₦airaland Forum

casualobserver:
Ghana is an oil producing country, their petrol is N800/ liter

FrancisDiote:
the problem is the subsidized fuel is still looted and sold to neighbors Benin republic, Cameroon, Togo etc so we are actually subsidizing for them.

bentenny:
Go and check!
They were never quiet!
They spoke against it!

dahnimoh:
K
I have already started my strike since Friday. How can I fill my Toyota corolla tank with 30k . How can I recover the money using it for uber.

The prices of major foodstuffs and other essential goods have started rising in response to the hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, following the announcement by President Bola Tinubu that the era of subsidy on the product is gone.

Tinubu had on Monday during his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square in Abuja said the era of subsidy payment on fuel had ended, adding that with the 2023 budget making no provision for it, further subsidy payment was no longer justifiable.

He added that his administration would instead channel funds into infrastructure and other areas to strengthen the economy.

The presidential pronouncement led to an instant resurgence of fuel queues across the country with Nigerians foraging for the premium product. Though Tinubu’s decision received the backing of the NNPCL and the House of Representatives, it has since been resisted by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.

According to the organised labour, the President cannot unilaterally take a decision on subsidy removal.

Currently, petrol sells for between N495 and N600 per litre across the nation from N185 to N220 until Monday.

A survey conducted by Sunday PUNCH in various states of the federation on Saturday showed that apart from the increase in transport fares, the prices of foodstuffs, soup ingredients, daily provisions and other essential goods had started rising with expectations of further increment as manufacturers and retailers adjust to the new fuel regime.

The local production of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, by Dangote Refinery, Port Harcourt Refining Company and others in Nigeria is not going to change the pump price of the commodity, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said.

The NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, who disclosed this during an interview on Arise television in Abuja on Thursday, stressed that the notion that petrol prices would reduce once the country starts domestic production was false.

Kyari confirmed that the Dangote Refinery, which was inaugurated on May 22, 2023, by former President Muhammadu Buhari, would start pushing out products by the end of July and early August.

He also stated that the Port Harcourt Refinery would be delivered by the end of the year, adding that the facility was expected to further boost local production of petrol.

But Kyari declared that despite the volume of petrol being expected from these facilities, the cost of the commodity would not reduce, regardless of the fact that the product was produced locally.

“There is a notion that if the product is processed locally, prices will reduce. Let me make it clear that it is not going to change anything. If you produce locally, the refineries will also input the cost of production and other things and it will be sold at the current price.

“There will also be no subsidy when local production starts because there is no cash-to-back subsidy, this country no longer has the resources to continue with subsidy,” Kyari stated.

When he steps down next week President Muhammadu Buhari will be leaving Nigerians less secure, poorer and more in debt than when he came to office in 2015.

The former military ruler became president after winning a momentous election which saw the defeat of underperforming incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

Riding a wave of optimism that change was possible, he was supported by a powerful coalition and had the reputation of being a hard-man soldier, who would get things done.

After Mr Buhari's brief stint in charge in the 1980s, his second coming was on the back of promises to curtail the rampaging Islamist insurgency in the north-east and tackle widespread corruption.

He is the last of a generation of British-trained military men who went on to govern the country

But the 80-year-old's two four-year terms have left many disappointed.

There have been gains in tackling Boko Haram and other extremist [/b]groups in the north-east, aided by improved military hardware from the US.

While the groups still carry out attacks on communities and military installations in the region, it is a big improvement from the years when they operated freely and controlled a large portion of Nigerian territory.

Mr Buhari also utilised [b]Chinese loans to upgrade the ailing road and rail infrastructure, building a new port in Lagos, completing a crucial bridge in the south-east, and passing important electoral and oil-sector laws.

But whatever gains have been recorded in the north-east against the Islamist militants have been eroded by the emergence of equally violent groups in other parts of the country under his watch.

Clashes between farmers and cattle herders from the Fulani ethnic group, which had simmered for years, were allowed to boil over into deadly armed confrontations with an ethnic element, as the government ran out of ideas to solve the problem of where animals could graze.

Mr Buhari, a Fulani from northern Nigeria, was accused of bias in the conflict and his proposal of grazing reserves for the herders were rebuffed by powerful southern state governors who saw it as a land-grabbing tactic.

Some of the armed groups created by the farmer-herder crisis have since transitioned into violent motorcycle-riding bandits targeting communities in the north-west and central states. These groups have helped turn a lucrative kidnap-for-ransom business into a behemoth that now extends countrywide.

It took hold during the first decade of the century when oil workers were kidnapped in the Niger Delta and blossomed under Mr Buhari's watch as the targets changed.

For instance, thousands of school children were abducted between December 2020 and September 2021, according to the UN's children's organisation, Unicef. That eclipsed the 270 girls seized from a school in Chibok who made global headlines in 2014 - a crime that was a crucial factor in Mr Buhari defeating Mr Jonathan.

"I thought that as a former military ruler he would have the solution to Nigeria's security challenges," Musa Ahmadu a farmer now living in the north-western state of Kano, told the BBC.

Mr Ahmadu, originally from the president's home state of Katsina, abandoned his land and fled to neighbouring Kano alongside thousands of others because of the activities of armed groups in the region.

Many also believe that Mr Buhari has mishandled the situation thrown up by separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Mr Kanu heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a group seeking secession in the south-east which is proscribed by the government.

He is a charismatic figure with a huge appetite for sensationalism which he fed devotees via his internet radio station.

Ipob was largely ignored by many Nigerians until Mr Kanu was first arrested for treason by the Buhari government in 2015. A subsequent state-sanctioned attack on his home marked the beginning of an armed confrontation that has spiralled out of control, claiming hundreds of lives in the process.

After escaping in 2017, he was abducted in unclear circumstances abroad and returned to Nigeria in 2021 to face trial. A judge has ordered his release as the process of his return was illegal but authorities continue to hold him.

These security challenges made many question Mr Buhari's handling of a sector that was supposed to be his area of expertise.

"I am surprised at the level of embarrassment he has brought to his constituency, the military, despite all the promises he made," said retired Colonel Hassan Stan-Labi, a security analyst.

"How can you fail in your own area of specialty?" he asked.

The countrywide insecurity under Mr Buhari has largely been muted in the oil-rich Niger Delta where oil-militants and sea pirates held sway in the past.

But that peace seems to have coincided with a period of large-scale oil theft, with the government accused of looking away while different groups in the region steal crude from the pipelines. This led to Nigeria's production plunging to a 30-year low in 2022.

The shocking discovery last October of a kilometres-long pipeline used to steal oil was described by commentators as "nearly impossible" without help from authorities.

In one location, thieves built their own 4km-long pipeline through the heavily guarded creeks to the Atlantic Ocean. There, barges and vessels blatantly loaded the stolen oil from a seven-metre rig visible for miles on the open waters.

That theft on such a scale happened directly under Mr Buhari, who also doubled as Nigeria's petroleum minister, undermined his claim to be fighting graft, Salaudeen Hashim of anti-corruption NGO Cleen Foundation, told the BBC.

Mr Buhari's integrity was also impugned by his frequent medical trips to the UK despite spending large sums to refurbish a clinic in the presidential villa.

This lack of transparency "drained taxpayers' monies, encouraged illicit financial flows and other corruption-enabling activities the administration preached against", Auwal Rafsanjani, the head of Transparency International in Nigeria, told the BBC.

Mr Rafsanjani scored the administration four out of 10 in fighting corruption, and said Mr Buhari's appointment of people with ongoing corruption cases to his cabinet and his wife's long stays in expensive Dubai homes "contravened best practices by an administration that was fighting corruption and mismanagement".

As he leaves, Mr Buhari's handling of the Nigerian economy will most likely be remembered for his botched attempt earlier this year at redesigning the local currency.

An otherwise rudimentary exercise descended into chaos as scarcity of the new naira notes, which have now almost disappeared, resulted in untold hardship for millions in the country who relied on cash for basic needs.

"The small business we were doing was destroyed by that man," said a university graduate in Abuja who made money by supplying banknotes to her customers before the cash crisis.

Her anger was fuelled by a common problem in Nigeria - a lack of work among educated young people.

Currently one in three Nigerians who want to work are unable to find a job. Before Mr Buhari took over that figure was less than one in 10.

The government has blamed a drastic drop in oil prices in its early days, the Covid pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine.

But some of its policies, such as currency restrictions and closing the land borders to boost local production, have contributed towards record inflation that has made millions poorer and depleted a once burgeoning Nigerian middle-class.

Last week, with the end in sight, Mr Buhari pleaded with lawmakers to hurriedly approve an $800m (£640m) loan from the World Bank. Nigeria's public debt could pass $150bn this year - when he took over it stood at a little over $60bn.

His borrowing spree has drawn warnings from the World Bank that Africa's largest economy was using 96% of its revenue to service debts.

But the huge debt has been defended by the administration who say it is within acceptable limits, pointing to cash payments to poor people as justification for some of the loans.

"These welfarist interventions give a window into the kind soul of the president, a man some people have not bothered to discern, dissect and decipher," presidential spokesman Femi Adesina wrote last week.

Like him, many in the administration insist it has had a good eight-year run. Although both he and his wife have apologised for not delivering on promises made, Mr Buhari has said that he tried his best.

"I want [Nigerians] to analyse how things were when we came in and how they are when we're leaving," he responded when asked about his legacy last year.

The fact is that Nigerians were safer, better off and less in debt before Mr Buhari took over, and many will remember him for presiding over the toughest eight years they might ever lived.

Male models wearing bras and women’s swimsuits for “Pride Month”?!?!

I AM DONE WITH ADIDAS!!! pic.twitter.com/qTgz4uTQCn

— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen) May 17, 2023

nairalanda1:
Yes, and one of the things an ambitous leader can do is face reality and improve our tax to gdp ratio, so that we can pay for improvements to our social and public infrastructure, which would attract more foreign investment.

And expanding power supply requires cost reflective tarrifs too.

Agriculture suffers from the same issues with oil. We don't set the price.

onthehill:
Nigerians Are Large-Hearted People, They Will Forgive President Buhari - Garba Shehu



https://igberetvnews.com/1443573/nigerians-large-hearted-people-will-forgive-president-buhari-garba-shehu/

seunpayne:
300k

seunpayne:
Clean series X with two series x controllers.
Game pass ultimate subscription until July 2023
Games purchased: fifa 23, outriders (worldslayer expansion installed), red dead redemption 2, division 2 (wony dlc purchased).

I also have the wireless headset from razer if interested.

Kobonaire4:
At the end of the day, army rule does not fix anything

Oga, you are upset that Obi lost. Better wipe your tears and work for 2027. [/b]Calling for the army nanny is basically retrogression. You won't like it.

Work within the system to change it.

Kobonaire4:
There is no such thing as a 'common goal' in democracy. Every body has a differing goal.

At the end of the day, it is those who work hard enough to achieve their specific goal that get there.

If Obi won, you won't be telling me this.

At the end, the side that stayed united won. Too bad it was the side that has worsened our state these past 8 years.

Kobonaire4:
UAE is a oppresive nation, and building an economy is not the same as building a democracy.

We tried army rule in the past and emerged poorer for it.

It takes time to build a democracy.

All I know is, I am freer under democracy, even with the APC and PDP mess, than I ever was under army rule.

Ikorodu APC members are revolting cus dem no pay them for voting on February 25

When you get paid to vote how will you hold the government responsible for their failures? https://t.co/pzS60gMcAQ

— Mob President Christian (@Chrisblin) March 11, 2023

Evarline Okello breaks down in tears as she tells me she is hundreds of dollars in debt, after paying a pastor to pray for her.

She lives in a tiny shack in Kibera, a vast slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and can no longer provide for her four children.

Ms Okello hasn't earned anything for months, she tells me as we talk on the telephone. So when she heard about a pastor whose prayers could make life better, she wanted to see him. He asked her for $115 (£96; 15,000 Kenyan shillings).

This is known as a "seed offering": a financial contribution to a religious leader, with a specific outcome in mind.

Ms Okello borrowed the money from a friend, who took out a loan on her behalf. She had been told this pastor's prayers were so powerful that she would see a return on her money within a week.

But the miracle never came. In fact things got even worse, [/b]she says. The loan her friend took out has ballooned due to unpaid interest. She now owes more than $300, and has no idea how she'll pay it back. Her friend has stopped talking to her, and she still has no job.

[b]"Things have become so difficult I have lost all hope," she says.

......cost-of-living crisis. Food prices rose by almost 16% in the 12 months before September 2022....

This has increased their desire for supernatural solutions, she says, and [i]many are now willing to pay for a miracl[/i]e, even if they have to borrow the money.

"People are being told that God doesn't want them to remain poor. So they plant a seed," she tells me.

The Prosperity Gospel has its roots in America, where it gained momentum in the early 20th Century......

...That's what happened to 26-year-old Dennis Opili. Feeling disheartened after more than three years looking for work, he asked a friend for help.

"He advised me that there is a church where you go and they pray for you. You give a certain offering, then they pray for you, then you can secure a job," Mr Opili says.

When his savings ran out he borrowed about $120 from cash apps and from friends.

"I believed in what the pastor told me, that I'll be able to secure a job. So I didn't have any problems with borrowing, because I thought eventually I'll be able to pay off the money."

But when no job appeared, Mr Opili began to suspect that he had been tricked.

...Luckily he has now managed to find piecemeal work, which has enabled him to pay back part of the money, both to the loan companies and his friends.

"I still very much believe in God," he says. "All I have to do is just be a little more careful."

......She says both congregants and local pastors at her former church were expected to give a "tithe" of 10% of their monthly income to finance the church and its leadership in Nigeria. And that was in addition to what was called "first fruit" - their entire pay packet of the first month of the year
.......
Sarah says she saw people paying for "seed money" with their credit cards in church services.

"I remember one time at the church a lady said: 'I have been paying my tithe, and it seems like I still don't have enough money at the end of the month.'"

The pastor's response, Sarah says, was to tell people that giving was more important than paying their rent. And she says anyone who questioned why miracles were not happening was told: "You didn't pray enough, you didn't sow seed enough. You didn't have enough faith."
.....
But it can also appeal to those living in poverty, he says.

"A church that says: 'We know that you're suffering, and we have a practical, attainable solution for you,' [/b]will be more attractive than one that preaches some elusive, systemic change."
......
[b]"I wouldn't say that church is bad. The church is good. It is the pastors who are doing wrong. They are the ones who are asking for money."

The Independent National Electoral Commission has warned voters that the use of mobile phones or any photographic device inside the voting cubicle to take pictures of the party they cast their votes for would not be allowed.

The National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC Voter Education and Publicity Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, made this known during a news programme on Channels Television.

He said anyone caught will be jailed upon prosecution.

According to him, “No one will be allowed to take his or her phone to the voting cubicle. It is prohibited.

“Officials of the ICPC, EFCC and security agencies will be on hand to monitor and ensure that the law in that respect is not violated.”

2paid2Bmad:
May thunder and lightning destroy your home till the fourth generation!
So they should have voted m.k.o the serial thief?
Who did Igbos vote in 1999?
I’m Yoruba and because of this tribalistic talks is why I will never vote Tinubu. Why do I care if a Yoruba man never becomes the president again if I’m doing well in my country…Fools like you are so close minded and do not see the big picture. So I should vote Tinubu because he’s Yoruba while I wallow in poverty.
It won’t be better for you and all of you that have this same thought. May a deadly disease strike all of you. Ashiere, amunkunmeko alayebaje,omo ofo.

franchasofficia:
In a sane country that want progress and to kill future corruption by government officials, as Buhari is handing over, all APC political office holders from President down to LGA Chairman ought to be marched to a waiting Black Maria to transport them from the handing over ceremony to a mass execution site where trigger happy masked men are waiting to shoot them mercilessly until their heart fall off their heartless chests

Dreamday:
At the end of the day, all this can be avoided

abbey621:
Well professor, if voting had anything to do with intelligence, half the world leaders would not be world leaders. People vote based on emotions, in 9ja it is even worse, we vote based on religion, tribe, party, fear, shame, fantasy etc.

ganisucks:
https://thenationonlineng.net/lagos-students-endorse-tinubu-sanwo-olu/