₦airaland Forum

I have just had an argument with somebody on this topic.

Anyone with the answer?

I have been pondering this question for a while now, and came up with a few observations.

The govt. heavily subsidises petrol, in a bid to alleviate the tough conditions of the people. There is no subsidy whatsoever on diesel.

The bulk of govt subsidies on petrol are actually wasted on inefficient, old tokunbo cars, that guzzle fuel like water. Practically, maybe 30% of those subsidy monies go out as bad smoke and unburnt fuel.
Also, the majority of people that enjoy these subsidies are car owners, at times having several cars- one for each member of the family. I feel these aren't supposed to be the original beneficiaries of this policy.

Also, our nigerian economy is actually run on diesel. So, if there is a greater subsidy on diesel, this may lower production costs, and with all the attendant benefits to society.

In a nutshell, i feel the govt's subsidy policy is misplaced. Subsidising liabilities and inefficiencies, whereas such monies could go into areas that could stimulate production.

What do you think?

romeo:
Nigerians and dumbness

Those Universities you mentioned are nothing but Jails. There are no freedoms of any sort there. Next time you travel out from Nigeria, mix up with people and stop searching for RCCG sign posts. It will do you and Nigeria more good.

Let me ask you Romeo, what have you contributed to Nigeria in all your existence? Except probably contributing your quota in some strange country, washing plates, doing menial stuff, etc.

Man, get real. What do you mean by freedoms? Who told you universities were designed for freedoms?  Didnt you realise that universities were actually meant to deprive you of your 'freedoms', in order to give you a new reality? What with the self denials, the long hours given to study and research, the disciplines and rigors of the acedemia? Not  phrases synonymous with the careless kind of freedoms you are alluding to.

You probably didn't go to a university. If so, then i'm sorry for being hard on you.

@ yemmysee,

i was thinking so, u know.

Only thing is, i hardly contemplated an 'old paale'(or is it mama?) is on nairaland. They are the ones that are usually set in their ways.

@moves, @jairzinho,

you made solid points. I truly wish people see clearly.

Do you know that a certain governor will definitely be let off the hooks by the british government? All a part of deft calculations and moves by key actors in this regime.
Do you know there will be a political clash between the VP and a former south-south governor sooner or later? And there are plans to contain that too?
What of the Amaechi connection?
My friends, let us LOOK and SEE!  

And, i say for certainty, these guys are going somewhere.  Mark my words!

@ creativity,

let me ask you: how do you show who is a thief? Is it on the pages of newspaper? Is it by making phoney and phantom claims?

When tafa balogun was nailed, the evidence was crystal clear. He even owned up to his crimes.

Remember, all innocent, until proven guilty. And justice must be done, and also SEEN to be done. Period!

The issue is clear, there is a plan. And it is playing out already, sadly, one of my 'brothers' is the arrowhead.

@ post,

are you not out to steal our ideas, and use for your own benefits?

@ all,

I am shocked at our responses to this post, to say the least.

Someone said here that that's not biblical. We crave change, yet we see people who have made outstanding sucess in their fields, and rather choose to mock them. i'm shocked, and conclude that Nigeria may never change, if what i hear or see on nairaland is a guage of the opinion pulse of the average nigerian.

Seems u never knew that Martin Luther was a baptist preacher? What kind of criteria do we really have for one that will sucessfully lead nigeria? Unfortunately, we have none. It' so obvious.

Pastor Adeboye is an example of a sucessful man in whatsoever field he has chosen. As scientist, his record is there for all to see. He doesnt lead dummies. His members and pastors are mainly sucessful people, and his church model is unique. It is no mean feat to establish your organisation in almost all countries of the world. I have been in some strange corners abroad, and have seen the RCCG signpost at such places. No mean feat, my friends. Think of a man whose organisation drew the attention of Prince Charles of England, to the extent he had his birthday at the RCCG.

If he were owner of Mr Biggs, or tantalizers, they will be like MacDonalds in all probability.

See friends, we criticise our own best. Check out for yourselves who has made the greatest impact in Education. Adeboye, and other preachers like him have most of the private universities. Covenant, Redeemers, Babcock, BIU, etc etc.

I tire for us sef. See how sentimental and subjective we are in our arguments. Hardly intelligent, except for a few.

Hey Guys, we all seem to have been caught up with the syndrome of 'the more you look, the less you see'.

We are so intelligent, yet an 'insider' will read all our posts and just laugh.

In nigerian politics, nothing is as it seems.  If we look closely, we will realise that the only people being touched by this regime are of a certain colour. They are strong men, ambitious, performers, strategic and intelligent, etc.  Ribadu, El Rufai, Soludo, etc.  The game plan was hatched long ago, after Yar adua came into power. The PLAN was to neutralize certain men who were considered threats.  It was hatched in the manse of one former south-south governor. The targets include the key people i have mentioned and 2 others.  They became targets because they had plans which came in direct conflict of the former governor's plans, had too much information, and refused to 'play ball'(becos of their own plans).

Have you wondered why Idiagbon was Neutralised even before OBJ came into power?  
Or, do you think the arrest of Jim Ovia, and harrasment of Rivers state officials are a separate and different issue from the issues being discussed?
Or even Soludo's planned sack?

All a part of the game, friends.

The answer is a big NO!

Nigeria and Nigerians don't seem to have the capacity to identify the real problems and solutions to their problems, and this is critical for any true reformation to be achieved. The likely response of most nigerians to true reforms will be outright rejection.

I stand to be corrected, and i will like to hear other opinions.

dazangel11:
Always A good Idea. for once i was beginning see that nigeria moving forward.

Me too, I returned to nigeria because things were beginning to happen here. And believe me, things were happening.

@post,

I always knew the third term was necessary. I'm not carried away with western style democracy that took at least 200 years to develop.

Why not we look at our contemporaries like Singapore, Malaysia, etc. Check out their style of governance. Singapore had it great leader, Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled for over 40 years, and took singapore from 3rd world to first. Do you know he was called a benevolent dictator?

I think that's what nigeria needs- a firm, leader with vision, sense of purpose and commitment to the Nigeria. One who would not pander to everyone's whims and caprices. (Imagine giving your child all theat he wants- you know he will even refuse going to school, he'd rather play all day. Same with us Nigerians.)

OBJ is an embodiment of these virtues i have listed.

gamechange:
Corruption and Nigeria are synonymous. This dastard verdict is the final nail on the coffin. There is no better word to describe the relationship between Government and its people other than "Slavery"
Yes I said it. Nigerians are slaves to their masters (those in Government)

I concur with you on the fact of corruption being synonymous with nigeria. I only disagree we are slaves to the government.

I feel we are slaves to ourselves. To our ignorance and sentimentality! Today we shout, Ribadu is too hard and excessive, now we see a 'soft and kind' woman, fighting the monster called corruption with kid gloves, and we are crying she is bad,bad,bad! Wetin we want sef?

We vascilate, oscillate, undulate and fluctuate with every wind that blows around! We dont know what we want.

PERIOD!

Honestly, we shouldn't have expected much from Farida Waziri.

There's also no way you can use a set of rules scripted by the corrupt themselves to fight corruption.  And maybe that's  why Ribadu resorted to extra-constitutional means and methods to fight corruption. And he got results!

Sadly, we all crucified him!

What exactly do we want: Real Results or Merely Paying lip service to the serious issues at stake?

We need to get serious, NIGERIANS!

@hollandis,

how can you contemplate that Ezekwesili was out to destroy Education in Nigeria? Smacks of GROSS IGNORANCE!

She was the first and only person to Identify the real problems with the sector.

Imagine a situation where 80% of the entire ministry's budget goes for recurrent expenditure! Put in perspective, even when allocations have been increased over the years, we only end up increasing Techers' and Lecturers' salaries and bonuses.

The Question is ? :

For whom is the Education sector meant? Grooming tomorrow's leaders OR Feeding a generation that ate The budgets of Yesteryears?

She identified this ANOMALYand corrected it.  It took a radical shift in Paradigm.

What about the Adopt a School approach, where Oando adopted 250 secondary schools nationwide? This was novel, and imagine a multibillion naira company adopting a school! Upgrading the labs, retraining the teachers, giving scholarships to good students, etc!  And imagine the Public image SWELL of such a company! And the attendant copycatism and Competition in Coporate Nigeria! The banks, Telecoms, Oil Majors, and other coporate giants would begin to say, "Whose School is the Greatest?"

All this to the benefit of our Children and future leaders!

Have you seen the federal govt colleges lately? And you like them as they are? And you say that Ezekwesili wanted to kill Education?  I'M SORRY ABOUT YOUR OPINION!

Muza:
-14.htm

My question is that must we keep foreign reserves when we are wallowing in under-development?

What you have said is ridiculous! And shows a basic lack of understanding of the issues involved.

If you understood what you said, you'll crucify anyone that says same. And when you eventually get to understand, you'll mock yourself for saying so, and quickly delete your post.

Anyway, if you deplete the foreign reserves, how do we trade, especially imports, internationally? What about our Naira?

In any case, greater damage and hurt to businessmen than the devaluation of the Naira.

This is a HORROR!

They will practically destroy Dora Akunyili. I hope she has the wisdom to REJECT the offer.

The issue is WASNT A THIRD TERM BETTER FOR THE FORMER PRESIDENT than this downward spiral?

I'm really wondering?

Thank God for intelligent, and objetive Nigerians like Segzyjoe and Giayong (i wish you re Nigerian). Would have made all the difference if we had only 20% of Nigerians like You. (Remember Pareto's Principle?)

As always, we always need other peoples to SEE and TELL us what good we have.

You know, i have always imagined that if not for Foreigners, Crude Oil would only have been a  useless, ugly oily mess to us nigerians.

People like MrCrackles  and Dean2725 need to be more objective, less biased, and find better ways to observe and measure performance.

Later, for more of the facts.

auwal87:
SORRRY, But there is no ONE single CHRISTIAN holding the UAE PASSPORT!!! 100% of UAE Nationals are MUSLIMS!!! KNOW THIS, OKAY, Residents of the other Arab countries are mostly from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and other neighboring countries like Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Saudia, etc. Major residents also includes India who have only small business operations like coffee shops, grocery stores, etc, while the Pakistanis take up the Taxi jobs.
BUT there is NO single JOB of high reputation in the UAE that is undertaken by a non MUSLIM!!!

Every source knows that 100% of the Gulf Religion are Muslims!!!

ISLAM is the Way!

Haba Auwal. Anybody that has been to Dubai will tell you that the construction in Dubai is largely driven by the west.
By that I mean that all the top positions in construction companies are all westerners from UK, Germany, USA and the likes.

I really wonder what you were fuming about.

OBJ was a blessing to Nigeria, i have never doubted that. And by almost every standard. The signs are there to see.

I will only ask him why he didn't go about the third term project properly. I was disappointed it failed. See what has happened to Nigeria less than 2 years after he left.

I'll ask him why he gave Yar adua to suceed him.

OBJ once said that Ibori is the smartest politician in Nigeria. That was in a top level meeting somewhere in Gambia in '07.
It was there the decision to have him INSTALL Yar adua as President was made.

I stand to be corrected, but i think he is currently the most powerful Politician in the country- in terms of being a Mr. Fix- It.

Anywhere between 200 and 600 million Naira.

Don't buy any properties now, as many of the properties in these areas are overpriced.
They'll soon feel the effect of the oil price crash.

That is an open secret.

Muza:
or is it selling Nigerian assets at ridiculous give away prices thats a mistake,

You probably mean 'selling Nigerian Liabilities',

No pictures no deal!!!!
Please paste pictures of at least some properties, Haba!!!!!!!!!
Who will initiate a deal worth millions without getting 2 see pictures first.Kai!!

I remain an OBJ apologist. Even if all others seem to have run, maybe i am the LAST MAN STANDING!

But does it matter now?

@ dayokanu,

I know a Cologne called Prejudice and a Deodorant called Bias. Don't wear them. They are too costly.

It's important we get the facts right, or else we wont even know when we unknowingly fight, and become enemies of progress.

Let me take 1 or 2 issues:
REFINERIES
Do you realise that even if our refineries function at 100% capacity, (they are at about >70% currently), we will still be under supplied in Nigeria?
So, there is no connection between the TAM and continued importation of fuel. The TAM was very successful and the refineries are producing. But we still need to import fuel. So, how do we stop the fuel imports?

To build more refineries, obviously. Question is, Who builds more refineries? Govt. or Private Investors?

Govt is very bad in business. We all know this. For instance, do u know that NNPC can NEVER make a profit? The model is grossly unsustainable. The staff are too much and salaries are huge. The pension scheme is outrageous( think of a retired manager on a monthly pension of N600,000 till the end of his life. A supervisor will retire on over 300,000 pension monthly. Directors almost a million- you can verify the facts!) But all this will continue even if there is no production by the company, or even if the economics dont support it. YES, that is govt. style of bizness. And you and me pay for these inefficiencies. You wonder there are no roads, no schools, etc, these are some reasons.

The private sector should build refineries. But, they will come and say, as long as govt subsidizes petrol, there is no way we can sell. Eg, say Production cost of petrol is N70/Litre and to break even, profit and recover their investments, the privates must sell at say N100. And govt sells for N70. Who will buy? Do u think the investors will come? No way.

Sadly, the govt used N700 billion on fuel subsidies- sadly subsidizing inefficient tokunboh cars, unnecessarily excessive cars(imagine a family with 5 cars), etc. All a waste! Subsidizing our wasteful luxuries and stupid inefficiencies!


OBJ tried to correct this. We all said no. He tried to sell off the refineries(huge liabilities), and yar adua reversed the sale. etc etc

These are examples of how we act in ignorance, criticize with bias and make uninformed, prejudiced judgments, thereby destroying opportunities to get out of our quagmire.

While it is true that there are still a lot of problems in nigeria, i dont think that makes OBJ a failure. I dont think even the best would have achieved significantly more in that space of 8 years, considering the peculiarities of this country.

Governance is a continuum, and there is no way all the problems can be solved in one tenure.

No form of true change could have been achieved without dealing with foundational issues. Always, even when you are building a house, you must start with the foundation, or else, u know the result. In fact, the taller the structure, the deeper the foundation.

There is a tendency for us as onlookers to imagine and complain that the building project is slow, or not going on, because we see only foundational work is going on. This will smack of ignorance. The sucess of OBJ's tenure lies in the foundation he laid. And more too.

For instance, how would there have been economic revival when the Macroeconomic parameters were not favorable? or even with the debt overhang? How do you deal with infrastructural issues like roads without the massive funds required? Or you think that nigeria has the funds?

What about sustainability of projects? We all know that govt is bad in bizness. The best approach is to have the private sector come in. As in telecoms. Same could be applied to power, energy and refineries, etc, etc. However, the issue comes down to having the right environment - legal, constitutional, policy, etc, for private investors to make such change. These are all foundational issues, and here OBJ did excellently.

It is not only a movement from 1 to 10 that can be considered progress. Even greater progress is made when you move from -20 to -1.

As i said, govt is a continuum, let Yar adua continue from where OBJ stopped.

I like it.Very cool.
Just that I would prefer just two countries where your Nigeria, Odua Republic and Biafra would form one country and become NAIJA
We will live in absolute peace and harmony. No more religious strife. Prosperity would reign supreme.
Seriously, it just a dream, but I hope it can happen peacefully.

dayokanu:
The things Ya Adua has not done includes

we need someone like OBJ who stole $16billion for power projects,
wasted fortunes on COJA CHOGM and other privolous projects, What of the satellite money,
A president that fuelled the Niger Delta crises,
A president that levelled two towns and its inhabitants (Odi and Zaki Biam),
A president who gave the leeway to Andy Uba and Gbenga Obasanjo to illegally enrich themselves through the government,
a president who has the highest number of politically motivated and unsolved murder till date, Bola Ige, Dikibo, Harry Marshalls and Funsho williams easily comes to mind.
A leader that overtly supported Political mad men like Adedibu and Chris Uba and encouraged gangsterism
A president who encouraged total disregard for the rule of law.
A president who abused power at will
A president who spent more time in the Jets galivanting all over the world.
A president who presided over the worst election in the history on Nigeria.
A president who brought all refineries to their knees.

@dayokanu, I take exception to much of what you have said on OBJ here. Get the FACTS right:

- What is $16 billion about? Is it money budgeted for the power projects? or, monies already disbursed?  There are available data, why not get them. 

- Where  you in china for the olympic games? At least you watched it. Have you wondered why the chinese pumped in so much money to host that   spectacular event? Was it just to make a show of their new status as an 'arrived nation'? I can tell you, Much more was at stake. SAME applies to COJA.

- Did OBJ fuel the niger delta crisis? A big no! The niger delta has always supported OBJ, in fact, that was his greatest support base in the past elections.

- Gbenga Obasanjo was the president's son. Think about it: he didnt need enrichment from his father to become wealthy. Every body will want to do bizness with someone of that stature. Even as son of an oil company director.

- What refineries were brought to their knees? It was during OBJs tenure that the refineries underwent an outstanding turn around maintenance. One of the refineries was completely transformed-  almost as new. It was only the disruption of the Chanomi supply line that allowed Yar adua to enjoy the priviledge of starting up the plants.

- Did the gallivanting bring the desired results? Look at the Debt relief, the Massive inflow of Foreign Direct Investments, the improvement of Nigerias Image, and a lot more. I think the trips were worth the stress.

@ poster, there is litttle doubt your observation is correct. I had come to this conclusion a long time ago.

How do we OBJECTIVELY measure the performance of OBJ?

I think the first criteria is remove all forms of bias, sentimentality and prejudice.

We should have what i'll call KPIs - KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, and measure all performance against these indicators. Then we can actually score the performance of the past President.

The big problem with uninformed and unintelligent conclusions is the possibility of 'missing out' when the real answers come.