed hatred and bigotry.

How does one bath a swine?

[quote author=El-Rufai]El-Rufai is amazed that General Buhari cannot debate this matter without scurrying to the gutter, making claims that are baseless and unsupported by any facts. Mallam El-Rufai’s tenure as FCT minister was a period of stellar performance in remaking our federal capital. Despite the difficult decisions that had to be taken to restore Abuja, Mallam El-Rufai continues to receive deserved praise and recognition for his achievements in restoring the Abuja master plan, introducing Nigeria’s first computerised land registry and helping thousands of Nigerians achieve their dreams of home ownership in the federal capital. Buhari is perhaps one of a tiny few blinded by their prejudice from recognising the quality of El Rufai’s service.

That same prejudice accounts for the baseless claims of corruption Buhari levels against El Rufai. The fact is that Mallam El-Rufai served Nigeria with integrity and has never been convicted of any corrupt act. He is boldly contesting the false charges which the Yar’Adua government filed against him in court. It is strange that a Buhari who protests when unproven claims of N2.5 billion (about US $3billion in those days!) missing oil funds are levelled against him can gleefully elevate similar claims into facts when it concerns another. How would Buhari feel if the corruption allegations made against him by Group Captain Usman Jibrin, then a board member of PTF, are today reported as if they were proven facts? So much for “corrupt background” and “shoddy performance”.

Mallam El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new. Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history.

The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day.

Mallam El-Rufai respects both Generals Buhari and Babangida as elder statesmen. He believes their age, experience and guidance may contribute to the success of any future government. El-Rufai however believes that it is time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome democratic attitude to move our nation forward. The vicious response by the Buhari camp to a simple statement that their almost-70 principal should retire is proof enough that a Buhari, the new Democrat, tolerant of views different from his own, is yet to evolve. And that is sad, for his fledgling party and its leadership. Buhari and his cohorts may wish to reflect that it will take more than attacks on personalities to become electable. Having seen his version of discipline, Nigerians are not likely to cherish an encore. But they will welcome an engagement with the issues and problems of everyday life that have hobbled the peoples of this land[/quote]And yet, El-Rufai is now working under Buhari? LOLZZ?
How else can one define political prost!tution?

The Senate is supposed to be a place of calm, experienced people that should say things that are wise and we all look up to, but some of the people in that Senate are just a joke, I hope one day this country will grow up and get rid of some of them, because they are giving the whole legislature a bad name, I am sorry, I have been through this, we are going to challenge them in court. Already, some people have gone to court, they investigate a company they said it’s not doing well, so they revoked the sale. How can you revoke a contract? A contract agreement that was validly executed can only be revoked if there are violations of the terms of agreement. What terms were violated? Many of these things will end up in court for the next ten years. Nothing can be revoked. The people that bought them are rich people, they are business men, they will challenge them in court, but you know they make these ridiculous recommendations and what is sad about many of these recommendations when you check, you find that some of the recommendations came because they asked the person for money and he didn’t give them. This is how they operate.

So El Rufai boldly states that rich people are above the law!
Wetin man no go see for 9ja?

Senate approved it. That is one. Secondly they said I should be reprimanded, for what, you reprimand your employee when he is working for you. Who is going to reprimand me? Nobody in this country is big enough to reprimand me because I work for nobody. I work for myself. So, it is idiotic to say reprimand someone who does not work for you. They don’t understand these things and what is painful for me is that they are giving the important national institution like the Senate a bad name. When Senators from the US and members of the House of Lords read some of these reports they will just laugh and say what kind of country is this?

Sombori bera tell El Rufai that Nigeria is far bigger than him.

Batam:
I guess this guy called beaf lacks home training. How can you called an old man a fool someone that is old enough to be your grandfather, why do you want to die young? Remember honour your father and your mother so that your days may long on earth mind you it's not your parents alone but any that is old enough to be you parents. Please, find a better way of adressing an elder.

The man is not just a fool despite his age, but a bloodsucking arsehole as well.

soloqy:
He is in fact, very confused. In his first post, he says GEJ hasnt done anything in 22 months, then he says he doesnt think removing him will solve the problem. Then he talks about 'obstructionism'.

This is his profile pic. It clearly say's, "I will ra'pe you."
A lot of these people are disturbed.

[img]https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=dlattach;id=301545;type=avatar[/img]

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=profile;u=507849

[quote author=Negro_Ntns link=topic=835125.msg9860501#msg9860501 date=1325213177]Allright. . I will leave you alone and let you continue your "fresh air" politics.   Tell GEJ Negro say hi.   

Remember that your tribe man, GEJ is the chief of 'running mouth diseas" patients when in the aftermath of babies shredded into parts he said. . . . "it will fizzle out"![/quote]You are as empty headed and traitorial as your ACN circus acts. Firstly, GEJ is the President of Nigeria, so I do not see what his ethnic group should matter in this argument, except to the insane.
Secondly, I am not of the same ethnic group as GEJ; I also wonder what my ethnic group has to do with you and ACN's id!otic claims that the boko haram murders are a revolution.

You sicken me.

efisher:
@Mr. Gbawe, why do you then claim my perspective on this issue is tied to my preference in the 2011 elections. Why must it be so? Did I mention GEJ in my post? Do you think I'm that jobless to live my life around GEJ? Ever since April 2011, all you have ever done is live your life around an election that has long produced your present president. If you can't desist from labeling others with different political views from yours, there's no point discussing with you cos it leaves a bad after-taste. In fact, I'm done with you.

The bolded is pitiable. Nobody should be racked with so much hate.

@topic
I wonder when Nigerians will finally realise that they have been sold cheaply into slavery for N65.00 per litre petrol? I feel really pained when folk make passionate arguments to remain in economic chains, it really makes one wonder.
What sort of country subsidises consumption? All developed oil producers DO NOT subsidise fuel for consumption, its only the backward developed countries that do so; instead, they see subsidies as investments to be poured into productive areas like research, education, agriculture, health, manufacturing etc. But not Nigeria, cos everything we do is upside down.

[quote author=Negro_Ntns link=topic=835125.msg9860473#msg9860473 date=1325212635]Why then do you keeping harping on Buhari, instead of Bisi Akande as their sponsor?

Hmm. . .let me test your political understanding. Is it not a revolution? [/quote]Why don't you insult yourself by asking yourself such a foolish question?
It is only certain types that would look on the bodies of babies shredded by mongrels spouting a desire fore illiteracy, and declare it a revolution. I spit on them.

^
I guess the truth is painful that ACN sounds like a gang of traitors. Even the core-Northern CPC is not in support of boko haram as ACN is.
Imagine a clown telling us that the bombings of innocent Nigerians is a revolution! Thats Bisi Akande's running mouth disease for you.

^
Nobody gives a phuck about an "opposition" that sounds more like a bunch of traitors, its even worse when they are hurrah singers for boko haram.

colomb:
Note how all these so called clerics verbally condemn the christmas bombings but none actually hit da nail by openly sayin boko haram is evil & that all civil-muslims must reject them.

Exactly! They just make oblique statements that are not addressed to boko haram. It was the same thing with the Sultan of Sokoto; maybe they think we are fools.

Its not just ACN's Lai Mohammed that talks senselessly like ACN is a pack of traitorial subversives. Bisi Akande also said boko haram is a revolution!
I could burst into tears.

[size=14pt]Jonathan’s adviser lambasts ACN
…They have running mouth disease[/size]
From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS, Abuja
Friday December 30, 2011

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Ali Gulak, has lambasted the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for its comment on national issues. Gulak also hailed the validation of the April 2011 presidential election in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the confirmation was a unanimous decision.

He called on the opposition parties, especially the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to put politics behind them and as Mr. President has said, “should join hands with the government and move this country forward.” Gulak charged the opposition parties, most importantly, the ACN, to always differentiate between politics and national issues.

According to Gulak, “And when national issues are on the front burner, all hands must be on deck to see to it that the issues are resolved positively to get this country forward.
“The statements by some Nigerians, especially, the opposition, the ACN in particular, is unfortunate. Some of them have what I call the ‘running mouth disease’ and if people like Lai Mohammed, with his experience and what he profess to have, and what he claim to be – nationalist, keeps on making derogatory statements about the government and about the nation, then it is unfortunate. “And this disease of theirs, the running mouth, is incurable and Nigerians should see them as such.

“The transformation agenda of Mr. President is the best thing that will happen to this country. Some people feel they can distract the government and deny Nigeria of this positive change. God will not allow them,” Gulak stated. On the security challenges bedeviling the nation, he stated that Jonathan and the security chiefs, are working round the clock to see to it that the challenges are tackled, saying: “We hope and pray that with the new challenges the security agents are adopting, this thing will be a thing of the past.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/dec/30/national-30-12-2011-009.html

[size=14pt]Innovators, Episode 4, Part 4 of 4: The Future of Robotic Warfare[/size]

[flash=420,315]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_atffUtxXtk[/flash]

mikeansy:
If they have any concience they will spend more time faulting Boko Haram.

Word.

@omo tier

You might also find this post interesting, to my mind, these are the real issues pulling our country backwards:

Beaf: [size=14pt]Sovereign Nairaland Conference[/size]

It can be easily argued and observed that Nigeria is not a nation. It is no more than a piece of land on which we exist. We have never entered into a contract between regions and ethnicities that would define the basis of our nationality. The very vagueness of a national definition is at the root of every pressing Nigerian problem. To what does the citizen owe their citizenship? What does the Nigerian state owe the citizen? What is the contract between citizen and state?
Sadly, there is no answer to any of the above, because the formation of the country was faulty and built on the wrong premises; take some of the most explosive statements of some of our “founding fathers”; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-412959.32.html#msg5690683

If the founders of this country either had little faith or wicked plans for its future; it is not surprising that, in 1966, just 6 years after independence; the Aburi Accord documents were shredded and the country was at war. The tragic cost was no less than 3 million of lives. To this day, there has been no recompense, remembrance or mutually beneficial resolution and tempers are still high with the East left out of the Nigerian system.

The story was told by the late Mallam Aminu Kano himself (a true and convinced nationalist) of how, when he opted to study law instead of going to the teachers' college decreed by the British District Officer (D.O), his father was summoned by the district head and berated and threatened with sanction if he failed to convince his 'errant son' to drop his idea of studying law for primary school teaching, which the D.O. decreed. The young Aminu said he had to obey to save his poor parent from threatened indignities for producing a son who defied the British design on education for the North.

In other words, the British deliberately prepared two pseudo nations of Nigeria: A conservative, sectarian pan-Arabist North, and a Westernised secular South. This dichotomy of North and South has remained with us. We all know how efforts to balance the ethnic and political and religious equation of the North and South led to Chief Awolowo's treasonable felony trial of 1962, and also to the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70.

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/narticles/national_conference_need_to_make.htm

There is a quota system and Federal Character system that many are unhappy with, because, it seems to promote mediocrity above merit. This directly impinges on pace of development.

The country is 100% dependent on oil, gone are the groundnut pyramids, cocoa and palm nut industries of pre-independence times. Indeed, Malaysia acquired their oil palm industry know-how from Nigeria (the then, foremost producer) along with a couple of palm nuts. Today, Malaysia is the foremost producer and a developed country, while our oil palm industry has perished and we are classified as a state in danger of failure.

Nigeria is located close to the equator, but does not utilise Solar Energy and is afflicted with a comatose electricity supply system. We cannot seem to harness our peculiar environment for our own benefit; always looking to Europe and the US for solutions to peculiar Nigerian problems. The same lack of self pride and identity is evident in several areas of Nigerian life; made in Nigeria goods are discouraged and despised and many cannot speak their mother tongue.

Shocking human rights problems in the Niger Delta have led to the formation of local militias. These militias have directly threatened the Nigerian economy and stability by attempting to drive out the oil companies that have polluted their lands and destroying oil infrastructure. The Niger Delta is the most polluted oil producing area in the World, there is very little federal government assisted development, yet the area produces 98% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange.

Nigeria runs a unitary system of government; it can be argued that this is at the root of all our problems.

Nigeria is said to be a federation of ethnic nationalities. However, the country is run as a unitary system where the central government is overly strong and dictatorial. It gained its style from the British colonial government that invaded, fought and conquered the already independent peoples who lived around the River Niger. So by 1960, after the forceful amalgamation of the so-called southern and northern protectorates, Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa, was born by becoming independent. At its birth about 300 different ethnic nationalities or groups were forced against their wishes to form the union, like in the former Soviet Union which had about 120 ethnic groups.

http://www.greens.org/s-r/46/46-06.html

The purpose of this National Conference is to enable the 300 plus ethnic groups to negotiate modalities of inter-ethnic co-existence and state-ethnic partnership or severance. The lack of such modalities has led to frighteningly brutish pogroms such as the recent Jos occurrences. In 3 months, 1000 lives have been lost in Jos, this is equivalent to losses from all out war between, not one, but several countries. Without a framework or contract for co-existence, our 300 plus ethnic groups have come to see the overly strong and dictatorial central government as the only price worth fighting for and have become willing tools in the hands of evil men.

This National Conference will also thrash out logical propositions for our development. How Nigeria can move from a single commodity country to one that has a diverse and technologically advanced economy. This entails the formulation a workable citizen-state contract and the reorganisation / optimisation of the Nigerian federal architecture in such a way that there is an efficient symbiosis between citizen and state.

---

[size=14pt]Please come forward with your proposals and suggestions for a vibrant, workable Nigeria.[/size]

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-412959.0.html

[quote author=Omo_Tier1 link=topic=500596.msg9860090#msg9860090 date=1325202465]while I concur with the submission in your last pgh, the preceeding comment is completely uncalled for. The truth remains that it is the poor mangement of [size=14pt]our collective wealth [/size] by the FG that has resulted in the fuel subsidy being abused by a collective few. The fact is, WE CAN GROW THE NIGERIA ECONOMY WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING A DIME OF THE MONIES MENT FOR FUEL SUBSIDY!

If you take the monumental corruption of Fertilization programme for farmers by the FG in the last 10years, that alone would be enough for the Zimbabwean farmers to create a huge food bank for their nation.

The bottom line is this: MISAPPROPRIATION OF WEALTH by Dispotic leadership whose belly forever remains their god!

Think of how much the local economies of the performing state governments in the last 5years have grown and imagine what could have happened if the FG had taken leadership with fiscal consolidation rather than engaging in frivolous expenditures.[/quote]What do you mean by "our collective wealth?"
We are not a communist country.

Continuing with the communist theme, neither China (which has vast reserves) nor Russia (with double Nigeria's oil reserves), have any fuel subsidies for consumer use. Are we more communist than those countries? It is only in places like Nigeria and other developmental backwaters that govt has been daft enough to subsidise consumerism with the direct effect that productivity has dropped to zero. In other countries, it is productive ventures that are subsidised; things like industry, research, agriculture, education, health etc, because these places are led by people who realise that a subsidy is NOT a gift, but an investment that will grow for the future of the country.

It is hard to understand the degree of foolishness in the leaders minds that produced such a policy as subsidising consumption, but they are mostly ex-soldiers who would otherwise be illiterates. We can not continue on the doomed path they set us on, in fact any wise person can look around themselves and see the ruins from past our monumental errors.
We can only turn away from that moribund model and in future, even the NNPC will not be allowed to trade in oil, the entire chaotic system that only bred corruption and misery will be swept away.

As for what you call "performing states," thats just rubbish. What state in Nigeria can survive without federal allocations? Are the so-called "performing states" manufacturing goods? Do they have expanding industrial and scientific bases that are providing employment for the people?
"Performing states" my foot.

What Nigeria requires is true federalism, complete deregulation and the total withdrawal of the FG from running any sort of business. I posted the following about the root of corruption on another thread yesterday, but it is relevant here as well:

[s]First of all, what is your claim that our refineries cannot or are not operating at more than 30% capacity based on? Sentiment, rumour or solid facts and figures? I challenge you to back up your words or withdraw them.[/s]

Secondly, you have mentioned corruption as a problem as if it exists only in govt, whereas it is an all-pervasive Nigerian disease. To you, corruption might be Nigeria's worst problem, but not everyone shares that belief.
A little meditation easily throws up chaos as the real reason why nothing works in Nigeria.

Corruption itself is merely a symptom of chaos. The reason chaos breeds corruption, is that there are no standard approaches to doing things, everything is done in a crazy, adhoc, cut and nail manner; and in the do-or-die scrambles that result, laws (where they exist) are broken, principles compromised, lives lost, police forces become "roger" collectors, senators and reps spit on their constituents and LovePeddler to the highest bidder; rather than fear jail time for treason,  ex-coup plotters dream of becoming presidents; Abuja pays states and LG's instead of the other way round. . . Its a phucking circus.

GEJ has looked at the mess and repeatedly told Nigerians that his govt will build strong institutions to fight corruption. I cannot understand how those repeated words can be lost on we, the educated. If we have identified chaos as the mother of corruption, where best to bring order, but the source of all our wealth? Kill the chaos there, sanitise the oil industry, provide rigid order through strong institutional frameworks and 90% of our corruption will be gone, because suddenly the oxygen that was freely available to intoxicate the powers would have been cut off, forever replaced with standards and due process.

There are different approaches to fighting corruption, but building strong institutions is the only failsafe one. Other methods amount to flailling against the current; ask Idiagbon the results of his efforts, corruption simply waited for him to go on Hajj to Mecca. The rest is history.
Strong institutions are the frameworks we need to defeat corruption and enthrone development.

Please ignore the reference to GEJ above, since this thread is not partisan.
We can only cure our developmental malaise by completly fundamentally rethinking the way we do things and abhoring all that has gone on before this moment.

[size=14pt]S&P upgrades Nigerian outlook to positive[/size]
December 30, 2011
RECORDER REPORT

Nigeria's economic outlook has been upgraded from stable to positive by Standard & Poor's ratings agency, the firm announced Thursday, citing reform efforts in Africa's largest oil producer.

"The Nigerian government under President Goodluck Jonathan has been undertaking several important reform initiatives and is tightening its fiscal and monetary stance," the agency said.

"The authorities have restructured and strengthened the banking sector, and we expect economic growth to remain strong.

We are revising our outlook to positive from stable , " It also reaffirmed its B+/B long- and short-term issuer credit ratings for Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation.

http://www.brecorder.com/market-data/stocks-a-bonds/single/636/0/1266288/

hustla242:
No basis for these comparisons for so many reasons. Economies in these countries have been expanding exponentially for decades. Note that top 20 cities account for a quarter of the world's GDP, so the world's wealth is far from a normal distribution.

If you look @ the per capita of these cities compared to that of Nigeria, the numbers would be even more worrying but it's not a fair comparison. A more accurate comparison would be getting Lagos in there somewhere. It's like comparing apples and oranges IMO.

My friend, that is hubris.

So, the fact that mere cities generate much more money than our entire country does not say to you that there is something fundamentally wrong with Nigeria?
I'm shocked.

What do you think Lagos would compare against? Do you want to be provided with the GDP's of mere local govt areas or even villages before you to understand? Even in Africa, Lagos barely measures up; it has the same GDP as Khartoum in Sudan. To put things in even greater perspective, the GDP of Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh, which is a truly wretched country is more than twice that of Lagos.

These turbulent times are our last chance to understand that our governors trooping like disabled beggars to Abuja every month to be handed food money; aside from being a thorough disgrace on the populations they govern, is also a way of keeping the people unproductive, corrupt and in penury. As long as that practise continues, the average Nigerian has only as much dignity as a beggar.
It is our last chance to understand that the oil food kitchen has to close for commonsense and industry to flourish in Nigeria.

The average Nigerian is a mental slave to oil, subsidies and other absurd fuckry. Such types will always go abroad; see the depth of organisation and the immense revenues that adherence to standards and the lack of chaos can generate, only to return home screaming out inanities that further fuel the Nigerian crisis of chaos.

We need a total change in the way we think.

kettykin:
i find more damaging and debilitating the lies and hypocrisy of Nigerians than all the bombs of Bokoharam put together.
So now people
if Muslims were not responsible for the bombing then who did it , who then is responsible.

The week and misreable attempts to turn the truth on its head can only work for gullible nigerians. How come a church was bombed and not a government building or to even make it easy why didnt they bomb an empty church atleast to show their greivances.
How come a mosque has never been bombed by BH.

if we can not blame the Hausa / fulani muslims for this then why do we keep pushing the Blames of the first military coup of January 15 1966 to an attempt by igbos to recolonise and dominate nigeria even when all coup plotters where not igbos.

Nigeria will keep Vacillating until alteast 1/2 of the populace wake up from their slumber/nightmare

It is because the average Nigerian is a coward always on the lookout for who to blame.

mukina2:
Christmas Day Massacre: 10,000 protest in Kaduna

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

KADUNA – No fewer than 10,000 people [size=33pt]marched [/size] in a carnival-like procession in Zonkwa, headquarters of Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State denouncing and condemning the Christmas Day bombing of a church in Madala, near Suleja, Niger State, where about 30 people were killed, and several others injured.

The protesters called for a united voice against terrorism, insisting that God had a divine purpose for creating Nigeria, and as such Nigeria must not be allowed to be destroyed by evil men posing as religious champions.

[size=33pt]Speaking after the three kilometre procession[/size] at the Zonkwa play ground, Zangon Kataf council Christian Association of Nigeria Chairman, Rev. Sunday Ibrahim, said that God did not create man for another man to kill with satanic pleasure in the guise of fighting for God.

Said Ibrahim: “In Madala, unarmed men, women and children were praying to God and were without provocation bombed. That was just one of the several terrorism acts carried out on churches by people who hate God and his children.

They kill people with satanic pleasure to please, certainly, not our God. God has a divine purpose for every human being. God has a divine purpose for Nigeria to be created.

“No man has a right to kill any man. God did not allow Nigeria to be created for someone to destroy. Christians and all those who believe in peace must speak up against terrorism. If you don’t stand up against terrorism, one day you would stand on the Judgment day and face your creator”, he said.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/christmas-day-massacre-10000-protest-in-kaduna/

After reading some of the responses here, I am thoroughly ashamed at our average mental output.
But, it could be that some people simply do not understand tenses to know when something has already been done and dusted.

warrior01:
the more reason why fuel subsidy should go

I agree with that. In all developed oil producing countries, there is no fuel subsidy; there has to be a fundamental reason why they are all that way. And that reason is borne out by simple economics. You subsidise production (factories, road building, research etc) not consumption like N65 petrol.
If consumption is subsidised you end up bankrolling indolence; which is the case with Nigeria where zero goods and services are manufactured locally. We have ended up subsidising an outlook on life that is incredibly lazy and 100% dependent on oil and Abuja's largess, not on intellectual and physical resources.

There is the Chinese saying that goes, "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
The fuel subsidy is simply giving the man a fish. Nuff said.

As Aigbofa stated earlier, there is abundant opportunity in agriculture. Not just that, we have incredible levels of solar energy that most countries would die for; we also have a very long coastline that can be harvested for free energy; if we simply harnessed wave energy, we would not only generate money and electricity, but will calm the waves and put and end to the ridiculous stories of our breadbaskets, Lagos and Bayelsa getting washed away. We are a nation so blessed, yet so blinded by the ephemeral promise of Eldorado on our few drops of oil even though, year-in-year-out our shortsighted approach only provides underdevelopment, doom, gloom and blood.

We have allowed ourselves to be so consumed in our foolish battle for free and easy oil wealth that mere cities, some even in the developing World actually generate much more money than our entire country of Nigeria. If this is not the deepest embarrassment, somebody tell me what is.

There needs to be a sharp change in our thinking.