₦airaland Forum

i have often wondered how we nigerians can justify using national or federal might to preventing the people of the niger delta from personnely exploiting their resources, sezing this resourses, and go ahead to share it to everyone,

Prof, should please hint us how this SNC would be organised, exactly how are the delegates going to be selected?

Secondly, an SNC should have no limits, including discussing how to go our seperate ways,

Beaf:
The protests were hijacked and about to turn sinister before the army rolled into town. Even NLC and TUC guys gave their reason for calling off the strike as due to security. From the Friday when they suspended the strike, they had begun to add the caveat that they were not part of those calling for regime change.

Boko haram even released a message in support of #Occupy.

Unfortunately, Lagosians were used.

Lols, only Hercules did not observe the violence

captleonerd:
^^^ are u sayingl peaceful protest is unconstitutional? This is civilian rule. Re*tard

Please confirm that while the so called peaceful protest, others who desired where able to go to work? Or 100% of everybody was protesting? Confirm that vehicle owners and road users were able to use the road without without fear of intimidaion, there no bon fires on several roads in lagos,
Apearantly we boh have different definations of what peaceful means.

Thanks

Cleanman:
thank you very much@negro.u surely sent a headon attack to that retardeen dahater/dalover whatever his name is, @dalover,u guys in the SE should keep seeking a forced allianze btw the south south becos of their oil(padi padi thrash), the truth is that they dont want to mingle with you guys(ask Dokubo), peaceful protest happened in lagos(centre of high level inteligent thinkers in Nigeria) not sm massob gathering, savvy?

By forcing yourself to believe I am from southeast you actually think the truth way be washed away? If asked to choose between the SE and SW, I will choose the SE, not because they are saints, but because you can see them for who thay are, not pretensive people, who tell you they are fighting for the nation, when thay are actually fighting for their own economic well being,
I would rather you said it up front (I am in the fight for myself and what I can benefit),
I have pointed out several imes here how the 9ja delta has been systematically sabotaged by SW, The SW should should allow us to benefit from our own resources, put your population to good use, dontt tell me the best you can produce with all your professors is chivata juice and Isolate the oil companies from Lagos,
weather you feel I am SE or SS, the truth is the truth,
Another truth is that the antagonism against GEJ is not because you truely love the nation, but really because you will loose all you have selfishly gathered,
If the Army and Massob have problems, how does that fit into the equation here? Instead of oscastrating negaive propaganda, utilize the time to profer a structural change to this country.

PointB:
I can relate with this!

And at this point too, I think it is a good decision to withdraw the soldiers. The situation has been contained!

Yes o, it really has, the noise makers have had to retreat to one corner and make loud noises like empty barrels.lol
Next time there should be a shoot at sight for rioters and vandals.

Negro_Ntns:
Is MASSOB one of these enemies? The Army has continously harassed MASSOB militants, arrested them and recently killed and kept bodies of three of them following a raid at a peaceful meeting. The same Army under the leadership of Gej. I thought the SS have coalition with SE, why the attack on MASSOB?

nice attempt, try harder

dasparrow:
No, no. GEJ should have retained them there while the northern states continue to burn. What a leader I tell ya.

A real leader that prevented lagos from burning, i will accept a big thankyou on GEJs behalf

Only-Rebel:
@Dalover, you are the oga olodo-ode. What has the soldier achieved so far in North. I bet those cowards will not want a deployment to the North. For your information bomb is still going in the North, another explosion confirmed in Kano today.

If the sodiers up not have not achieved anything why sending more? Yahoo messanger like you

Yes another bomb went of in the north, we are quite aware of the present strategy of the North and the SW against the president,

North to burst up in sponteneous and random violence and SW to follow suit with negative propaganda, efforts to disguise these strategy as a religious crises by the north and occupy nigeria campaign by the SW have not worked as planned, The president is standing firm tearing down his enemies one by one,

Large populations ought to be a benefit to the rest of the country, see how chinas development has carried the whole of south east asia forward, for years Japan was a developed country, but people still saw SE asia as backward until China with its large population stepped up?

So as africa will be seen, until Nigeria steps up, despite SA being developed, so as Nigeria will be seen until Hausa and Yorubas use their huge populations to produce positive results, if all they will insist on doing is use their might to bully minorities out or their resources via govenment patronage and cause mayham and negative propaganda when outside of government, the road ahead is still far,

EMANY 01:
People should be carefull to cheak their facts out before they critisise otherwise it exposes them for what they are: people who just hate for reasons other than the rational or the logical.
It's the fad to hate anything Gej but while its their right to do so never let the hate consume you so much that when he does things right you wouldn't see it.

Na wa for you oooo, seems your expectations are too high, are you really expecting people to wait to check facts? and pass up an opportunity to hurl insults? do you know how difficult it is to check facts, when you can immidiately start typing insults, opening the google website, scrolling tru all the returned results, hell no,
An Ijaw man in power is just too painfull to bear, additional work wont cut it at this stage.

where do protest include bon fires and attacking people going to their businesses and shops?
Are violent riots and protest the same?
The situation was getting out of control, the soidiers are still in their lagos barracks, so if you move, they will move you? olodos.
You forget that there are batalions of military on the streets of the north easterns cities for months now, but you wouldnt know cos you are too daft to see anything beyond lagos and and south west.

BetaThings:
Less than 3 years ago, the owner of this private security firm was illegally imporing weapons into this country
He was using those weapons against the country
And we know that the ex-militants still have thir weapons stashed somewhere
Otherwise there would not be these periodic threats by MEND to do this or that
Now such an ex-militant is to be further empowered to confront the country at will

Now look at the points highlighted below, how are they satisfied
Where is the openness in this process, the transparency

And BTW how will it look if the government should hand over the policing of our borders with Niger, Chad, etc to Boko Haram?

because of the precieved threat to SW dominace here, people have refused to even read what NIMASA is about, please spare 5mminutes to go to the website and educate yourselves on the kinds of services provided by NIMASA, But that being said, the more fundamental issue i was trying to address is a situation were the person in power does things benefitial to their ethnic groups,
If yorubas are really honest, and not just crying because they lost out this time, then we must all fight for resource control, over years when north and west mismanaged the country and shared the spoils amongst themselves, people stood at the sidelines watching, do you expect them to watch forever?
If the oil industry is blatantly dominated by the yorubas, such that they now run oil fields from the SW, do you think this makes sence? The next thing they would say is that we are not educated enuf, well if we want to stop this, lets go for a fair arrangement, where people general wealth from the resources they have and pay taxes to the state.
Using the media to scream at the top of your voice when someone does exactly what you have been doing fools no one, that strategy is dead.
This is exactly how that screamed in the media in 1999 when president abul salam moved shipping council hq to abuja, they screamed to high heavens that even though abuja was the capital, the shipping council hq (a purely administrative building), should be located near the sea, meanwhile they saw nothing wrong that nnpc hq was situated in lagos for many years before moving to abuja, even napims is still there as we speak, all operations involving napims personal are in the 9ja delta, and they have operated from lagos for the past 35 years,
At the end, Obj moved the building back to lagos less than six months he became president.
If we are ready to change, lets change together otherwise STFU,

Wallie:
Generally speaking, I do agree with your post and my position is essentially the same (the specifics might differ somewhat).

I might have come off as someone against privatization but that’s far from the truth; I’m an ardent believer in PPP but I also understand that there are limits to its effectiveness. I support privatization of PHCN and deregulating the downstream sector. I even support removal of fuel subsidy until I read about the massive fraud perpetuated on Nigerians.

I truly understand that there’s an argument to be made for a smaller government kinda like the arguments being made currently by the Republican Party in the US. And the US is even a country where the government functions unlike Nigeria.

But when you completely hands-off important sectors of your economy, it will result in the current housing fiasco caused by loosely-regulated Wall Street’s issuance of unregulated mortgage backed securities. Without regulating privatized companies, people won’t play by rules and would likely collude with each other to rip the country off.

Not to point fingers, what happened to the cement industry? If privatization has no cons, then the prize of cement should have hit rock bottom!

Hardly anything in life is black or white, and there are pros and cons to each and every position. Equilibrium is only achieved when there’s balance. Too much privatization is just as bad as little or no privatization. The government is there to balance competing interests a little in favor of the masses.

yes definately, there are pros and cons, but i still believe the pros of privatisation far out weigh the cons, like you said, loose regulations lead to wall street issues we experienced, but the solution was tighter regulation, not the government running wall street, yes govt can step in to intervane temporarily like the bank bail outs in the usa, but never run it, regulations can range from very tight to very loose and in between, sometimes failure of government to implement or rationalise policies lead to failures as in the cement case u mentioned, but what should actually come out of this is a policy to create more competition or invertment in the sector, govt involving themselves parmanently in buisness is very bad for business, nigeria is the number one example,
People feel that govt must be involved in the oil sector otherwise heaven will fall, thereby denying the landowners blessed with this resource, tghe opportunity to to be the primary benefiriaries of this resource, govt has proceeded to run it under the guise of serving all, providing avenues for rent seekers and tribal goons to seclude the economic of the oil sector to themselves, and when we complain about this primary source of corruption in this country, we r labeled tribalist, thay prefer we keep quite and let them have their way,

alj harem:
the issue here is what people are not facing

can OBJ or Buhari sell or contact the marine to an ex OPC or Arewa youth member without this bigots shouting all over the place

I find it amazing that this were the same people shouting born to rule north has ruled nigeria for more than eternity.

the same people would shout that they held the military which is majority north etc

Now GEJ is contracting the marine to an ex-militant they are saying it is OK. LOL

dumb tribalistic Nigerians. Such double standards smh

this is probably what your teachers in secondary school must have commented on your end of term results,
hardly ever making sence, lacks ability rationalise issues, susceptable to crowd mentality, speaks out of term,
either because you hid the report sheets from your parents or they glanced over it, the situation wasnt corrected at an early stage and now we have to all bear the burden of you.

Wallie:
You've asked one of the most important questions! Also, the government cannot just simply get out of business! Who is going to cater to the welfare of the poor, weak, and defenseless? Private companies are out to look out for their own interest and they exist to make money.

Even in the US, not everything is privatized! Electricity is privatized but the government has a regulating agency that controls rate hikes. The petroleum sector is privatized, but petrol stations are constantly investigated and prosecuted for prize gouging. Owners of tolled roads cannot just decide to raise the toll rates.

About the only thing security related that is privatized are some of the prison systems under state control. You should never heavily arm private citizens because they might turn into a militia and rise up against you one day!

govt getting out of business does not mean throwing hands up in the air and allowing private enterpreneurs to freestyle, far from it,
It means concentrating on the governments primary function of regulating and policy making, govt does not need to run universities to set standaards and enforce them, or hospitals or refineries or pipelines, just use the relegulatory agencies, some examples are ncc in communication sector, NCAA in aviation sector,

this way govt can achieve the following
1 create a level playing field,
2 create a competitive envronment
3 cut down waste from inefficiently run businesses
4 stop trying to enforce laws on itself (imagin dpr demanding that spdc-nnpc JV pay fines for gas flaring), senseless self penilasation
5 possess the moral right and latitude to demand standards by players in the sector, imagin a state govt that runs ram shakle hospitals and schools, turning around to insist that a private enterpreneur must maintain international standards in his school or whatever,
6 deliver much needed services, imagin private investors running nepa, every powwer failure means no revenues, hence he will strive to ensure you get power
7 govt revenues only comes from taxes, very important, because a govt that generates revenues outside its people tax base is not answerable to those people
the list can go on and on


with regards to welfare, you must know that there are conditions that determine a govts ability to provide welfare,
1 it is never free for all, no matter how rich a country is,
2 production is encouraged, not consumption
3 it is targeted, and those who feel they need it, must justify it on a regular basis
4 the state, local, of federal govenment must be able to aford it without running into deficit, i.e after spending money running the various services a government should provide, the left over funds should be used for welfare, not the other way round, you do not give welfare first and then use the remaineder to run govt services, govt services are to stimulate the economy for growth, meaning more taxes, meaning more ability to provide welfare, but when we decide to all be f00lisish in nigeria because of the presidents meal alloance we loose the plot,

its understandable for SWerners to attack the president on this, they are known to use govt agencies to perpetuate economic dominance, the use of ex militant or what ever may be seen as a strategy for others who would not stand a chance if a govt agency is used,
But the bigger question is how do we stop this merry go round pattern?
1 resource control
2 deregulate and get govt out of business

dayokanu:
Odechukwu retardeen Jonathan insulted a whole party, Tinubu insulted a man (Jonathan)

Yet senseless razists term one as a tribal slur and not the other.

if i called you an idiotic cocoa farmer what would that imply, were your brains siezed at the american airport?

AOE123:
@ Big man Beaf,
Mr. GEJ actually started this ethnic insult, when he went to Ibadan during his campaign and he said SW is too sophisticated to b left in the hand of RASCALS.

I know u r gonna abuse me after reading the above.

That insult was directed at ACN leaders, are ACN leaders now yoruba leaders? PDP leaders nko?

sheyguy:
If there r no sinister motives, why secretly award contract to a questionable character covered and shielded by a private firm?
GEJ knows Nigeria does not owe his people nada . . . If the SS truly av a case let's go the SNC and see whats up.

If it is a secret, how did ACN get to know about it, or is ACN now into espionage? abeg say someting intelligent

Negro_Ntns:
. . . .and guess who has advocated that resoursecontrol? Yorubas! The West has continously said people need to have full control of their resources but there is a power struggle in the SS and SE that makes that impossible. Before Gej became president voices in the SS was splintered into factions. His presence atthe center has given a convergence of interests but has not removed the greed. You have saboteurs in your SS/SE region who are scared of loosing out in the event that oil resource control is given to the indigenes. It is better to prtray and blame others for it, . . . like they blame Yoruba sitting on their oil, than to localize the problem as an SS issue.

Thats what they say with thier mouths, but when push comes to shove they show true colours, remember the national confab organised by OBJ, the SS and SE clearly wanted resource control, and recommended it be started from 10% to 50% over a five year period, the North and SW resisted, until the SS and SE member had to stage a workout, The SS and SE had a very clear unified voice on the issue, Lets not decieve ourselves, we are tired of people pretending to fight for so called national interest only to be gently stabing you in the back and killing you slowly,
Ok, why is ACN insisting on Maritime Security Agency, MASECA?? if a private ex-militant is too much to handle? navy nko?
Stop pretending to care, that all I am asking, I actually prefer a wolf to a wolf in sheeps clothing, At least I am on guard at all times

Negro_Ntns:
. . . .and will this private firm have a subordinate power over the Nigerian Navy?
. . . .and if a Yoruba man become President next and decide to privatise the air patrol and borders with an OPC loyalist?
. . . .and if a Hausa man become President and decide to privatise police with ex bokoharam loyalists and post them to the SS?

You all must work to protect your interest but at the same time use wisdom to safeguard your preservation in a Nigerian nation post Gej rule.

Your SS campaign leader, Beaf, has no such sense and foresight to think ahead or see the interwoven dynamics of regional and national politics/ The quicker you all depart from his madness the better for you. I hope you will not become the new ibo of Nigeria after Gej. They are in their predicament now because they lacked foresight to appreciate strengths and the value of partnership.

Did you see my earlier post?

DaLover:
This appears to be another fight between the nigerdelta and the south west for economic control, the fuel subsidy was one that really showed everybodys hand in plain sight.
Th SW would definately prefer a government agency to run it because that is where they have full leverage that has been built over years, while the Niger delta are trying to force their way in using their control of political space,

Everybody is fighting for their personnel interest, nobody should be decieved that one party has the national interest at heart,

How did you think the oil industry got to be controlled by the SW? it will keep being turn by turn until full resource control is achieved, those with oil under thier land should mine it and pay tax, same for those with cocoa, or whatever, thats the simple way forward.

Negro_Ntns:
dont take it personal dude. . . this is politics, national politics! It is not like the country is having a sweeheart moment right now, you know. . . everyone is beginning to identify his fatherland. I have no love for anyone in support of deploying boots and guns on my soil. . . .much more give them concession of my backwaters. Hell no!!

I feel you, I felt the same way when someone from SWern part of the country sent boots and guns to raze Odi village, remember that majority of the backwaters belong to NDelta, at least thats what the maps say.

Negro_Ntns:
this creek mumu say as long they are capable. you need to take your participation to food section, your responses will be much appreciated over there. W

Using words like Creek mumu, drunken fishman, shows how you SWers view us from the NDelta, no problems, keep looking down on us,

Parisgoodman:
I think taking it serious means giving it to a private firm, since Government is barely serious.

I agree with you here, Governments forte is not in running businesses, this is a worldwide established fact, I usually find it quite funny when the same people calling for a reduction in size of Govt insist on govt participation in several business ventures.
Th US used private security contractors in IRAQ, its not a totally new phenomenon.

This appears to be another fight between the nigerdelta and the south west for economic control, the fuel subsidy was one that really showed everybodys hand in plain sight.
Th SW would definately prefer a government agency to run it because that is where they have full leverage that has been built over years, while the Niger delta are trying to force their way in using their control of political space,

Everybody is fighting for their personnel interest, nobody should be decieved that one party has the national interest at heart,

where can I watch this oooo, i go die ooo

Did Fela not say "this uprising will bring out the beast in us"? We certainly see that now with many speaking in a manner that exposes their innate prejudice totally unhelpful towards the search for solutions. So it is now down to b.i.t.ching about the volume of PMS consumed in Lagos without at all making provision for the huge population of the State and how , by far, it is the biggest centre of commercial activities in Nigeria?

We expect this sectional outlook from illiterates drinking in a beer parlour but totally outrageous for a President, meriting his office and genuinely leading on behalf of all Nigerians, to make this inane statement !!!! It would be like Obama stating feudalistically that America cannot tolerate the PMS usage of California when the State, by far, has the largest population at almost 40 million !!! GEJ is a divisive President and his actions and gaffes indicate this everyday

Whereas Califonia population is a source of wealth to the US as a whole, Lagos is constituting a drain, Whereas great amount of fuel tax is generated in Califonia due to its high population, Great amount of subsidy is spent on Lagos due to its high population, does being yoruba make you dumb Gbawe?
How can you compare the califonia -US relationship to the Lagos -Nigeria relationship?? The similarities end in population, full stop.

Califonia does not use its huge population to deny texans of their economic benefits and they do not feel they are smarter than other americans,
Please behave yourself

1-that gej is a briliant strategist in handling tense situations- allowed the protest to go on for one week without much police or military inteference, knowing fully well that the area boys would undo themselves, thus when the military moved in, it was generally applauded by the rest of the country, except of course the core marketers and their holigans.

2- the Different regions of the country have their interest they are fighting for.
The north for the loss of its political leadership, the SW for 65naira and the SS and SE for resource control and true federalism.

Gbawe:
My guy, it is because MEND cannot 'act up' too much while GEJ is President. This is why he moved quickly, as if he was President of the ND and MEND, to announce that MEND was not responsible for the independent day bombing. GEJ knows most of the boys have been "settled". It would not be in their financial and sectional interest to make Mr. President look bad.

Same with Boko Haram. They would not be killing Nigerians as they are doing currently if a Northern candidate had clinched the Party ticket. It is now all politics and I don't see why Nigerians don't understand that. It is the PDP pals of GEJ, with their insatiable lust for wealth and power, Nigerians should be most angry with and target over this Boko Haram mess.

i guess this the backlash expected after the failed occupy nigeria commedy show, well it is to be expected from our SW brothers,

dayokanu:
GEj control the South militant arm of the PDP also known as MEND

Sambo controls the Northern militant arm of the PDP known as Boko haram

you forgot to add that Tinubu controls the OPC in the west, just to complete the equation, even though tinubu and OPC are saints from heaven.

jason123:
My fellow Deltan; let me first say this, I am on your side on this. After all, we produce the oil, why should every thing be located elsewhere.

You see my point of view is that GEJ wants to leave a legacy for us in the NDelta (check the SURE program), after all, the oil will dry up in 30-45 yrs (according to him). I agree! (this is one of the NUMEROUS reasons why I want Southern-Nigeria instead of all these fragments but that aside).

With that said, I want you to know that I, as a common man, will feel the pinch more than this so-called cabals. Can't the cabals be arrested? Why must I feel the pain because of the fear of some certain cabals? To me, it does not make sense. Are you telling me that Otedola and co cannot be arrested?? Even ordinary Lagosians protested in front of Otedola's house, are you then telling me that this man is out of the government's reach?

Also, these people, Dangote and co are PART and PARCEL of the economic team. So, is it not hypocrisy to call him a cabal when you hand-picked him to be part of your economic team?

As for the economic center being in Lagos, through out my stay in Nigeria (six yrs), I visited some cities and I can tell you that Lagos is the only place a Yoruba, Igbo, Ndeltan, Hausa and co will feel at home without prejudice. Even if we move the economic center (how? I don't know. May be you can explain) to let's say Bayelsa, do you think that will change the status of Lagos?? Lagos was like that before independence (before oil and etc was discovered), so what do you mean that by the statement that "Yorubas" benefited economy. Also, Hausas, can you blame them?? Did they want to be part of Nigeria? Why did we southerners kill their leader through the first military coup. The Coup led to a chain reaction where any man in Khaki can just come to announce his presidency!

Really, guys, the removal and sudden inflation led to the reaction you are seeing on TV, whether politicians have hijacked it is a different discussion all together.

In my humble opinion, we should not tribalise this. After all, before the removal, did you hear people shout this much? C'mon, this is not healthy for OUR relationship in Southern Nigeria.

Before I go, I want to debunk the idea among us South-Southerners that ONLY the SS has oil. That is not true, the SE and SW has oil. Most, if not all, Southern ethnic group has oil. Because of politics, Anambra and Lagos were not called oil producing states.

Jason123, take a look at these senerio, whites in america break out into violent protest in white dominated areas of america becasue they are against one of Obamas policies, blacks respond and ask whites not to bring down his govt, insisting that the level of protest has gone beyond the policy issues but is driven by intrinsic dislike for Obama being a black man, who is actually rasist? The blacks or the whites?

There was a constitutional conference during the Obj era were the SW really showed their hand, they pretend to all for social justise etc, but when push comes to shove they really are about what would benefit them even at the detriment of others.

If truely the fight is against corruption, lets analyse the corruption is nigeria, i would define the large corruption in two folds, both of which the SW have found very benefitial and have refused to attack over the years, instead they have choosen the attack the surface of the problem,

The first source of corruption is the lack of resource control, the fact that states sit down and wait for fg to share funds, even those states that boast to people about how many professors they possess, this is a great source of corruption, but do you see the lagos crowd fighting this? Instead you see them fighting and hualing insults at GEJ, they have exploited this to leech onto they meager oil resources avaliable. Let them fight this then the presedent of this country wld not be as important as the governors

The second source of corruption is the insistence that government must run everything, from supply and distribution of pms and associated products, refineries, fertilizer companies, railways, schools, ports, hospitals, etc etc, this is another avenue for great corruption ana source of the large recurrent expenditure that is being compained about. It is intentionally left this ay because the hausas and the yorubas use the government control over the years to position themselves and create what they are benefiting today, i have said big government, big corruption, small government, small corruption.

For me the corruption issues in this courtry are more structural than personal, and removing one person and replacing with another does not change a thing, change the structure, obviously this is not what to figh for, they want 65naira and govt to continue in its pressent structure.

GEJ may not be able to change the consitution with regards to resource cntrol issues, because the north and west will not agree, they dont see their large populations as economic resourses, but as tools to suppress agitations for a sound structure of the country that doesnt encourage laziness,
but he can libralise business sector, petroleum, power, etc and make it more open for investors,
For some hidden reasons forces at play are against deregulation of the downstream sector. No matter how they try hide under fighting for social justse, we r now much smarter and can see tru them

jason123:
Beaf, you got the idea all wrong. People are not fight on the subsidy per say but are fighting the systematic corruption. I don't know whether you have been to some poverty stricken places in Nigeria, you'll almost cry.
Some people have said you are a government agent, whether or not that is true is a different subject all together. But one thing is certain, you are NOT from a poor background.

In as much as subsidy needs to go, you cannot beat a kid and expect him not to cry. It is not possible! GEJ increase petrol and in-turn, other commodities by over 100% in a country where people 90% live on less than $2 a day without constant power supply, good road etc and you expect people to believe that with this increment in prices of goods and services (speaking as a layman), they will suddenly have good roads, constant power supply, no more corruption and we will have a utopian economy. It is not possible given the distance between the government and the people.

You see, GEJ is a man who is being stirred to trouble by his enemies close to him. The man is a GOOD man but has bad advisers. His enemies want to see his down fall and what better way can you see his down fall than to turn the people who voted for him, against him?

The idea of turning this into a tribal war is quite silly and will further fragment his(GEJ) power source, rendering him powerless. He knows this and that is why he has no choice but to listen to the people because the people are his source of strength (they put him there when he was not allowed to be the president after Yaradua's death).

My suggested solution is for GEJ to first of all, listen to the people. Listen to his source of strength. Gain their support as he did during the election time. Phase out the removal and use the money gained to build some infrastructures so people can believe in him again.


This is my piece. . . . . . .

Jason, what people? Is lagos and kano representative of the whole of nigeria? We in 9ja delta are fully in support of a deregulation of the oil industry, like i said before, we call the yorubas and the hausas our oppressors because while they ran the FG, the shared in the spoils, the hausas benefitted from the political angle while the yorubas enjoyed the economic benefits, presently they have strangulated the oil economy to the lagos axis, and we are not happy about it, they control pengassan, the oil marketters, the oil company executives etc etc, it not right, for years they have pushed the 9ja delta people to the side lines while we have watched, we are waiting for the right opportunity,

It is not a coincidence that Lagos and Kano where the arrow head of violent protest against GEJs attempt to dereguate the oil sector, they rightly percieve this as the begining of the end, did you se who the major marketters are? You sit down there and tell me i am tribalistic while otedola, tinubu, jimoh ibrahim, danjuma, adenuga, Ibb make billions where you can hardly see an ijaw man,

Its only in nigeria that mobil would run operational offices from lagos, denying people of akwa ibom the opportunity to influence decisions on there God given gifts,

If we are really sincere about fighting corruptionwe should be asking ourselves key questions about the structure of this country, for me the reason why there is so much curruption is because of the structure, 36 states, 700 lgas contributing no wealth to the common good of the country, lets the lagos and kano protesters insist on resource control, where every states pays at least 50billion naira monthly to maintain the nation and not the other way round, lets get rid of institiutionalized laziness, then i can know that they really want to move on the path of development,

A situation wher we complain about the size of federal govt but size expect the govt to brush our teeth border on what most people refer to as hypocrazy.

it should be scraped quickly, it is usually used to deny graduates of 9ja delta job opportunities, corp members who serve in delta, rivers and akwa ibom serve in the oil companies, while 9ja delta graduates are posted away, after one year, those non 9ja delta pple are retained while our graduates return back to find no jobs,

we r such a funny set of people, asking for cheap pms, truely the intelligent one are not yet born,
unfortunately most of us that should know better have our priorities in reverse.

whitehawk:
It is a shame the protest has gone personal. How do you determine guilt ? Who is the judge and who is the jury ?

In my opinion, there are three possible outcomes to this Fuel Subsidy Removal (FSR) protest.

a) FSR is reversed and petrol goes back to N65 per litre.
This outcome is not impossible because that is the objective of the protest?
However it is unlikely because if the government backs down then it will have a major challenge with removing other subsidies on PHCN's electricity, Agriculture's fertilizer etc.

Anyway as was mentioned at the protest rally on Monday, the 3 tiers of government MIGHT have already shared the subsidy which makes a reversal tough as state governments will have to re-work their budgets.


b) FSR is retained and petrol sells at market determined prices depending on the fuel station, the location, exchange rates etc. This is the governments objective.

c) We grudgingly accept the deregulated petrol prices but we want government to tackle corruption by SHOWING that the subsidy gains will be well utilized. In that case the best approach is to ENSURE that the subsidy gains are enshrined in the BUDGETS of the various governments.

A little education here. Before last year, the budgets were always shrouded in secrecy. Only the outline or summary figures were read not the details. Hence there was no way to confirm adherence to budgets by all the 3 tiers of government.

But PRESIDENT JONATHAN signed the Freedom of Information Act last year and now you can demand, disclose, review and comment on GOVERNMENT RECORDS including BUDGETS. You could NOT do this before.

This is the CHANGE, the difference promised. The fight against corruption has shifted from the PERSONALITIES in the EFCC and the Judiciary to we the people.

Please review this links about the FOI ACT:

i) http://transparencyng.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4993:foi-act-the-challenge-of-official-secret-act&catid=119:kayode-ajulo&Itemid=37

ii) http://expertscolumn.com/content/analysis-freedom-information-bill-nigeria

Following the FOI Act, the PROPOSED budget of the Federal Government is now available at this link:

http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2012_budget_proposal.html

The government is already practicing disclosure. You can still influence the budget because it still a proposal.
It is available for individuals, clubs, organisations, universities to review, critique and influence. Both the NLC and NBA should review and make their comments known to the budget office or to the National Assembly. That is called lobbying.

Before you complain about the amount PROPOSED to furnish an executives office or for afternoon for EACH member of the House of Representatives, you should also review the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria whether its the responsibility of Government to furnish the executive's office or to provide tea or money in lieu to members of the House of reps.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is here: http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm

We can reason for that is why we are human or we can follow the mob because we also human.

when the gra gra was starting, i quickly observed the direction it was going and called it a joke, mainly because the labour union and key opposition were too short sighted to see the opportunity that lay before them, now I am afraid, that the labour and the opposition are fast loosing their moral high ground and will not be able to extract any tangable concessions from the government,
Just too sad