₦airaland Forum

Very accurate account of the situation on ground. It's a pity we've found ourselves in such situation, however, people like Fashola have proven that we can do better.

Removal of subsidy is like administering an injection. The insertion of the needle is painful but the work of the drug it contains is needful. Besides, it is expected that any child taking an injection will scream, protest, writhe in pain and what have you but that doesn't stop the doctor from doing the needful.

Let's take the pains to correct this now and save future generations from unnecessary headache.

Nice one from GEJ the giant killer!

Having the capital @ Abuja is one of the best things to have happened to Nigeria.

President Goodluck Jonathan launched the transformation agenda as part of his election campaign. It was to to emphasize the government's focus on the economy, job creation, power, infrastructural development and education. Less than a year down the road, what is the picture like and what direction does the transformation train seem to be heading?

There is hardly any enlightened Nigerian today that does not know about the radical islamic sect known as boko haram. In 2011 alone, they have attacked and killed hundreds of innocent Nigerian citizens (civilian and military alike) as well as citizens of other countries. This has had a devastating effect on the nation.

The effect of this scourge can be clearly seen in the 2012 budget. One would have expected that in line with the transformation agenda, areas such as power, education, agriculture, works and other areas which contribute to capital development would take the lion share of the budget. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Boko haram (sorry) security has taken the elephant share of the budget. The question then is, do we have a choice?

There is a parable that says "No one goes to sleep under a burning roof". Nigeria is at war! We may not like to say so but we are. We are fighting ourselves from within. Nigeria is likely to implode if nothing is done. We are dangerously following the "dooms-path" predicted by the yankees. Our vulnerability is more glaring now than ever before. When we should be moving forward, we are digging ourselves deeper into a hole. It is unfortunate that whoever is behind this evil gang of murderers is achieving his / her aim and the nation is suffering for it.
Which way Nigeria?

PHCN
Reason: it is the only one that has never recorded any form of success till date. It is Nigeria's biggest and longest lasting headache.

Laptop: Yes
Phone: Never!

Problem Has Changed Name. Lol!

Many have called him "weak" and "unintelligent" yet he is making the STRONGEST and MOST INTELLIGENT changes Nigeria has ever seen! Pure genius.

For those of you complaining about the security budget, think again. How can we restore investor confidence if we cannot demonstrate (first with our budget) that we can secure the interests of our investors. The security challenge has been the most significant drawback we have had as a nation in recent times. It is only a responsible government that will man up to this challenge. Just take a look at our borders, or at the police on the street and you will find 100 more reasons why the security budget should be the way it is. New challenges call for new strategies. I love this budget!

RIP PHCN! More to come in days ahead.

Confirmed: Cleaning Buhari's shit is a terribly difficult job!

Oh no not again!

I agree with Thatdave and Ikengawo. We have passed that level and we now have better tools to move us as a nation forward. Let's make use of our democratic process, which is more sustainable, rather than follow the path of violence and rancor. We should be more concerned about how to ensure the right people get voted and keep enlightening others who are less informed. Democracy may be a slow process of change but it is a sure and sane way to build a strong nation. It is left for us to take advantage of it.

My ideal Official Politics Section Poster Of The Year should be someone who:
1. Is a regular topic starter.
2. Actively contributes to many reasonable topics (there are very many unreasonable topics).
3. Is objective and supports arguments with facts.
4. Presents his / her views clearly, respectfully and probably with a tinge of humor.
5. Brings out new / interesting perspectives in forum discussions.

These are the qualities I think we should be looking out for.

An explosive. Lol!

. . . And they said he was weak!

Any smart government will make effort to encourage private investors like Dangote. It's an easy way to develop the state without spending much. Nice one.

If this is true, then it is the beginning of a new era for Nigeria!

Yahoo business is no longer profitable!

Why do we think Nigerians will die if subsidy is removed? The citizens of poorer nations like Niger, Cameroon, Benin Republic etc are not dead yet even @ N150 per litre.

Marketers will want to make a killing by selling subsidized stock at the new price. Some may have even stored millions of litres in underground tanks waiting for January. They will definitely hoard d product.

^ Nationalization of the oil industry is already in progress. Shell / Total / Agip recently sold their interests in OMLs 26 and 42 to a consortium of indigenous companies. NPDC will now jointly operate the fields unlike before now when Shell was the sole operator. This is a first step in a very long process of having the NOC run all or most of the "easy" oil fields. The PIB is another cookie in the oven that will enable us exploit our resources more profitably. Your 2nd concern about having competent and incorruptible people run the industry truly calls for concern. I can only guess that we are doing something about that also.

A lot has been said in recent times about the removal of petroleum product subsidy. A critical look at the subject will reveal who the true "Beneficiaries" are.

Let's start with the SMUGGLERS. These individuals buy PMS from Nigeria at N65, ferry this product a few kms across the Nigerian border and voila!!! The money doubles automatically. PMS sells for about N150 per litre in every other country around Nigeria. This becomes a naturally attractive market with ROI of over 100%. The problem this creates is an artificial explosion of local demand. We keep importing and subsidising to meet our needs and these folks keep draining us to serve our neighbors. The government keeps trying to meet our needs and imports more to avoid shortages. In the process, government has to spend more to guarantee supply. This has become even more evident with the current government's drive to ensure adequacy of supply.

The first line of defense against this "trade" would be to tighten the borders but then corruption in customs and the security agencies stares us right in the face. The next line of action is to "kill" the market by removing the price gradient. I.e. Removing the subsidy. This is what Nigerians have kicked against.

The other group of individuals are those marketers who inflate product volumes. Contrary to the view of our senators who recently rolled out a list of so called "beneficiaries", the marketers ordinarily have absolutely nothing to gain from the subsidy. They are entitled to their margin of about N12 per litre. Subsidy paid is to bring down price at which Nigerians get the product from them and not to increase their margin. The problem only arises when they inflate the volumes. But then can we prove that this actually happens on a large scale? This is another subject of discussion. In order to establish the fact, we have to take a critical look at the modus operandi of the importers and general port operations.

What about the average Nigerian? Do we really gain from fuel subsidy? The answer is also a resounding YES! BUT, the question is; how much is this gain worth? Our individual pockets feel the impact of the subsidy as many have rightly argued (in terms of transport costs, commodity prices, and all other related things) but the nation as a whole staggers under the heavy load of subsidy. We may be able to get by now and possibly in the next few years but can our economy survive the shocks associated with oil price volatility?

From the foregoing, I strongly believe we need to probe a bit further into the subsidy game. Let's seek to understand the situation better and truly seek "a better deal" than the current subsidy which is clearly unsustainable. Let us come together and deliberate on how to ensure a more efficient use of our funds.

For the economists and statisticians in the house, you can find some interesting economic indicators from this site: www.tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/pump-price-for-gasoline-us-dollar-per-liter-wb-data.html

Also look at the indicators for other countries by clicking the link "view more countries". There is a lot of great info to be gathered from this site. 

Source: efisher

These changes cannot happen overnight even if we want them to. If we make overnight changes, we should also expect overnight surprises and failures. Policies like this have to go through a rigorous "opportunity realization process" if we want sustainable development. It takes time to conduct feasibility studies, consult stakeholders, etc. You can imagine how many meetings have been held home and abroad on this subject. Do you know how many consultants were engaged to carry out several researches and come up with recommendations for this policy? Each state had to be evaluated looking at the available resources for power generation, pricing dynamics etc.

IMHO, 2 years of planning is good enough. And it's not like only planning has been going on. Long lead items have since been procured for various plants. Contracts are already in place for generation, transmission and distribution. Currently, several kms of pipelines are being laid to carry gas from various fields to power plants. This is the first time the FG is really determined to create a lasting solution to the power problem and it is carrying every one along quite well.

The implementation of this policy is to provide an enabling environment for rapid and sustainable development of the power sector. I believe our "power revolution" is finally here.

This is it. Ngozi, you have my support. Fire down baby!!!

Tanshu, tanshu! I'm blushing. U guys are making me feel like one superstar. But no be only me do am o. Na team work.

What we are adopting is a mix of modular and central power gen and distribution. Let's have about 5 or 6 states with 100% power availability and we can spread the love from there.

Finally, I can say I have contributed something to Nigeria's development. I am part of those who researched and came up with this recommendation. I hope the govt implements this and others. We are set to turn darkness to light!

Nigerians! Una like to enjoy good thing but una no wan pay. Good things cost money. Fashola is on point.

Hall of fame: Corpers who lost their lives to electoral violence. They paid the supreme sacrifice to give us one of our best elections yet.

Hall of shame: Fake governor Uduaghan of Delta state for his thuggery and lack of progress despite the huge allocations available to him.