₦airaland Forum

Buhari was the best, Then Murtala, yaradua, abacha, OBJ and retardeen

In jos alone, families have been wiped out, not one not two, what has democracy done for us besides breeding indiscipline and corruption, Under the military i cant remember any bunch of fools taking arms against the Government, Under Abacha, not even the almighty IBB could talk, today people can tell the president, there would make the country ungovernable and nothing would happen to them, we are not mature for this kind of system yet

^^^^^
I would rather have a buhari/idagbon that will deal with acts of indiscipline than have a GEJ That is helplesss against Boko haram, where was mend under Abacha, I would better trust my faith in China's Chairman Mao than this politicians that are stealing from our future

^^^^^^
If we decide to occupy them until they leave, they would have to choice than to waka, I dont trust politicians either, under the military very few people were eating, under the civilian govt we have the president with over 40 ministers special advisers, assistants, 36 governors with some of them having over 20 commissioners, 774 local govts, 109 senators, over 300 house of rep members all eating in billions and millions, we cant continue like this

On Behalf of many well meaning Nigerians we wish to call on the Military to Intervene In Our beloved Nation as it was done in Egypt.
In the last 12 years of democracy, the loss of lives  from ODI, ZAKIBIAM and BOKOHARAM BOMBS were worse than those lost under the military regimes combined. Our roads are worse than there were under the military.  while we might have enjoyed more freedom of speech under the civilian rule, we believe that a corrective INTERVENTION FROM THE MILITARY will correct  our failures in our civilian experiments. I would trade my freedom of speech for the lives of Nigerians lost during our failed democracy. Our democracy and economy is bound to crash later so why not do something about it now. In the last 13 years of our democracy we have realized that This system of Government is not in the interest of Nigerians. It is too expensive and so we would employ the military to come in and stay for a maximum of 18 months. Their duties should be:
1. Restructure the country along regional governments and local councils: No state governments Please.
2. Resource Control by regions. the regions should pay taxes to the federal govt between 50%-60% for the first 5 yrs to help the other regions and this will gradually reduce to 20% over the next 10 yrs so that the other regions can develop their regions.
3 Change our system of Government to a parliamentary system where our legislators would be on a part time basis
4. Conduct a Sovereign National conference to discuss The Nigerian state: Ex Militants, Boko haram members, OPC and  should all be invited so that issues of religion, resource control and other things that concern our nations can be discussed.
5. Place a ban on all politicians that participated in the 4th and 5th republic and prevent them from contesting elections until our democracy stabilizes
6. Fix salary structures of public office holders and make reviews of such salaries and allowances as difficult as possible. Make sure political office is not attractive so that those with just the interest of the people at heart can participate.
7. Strengthen our anti corruption agencies by restructuring EFFC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau
8. Establish a Truly independent election commission: our best elections were under the military, June 12 and 1999 elections
9. Try all corrupts politicians and Judicial officers in Special Anti-Corruption Courts
10. make corruption a punishable offence by death as from the next dispensation
All Over the world, Military dictatorships have become a thing of the past and Nigeria would not want to be different. We know that Many military men would want to stay longer so Nigerians will rise up to challenge them if they stay beyond 18 months like Egyptians did and Nigerians also did for IBB to step down in 1993. I am not crazy. I mean well for Nigeria because with the current Government and at the rate boko haram is going, there is no hope for the future, God bless You all

,

Arithmetic of Fuel Subsidy

Arithmetic of Fuel Subsidy (by Wale Majaro)

The Nigerian government claims that Nigerians consume 34million L of petrol per day. Most experts disagree and give a figure between 20ML and 25ML per day. For this write up, I will use the government figure. The government has also said that N141/L is the unsubsidized pump price of petrol imported into Nigeria, with N131.7 the landing price and N9.3 as profit.

Now, the government has made claims of the refineries working between 30% and 60%, depending on whom you listen to. For the sake of argument, I will assume that our refineries don’t work at all (i.e. 0% Production). Thus, my calculation is based on 100% of petrol used in Nigeria being imported, the worst case scenario. If the refineries actually work at 60% as the government claims, they should be processing 270,000 bbl/day of crude. Each barrel of crude produces 75L of petrol. So, if the government is to be believed, the refineries produce 19.5 million L of petrol a day and we should therefore only import 14.5million L a day. My analysis will ignore this completely.

So here is the arithmetic, using the government’s own figures:

Daily fuel consumption/importation: 34million L
Cost at pump: N141
No of days in a year: 365
Total cost of all petrol imported into Nigeria = 34Mx141x365 = N1.75 trillion

Now, Nigerians have been paying N 65/L for fuel, haven’t we? Therefore, cost borne by the consumers = 34Mx65x365 = N807 billion

Cost of the subsidy borne by the government is:

Subsidy = Total cost of import – cost borne by consumers
= N1.75 trillion – N807 billion
= N943 billion

So, even if we believe the claim that we consume 34million L/day and we assume that the refineries don’t work, the government should still not have spent up to N 1 trillion on the subsidy in 2011. How did they manage to spend N1.3 trillion by October? Since N1.3 trillion was spent by October, then the bill for the full year 2011 (assuming a constant rate of consumption) is: N1.56 trillion!

What accounts for the difference between N943 billion and N1.56 trillion? This is a difference of N617 billion that the government cannot explain. Did I hear a government official claim that the difference is what goes to subsidize our neighbours through smuggling? Time for more arithmetic.

Using figures from Okonjo-Iweala’s World Bank, here are the populations of West African countries:

Nigeria: 158.4 million
Benin: 8.8 million
Togo: 6 million
Cameroun: 19.6 million
Niger: 15.5 million
Chad: 11.2 million
Ghana: 24.4 million
The total population of all our neighbours: 85.5 million

Now, let us assume that fully 50% of the petrol consumed in each of these countries is illegally exported from Nigeria. Let us also assume that each of these countries consumes petrol at the same rate the Nigerian government claims petrol is consumed in Nigeria. I have deliberately ignored the ff facts which show that petrol consumption in these countries will necessarily be considerably lower than consumption in Nigeria:

Some of these countries have stable electricity (eg Ghana) and thus do not depend on petrol-driven generators for power.
Ghana, Togo and Benin are much smaller than Nigeria, thus traveling distances will be smaller.
Niger and Chad are mostly desert and cross-desert transportation of goods/people is mostly by diesel-consuming trucks, not petrol-consuming cars.
Apart from Ghana, the car density in each of these countries is much, much lower than the car density in Nigeria. In Nigeria, there are 31 cars for every 1000 citizens. In Togo and Chad, you have less than 10 cars for 1000 people.
Ghana has started to produce oil and will very likely rely less and less on refined products smuggled from Nigeria, once the Ghanaian local refining capacity is built up.


Rate of petrol consumption in Nigeria = Total consumed/total population
= 34ML/158.8M people
= 0.21L/person/day

Rate of petrol consumption in neighbouring countries is assumed to be same as Nigeria = 0.21L/person/day

Petrol consumption by our neighbours = Rate of consumption x total population
= 0.21x85.5M
= 18.35ML per day

Now, we have assumed that 50% of the petrol consumed in each of these countries comes from Nigeria. This value comes to: 9.18 millionL per day.

Let’s pause here. Think about it again. Is it possible for 9.18 million L of petrol to be smuggled out of our borders and the government cannot do anything about it? The biggest fuel tankers in Nigeria have a capacity of about 36,000L. How many of these trucks do you need to smuggle 9.18 ML of fuel? 254! Our government is telling us that over 250 huge tankers pass through our borders everyday and they cannot do anything about it! Wow! Talk about incompetence! This in itself is an urgent security challenge – if you cannot stop 250 tanker trailers from crossing the borders daily, how can you stop importation of weapons or even an invasion by a foreign army?

But that is not all.

Let’s believe the government and assume that about 9.18ML is actually taken to our neighbours everyday and this is all subsidized by the Nigerian government.

How much will this translate to?

Difference between pump price before and after subsidy removal = N141-N65 = N76
Total spent on subsidizing petrol to our neighbours annually = N76 x 9.18ML x 365
= N255 billion

I have assumed that:

There are no working refineries in Nigeria.
Nigeria actually consumes 34ML of petrol per day.
Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroun, Niger, Chad all get 50% of their petrol illegally, from Nigeria.
Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroun, Niger, Chad all consume petrol at the same rate as Nigeria.


Yet, the government’s figures still don’t add up! There is N362 billion missing. This is the difference between N943 billion and N1.56 trillion, assuming N255 billion is wasted through subsidizing the rest of West Africa. The government should tell us what/who eats up this N362 billion ($2.26 billion).

These figures simply show the incompetence and insincerity of our government officials. The simplest part of the arithmetic is laid down below:

NNPC crude oil allocation for local consumption: 400,000 barrels per day
Assuming refineries work at 30%, 280,000 barrels can be sold on the international market. (Remember that I assumed that refineries don’t work in calculating our consumption, to give an absolute worst case scenario).
Money accruing to FGN, through NNPC on the sale, using $80/bbl: $22.4m a day. Note that the true price is higher, as oil currently sells for $100/bbl and Nigerian crude sells at a premium to the benchmark Brent crude.
Annually, this translates to: $8.176bn or N1.3trillion.


What does this mean? The government does not subsidize our petrol imports, at least not from the Federation Account. The same crude that should have been refined by NNPC is simply sold on the international market (since our refineries barely work) and the money is used to buy petrol. The 400,000 barrels/day given to NNPC for local consumption can either be refined by NNPC or sold to pay for imports. The “subsidy” should be funded with this money, not the regular FGN budget. If the government uses its regular budget for subsidizing petrol, then what happens to the crude given to NNPC for local refining, but gets sold on the international market?

Conclusion

Now that the petrol pump price has been hiked by over 100% and resulted in 100-200% increases in the price of transportation, personal electricity generation and foodstuff, what do I advise the government to do?

Revise the petrol price, not to N65, but to an amount which takes inflation into consideration. Cumulative inflation from 2008 to 2011 is about 27%. A new petrol price of N88 should be a reasonable sacrifice for Nigerians, while the government tries to build trust by sorting out the real issues of the midstream/downstream oil industry and cutting down the cost of governance.
Partner with the International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the upstream oil sector to carry out the deregulation of the midstream/downstream oil sectors. Refineries are not very profitable compared to other areas in the oil industry; with profit margins ranging from 0-15% (this is why we don’t see companies queuing up to set up refineries). The government needs to give incentives to these companies to set up refineries in Nigeria, in the form of tax breaks, duty exemptions, crude price guarantees, etc. All agreements should be in place, with an enabling law, by September 2012.
The government has already shown and admitted that it cannot manage refineries. All new Greenfield refineries should use the NLNG model, where government owns enough equity to influence strategy in favour of the Nigerian people, but is not involved in the routine management of the company. This is the best way to get the best out of these refineries while protecting the national interest. The new refineries should come on stream by end of 2014.
Sell the existing refineries to the IOCs and stop spending taxpayers’ money trying to revamp them within the current structure. The IOCs have built and currently operate hundreds of refineries across the world, so refining is their bread and butter. ExxonMobil’s Torrance Refinery is over 80 years old, Total’s Port Arthur Refinery is about 100 years old – these companies know how to manage refineries.
The sale of the refineries should be carried out by September 2012. I know the refineries have been very poorly managed, so we should not expect to make tons of cash from selling them. The main advantages of the existing refineries to a buyer are the existing Brownfield facilities (roads, utilities, power), an existing pipeline distribution system and a skilled workforce. The IOCs should be mandated to revamp these new refineries to 70% nameplate production by January 2014 and 95% by January 2015.
Incorporate PPPRA into DPR by December 2012, with an appropriate legislation (I’m not sure whether this is already included in the PIB). Let us have one strong agency to monitor all activities, including product pricing in the downstream oil industry.
Balkanize PPMC and sell it off to private investors, again with the government retaining a non-controlling stake in the new entities. This should be done by September 2012, in parallel with the sale of refineries.
Increase the fuel price in Jan 2014, not by simply jacking up the prices, but by introducing a tax on imported products. The tax should be deducted at source when making “subsidy” payments to the importers. Jan 2014 is chosen because I expect the output from local refineries to improve to at least 70% within 1 year of operations by IOCs.
Introduce a law that any company that will be licensed to import petroleum products from July 2013 must either be currently running a refinery in Nigeria or be in the process of building a refinery in Nigeria (i.e. project has passed FID stage and execution contracts are signed). The total products each individual company can import must not be more than 20% of the company’s total refining capacity (existing + in construction) in Nigeria. This is the only way to break the importation “cabal”.
Immediately, start prosecuting all companies and individuals suspected of involvement in the royal mess that the fuel importation segment has become. Use the same vigour (or more) that was used in the 2009-2010 reform of the banking sector. Also, all companies and individuals suspected of involvement in the refinery TAM contract scams should be prosecuted.
Immediately, tighten the borders to minimize smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries and sack/prosecute the relevant officials if smuggling remains a major issue. Our petrol will always be cheaper than that of our neighbours, especially if/when local refining reaches/surpasses local consumption. As every economist knows, products will always be cheaper in the source location than other places.
Set up petroleum product trading agreements for surplus products in Nigeria to be sold to neighbouring countries in a legal and transparent manner. All agreements should be in place by July 2013, well in advance of additional capacity coming on stream. These agreements will assure companies building refineries that there is an available regional market for them to legally sell products refined in Nigeria.


With all the above, “subsidy” will disappear by Dec 2014, but in a gradual process, ensuring no price shocks (such as the 100% increase of Jan 2012) re-occur and ensuring that the industry is actually sanitized. Of course, the government also needs to keep to its several promises of improving the power sector and revamping rail lines, two critical developments which will reduce our consumption of petroleum products significantly.

Data Sources:

http://www.nigeriafirst.org/article_11527.shtml Para. 14
http://www.nigerianoilgas.com/?p=518
http://www.pppra-nigeria.org/index.asp
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/subsidy-deductions-hit-n1-264tr-say-govs/101264/
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPSIA/Resources/490023-1120841262639/Angola_PSIA_vol1_English.pdf
http://www.livecharts.co.uk/MarketCharts/crude.php
http://www.cenbank.org/rates/inflrates.asp?year=2011
http://www.nlng.com/PageEngine.aspx?&id=43
http://www.totalpetrochemicalsusa.com/pdf/F_FactsPortArthur.pdf
http://www.exxonmobil.com/NA-English/PA/about_where_ref_torrance.aspx
http://www.petroleumonline.com/content/overview.asp?mod=8
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-refining-margins-negative-in-dec-total-2012-01-05
http://205.254.135.7/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=24&t=6
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.VEH.NVEH.P3
http://cdn.dailypost.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Consolidated-Detailed-Findings.pdf

natialo:
Can I ask some questions and point out some things.

Why should El-Rufai who was one of the first people to call for removal of petrol subsidy and increase in Nepa tariff as head of BPE be the one most vicious about the removal now
http://businessnews.com.ng/2011/08/14/bpe-probe-world-bank-report-is-nonsense-el-rufai/

Why should el-rufai who was probed for paying BPE workers (even a corper) millions of dollars be complaining about waste in govt now.

Why should someone who was head of a Privatization board be complaining against privatization.

IS IT NOT JUST SHEER PARTISANSHIP?? Lets remember that we all have a duty to Nigeria

If u listened to him u would hear him say he is not against deregulation, its about putting all the framework on ground before deregulating the oil sector, passing the PIB, fix the refineries and then gradual phasing of the subsidy

wellmax:
@stronger.
I agree with you.
1. Its true that we'll save some money if subsidy is stopped, its also true that some of the money will be shared by the states (little wonder the govs forum are in full support). we have some credible persons appointed to manage SURE-P, even though our leaders have not given us any reason to trust them again, lets give gej a chance.
2. I will prefer the money in corrupt gov officials hand than in some private companies (notice that very few of the importers are plc). Reason being that the companies do it legally, no one can question them, but the public official when they steal, its illegal and they  'may' be caught.
3. I'm not denying they say that, and I condemn such ill statements, it wasn't well thought out.

IMO and most people will agree, Government is broke and they think the easiest way to eat their cake and have is to pass the burden to the masses. why they cant down their allowances significantly? the fact remains that they intend to minimise borrowing to fund non-exixtent subsidy then get their friends the same cabal to build refineries when the downstream sector is fully deregulated. Remember about 20 licenses had been issued by the OBJ administration and they would make sure the govt refineries never work and so the people will be at the mercy of the same cabal. even if corruption is hydra headed, the president has not even made any attempt to fish out the perpetrators of the subsidy scam. GEJ is just a pawn in the hands of these guys who funded his elections and if he is smart he should use the mass movement to go against them but unfortunately he has no guts

As Nigerians from all walks of life gear up for the beginning of the “mother of all protests” on Monday, January 9, 2012, over increase in fuel price, journalist and author of Time to Reclaim Nigeria, Chido Onumah, interviewed Isaac Osuoka, director of Social Action and one of the leaders of civil society in Nigeria. Osuoka has been active in the country’s pro-democracy and Niger Delta peoples movements. He was one of the founders of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and acted as its first spokesperson in the late 1990s. Osuoka who is currently a Vanier Scholar at York University, Toronto, Canada, speaks on the situation in Nigeria and why Nigerians must look beyond President Jonathan.

Excerpts:

CO: Whether we like it or not, you can’t deny the fact Goodluck Jonathan enjoyed a measure of support before the 2011 presidential election. What was responsible for this?

IO: Many Nigerians believed that Goodluck Jonathan was a different breed from the backward cabal that have held Nigeria hostage for the better part of the last 51 years. They thought that because he is a native of the Niger Delta with very minimal historical ties to what was referred to as the Hausa-Fulani oligarchy, that he represents a refreshing change from the past. They saw a meek looking and educated man and felt that maybe he is the change that Nigeria needs. Well, Goodluck Jonathan has proven to Nigeria that he is not the change the country needs. In fact, Jonathan is the worst President that the ruling class has ever foisted on Nigeria.

CO: Was it a case of misplaced optimism?

IO: Exactly! The man has shown that he is clueless. He has shown that he lacks the capacity to address the very serious challenges confronting the country. And what is even worse is that he does not care. He does not care for the people of Nigeria. He does not care for the progress of Nigeria. He has the mentality of a Local Government caretaker committee chairman. He has surrounded himself with similarly clueless characters who are only interested in how much they can loot while the booty lasts. This is a president that hates Nigerians whom he thinks forced him to be president and he seems determined to punish them.

CO: Let’s talk about the recent increase in fuel price which has precipitated massive demonstrations across Nigeria.

IO: The removal of fuel subsidy demonstrates again that the Jonathan presidency does not care a bit about the welfare of Nigerians. Can you imagine the puerile argument that fuel subsidy does not benefit the majority of the Nigerian people? Only those that see benefit in terms of how much you loot can make such a stupid argument. You see, since they know that the figures of how much the government is expending on subsidies is over bloated because of the corruption in the system, and they know the few individuals that have benefited from all the fraud, they have come to associate benefit with whose hands are in the lucre. That is all they see. The loot. That is all they are interested in. From their exalted position, they don’t see the mass of the Nigerian people who are mostly unemployed or have the lowest incomes anywhere in the world. That is why World Bank sponsored economists like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will ask during one of her meetings with the NLC why people were so worried over subsidy removal when about 70 per cent of Nigerians don’t own cars! That is why the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who behaves more like a politician will talk down to us and insist we must accept the fuel increase while he is comfortable spending almost N20 billion ($133million) of tax payers’ money on a piece of land to build a “world class international conference centre”. This has always been their modus operandi. Was it not David Mark, then a soldier-minister under General Ibrahim Babaginda (now senate president and a champion of democracy) who berated Nigerian students for protesting increase in fuel because not many students owned cars, as if many of us who went to universities outside our state of origin had to trek to school. Can a ruling elite be more insensitive!

CO: Many Nigerians are saying that rather than remove subsidy of petrol, the president should consider removing subsidy on government inefficacy.

IO: What can I say? We are all aware of the billions earmarked for feeding the president and the vice president in 2012. The vice president will spend N1.7 billion ($11.3 million) on trips in 2012 and N1.3 billion ($8.6 million) on office stationeries. This amount includes N12 million ($80,000) on books, N45 million ($300,000) on newspapers, and N9 million ($60,000) on magazines and periodicals. Does this show a government that is serious? Go back at the end of the year and see how many books were bought. We are in an emergency, but our rulers are busy frolicking. Our rulers don’t see that there is no effective mass transit system anywhere in the country and the people depend on petrol fuelled vans, motocycles, tricycles, and kabukabus to move from home to work. They don’t see that the public electricity system has all but collapsed and businesses and homes depend mostly on petrol generators to do business. They don’t see that the people of Nigeria are important. But why should they? They are used to rigging elections and subverting the will of the people. For someone like Goodluck Jonathan who has been the biggest beneficiary of the PDP rigging machine right from when he was summoned to go and become deputy governor in Bayelsa, the people don’t matter. Have you not seen how irritated he looks anytime he is on national television and he is asked about lack of positive result with his policies? The man does not understand why Nigerians should continue to complain. Over and over again he has given the story that Obama or some foreign head of state has praised him for what he is doing and he feels that is what Nigerians should also do. But Obama does not live in Benin City and has not experienced power failure in his life. So how should Obama be the one to decide whether Jonathan is performing or not.

CO: Are you saying Jonathan is a stooge of Western powers?
IO: It is worse than that. Jonathan is a stooge of backward Nigerian political elite who are generally stooges of Western powers. Though as a stooge of stooges, Jonathan has shown that he is particularly spineless and is most amenable to even the slightest of pressure from those he considers powerful. The man is so scared of those he considers powerful. Like the governors. Now let us look at how this backward ruling elite always attempts to selects its weakest elements to act as pawns in the name of president. As far back as the eve of Nigeria’s independence, the Sarduana, who was a powerful leader of the North, selected a weak Tafawa Balewa to be Prime Minister. So we then had a situation where the head of government of Nigeria, the largest state in black Africa, was a mere stooge of powerful northern politicians and contractors who expected the head of government to just represent their interests. We later had Gowon who was maybe the weakest among northern soldiers that took power at that time. Again, Gowon was a stooge for the main powers who remained behind the scenes to share their loot while Gowon was speaking English in public. The same thing with General Obasanjo who as military head of state was not the main power. The same with Shagari, Nigeria’s first really clueless head of government. Like Balewa the northern political establishment selected a weak Shagari who will not stop them from looting. Babangida, Abacha. Those had their different styles, but were really all continuations of a reprobate regime of waste.

CO: You agree then with Chinua Achebe that “the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”.

IO: I agree completely. Anytime someone strong and a bit independent minded emerges, they kill him. But sometimes the scheme of the dominant power blocs in the country backfires. For example, when they sponsored Obasanjo to return as civilian head of government in 1999 against the wish of even people in Obasanjo’s village. Obasanjo came and decided to play the game on his own terms. He had learnt how to play the game from the soldier-politicians. He made sure he handed over power to a weak politician. He carefully selected Yar’adua, a man he knew to be terminally ill. Someone who will be too sick to rule. Obasanjo also forced Jonathan - against Jonathan’s will, to become Vice President. Today Jonathan is Nigeria’s most unwilling president. Political jobbers around him, including those of them from the Niger Delta, asked him not to throw away the chance of the Niger Delta.

CO: If that is the case, is he representing the interest of the Niger Delta?

IO: President Jonathan is the worst thing to happen to the Niger Delta. Go and see the East-West road. The road from Warri to Port Harcourt and beyond. The condition of that federal road is worse than ever. This is an outrage! Every year there is a budget allocation for everything. At the end of the year nothing to show for all the billions. Why? This is because Jonathan is superintending over the biggest looting spree in this history of Nigeria. Governors see state funds as their private estate. Ministers see their office as reward for loyalty to governors and opportunity to chop. Local government chairmen. Those are the biggest rogues! The National Assembly is more or less a college of self-serving opportunists – most of whom cannot even get close to winning in free and fair elections. They say most of the big houses in Abuja have been built or bought by civil servants. Where did they get the money? These people, all these people that have continued to loot, are part of the political elite. They are happy that a clueless and spineless person like Jonathan is President. They are the people insisting that Jonathan remove fuel subsidy so that they will have more loot to share. Simple. But Jonathan can’t see it. He doesn’t have that kind of vision. He and those eating with him can’t see the groundswell of opposition to fuel increase. They can’t see that opposition to fuel increase will ultimately result in resistance to everything the ruling class represents in Nigeria. This is just the beginning. In that case, the increase in fuel price is good. For the first time in a long time Nigerians from different ethnic, religious and even class backgrounds are massing together to build a new movement for change. That is what excites me. Supporting the new movement should be the duty of every person who is keen to see Nigeria progress. Neither Jonathan nor his PDP can do anything good for Nigeria. What we need is not just a change of government, we need a system overhaul. This needs struggle and perseverance on the part of the people.

CO: What do you make of the economic policy direction of the Jonathan administration?

IO: He has none? We don’t see any direction. We have heard them talk about a transformation agenda, but what is that agenda? There is none! Corruption is on the increase. Have you asked yourself why the president has not made public his asset declaration? What is he hiding? The biggest challenge facing the Nigerian economy is electricity. The government has done nothing to show that it even appreciates the urgency. Statements, statements everyday, but nothing to show. What they want is to continue to drill and sell crude oil and share proceeds to the three tiers of government for onward looting. It is sad that the same thugs that have benefited from the looting of Nigeria are the same people that Jonathan has assembled to be part of his so called economic management team. These are people that Jonathan feels indebted to because they provided cash for his campaign. But is there no other way to reward political donors? Must you hand over the management of the national economy to them? The governors are well represented in that economic team. But what have they done in their states to demonstrate that they can manage any economy? The heads of private banks are also prominent. These people know how to make profit for themselves – mostly by conniving with politicians and civil servants to launder stolen money. Does that qualify them to manage Nigerian economy? Then you have Okonjo-Iweala - an agent of international finance capital.

CO: Talking about Okonjo-Iweala, civil society groups are asking President Jonathan to sack her. Do you share that view? She is serving at the instance of the president, shouldn’t the focus be on the president?

IO: I agree that the focus should be on President Jonathan, but Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is dangerous. Her case is special. This is a person sent by the World Bank to continue economic policies that have failed everywhere in the world. Okonjo-Iweala wants to deregulate because deregulation is an essential ingredient of the neoliberal economic doctrine of the World Bank and IMF. She is too far away from the realities of Nigeria to understand that deregulating fuel price in Nigeria will have negative impacts on all aspects of productive life. But does she care? No. All her bosses in Washington DC expect is for Nigerian government to have as much cash as possible to service the debt profile that is sure to increase under Jonathan. Okonjo-Iweala’s greatest achievement in government has been the biggest single transfer of wealth from Nigeria to other parts of the world. The so called debt forgiveness meant that Nigeria gave money to Europe and North America - representing the biggest wealth transfer in human history. They said the savings from debt deal will be used to improve infrastructure. Where is the infrastructure? Okonjo-Iweala is now saying that the gain from oil subsidy will be used to improve infrastructure. Does this woman think that Nigerians are fools all the time? It is just sad the way these people protect their private interests and claim that they are trying to improve Nigerian economy. Recently, I read that the Federal Executive Council awarded contract in the billions for the importation of plastic trash cans from Europe. This is for use in Abuja. Can you imagine that? Is Jonathan and his cabinet saying that there are no plastic manufacturers in Nigeria who can do the job? There are plastic manufacturers all over the country. All the government needed to do was give specification to local producers and monitor and enforce compliance. Keeping the job at home would have meant creating or protecting jobs at home and all the benefits that come from local production. But this government does not care for any local production apart from the production of crude oil. That is why they can even think of increasing fuel price, the same action that could completely destroy the local artisanal sectors where the bulk of production in Nigeria takes place.

CO: The people in the Niger Delta must really be disappointed with President Jonathan.
IO: I can tell you that there was real excitement with the idea of a son of the Niger Delta becoming president of Nigeria. Our people had been treated like second-class citizens since Nigeria was created. So people were happy to see Jonathan as president and went out to vote – even though we know that state governors schemed to inflate the votes for their own purposes. But what has been the benefit of a Jonathan presidency? Symbolic. Only symbolic. Today, the traditional dress of the Niger Delta male, in particular, the Ijaw male, has become something of a national attire. People from the Delta now dress as such and can move in Abuja with a swagger. You did not have this before. Apart from the symbolism and cosmetic impact, there is nothing substantial for the people from the Jonathan presidency. Environmental pollution and destruction of livelihoods by the petroleum industry is worse now than ever before. Today, we have a major offshore oil spill by Shell and the Jonathan presidency is looking the other way. There is no serious attempt to call Shell to order. Compare that with the response of the Brazilian government to recent offshore spill by Chevron. But with Jonathan in Nigeria, there has not been any serious attempt to address the issue of lost livelihoods for the coastal communities as a result of the recent Shell spill. It is a shame because there are people in Jonathan’s system that had campaigned all their lives for environmental justice. Now that they have the rare opportunity to do something, they are looking the other way. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) produced a report on pollution in Ogoniland. The recommendations from UNEP should have provided the Jonathan presidency with an opening to address the historical environmental abuse of the Niger Delta. But all he did was set up a committee like he does on everything. Anytime Jonathan sets up a committee, you know the man is not serious. Or he just doesn’t care.
CO: It is a shame because President Jonathan is a major beneficiary of the struggle of the people in the Niger Delta.

IO: President Jonathan is a beneficiary of the struggles of the Niger Delta which he was never part of. Today, he is enjoying the goodwill of even ex-militants who have continued to support the amnesty programme because they feel their son is president. But Odi has not been rebuilt? Even Okerenkoko has not been rebuilt. I agree that the amnesty programme has been very successful in keeping militants off the creeks. The result has been restoration of oil production to optimal levels. The government people are the biggest beneficiaries. But the relative calm or peace as some people chose to call it has not been utilized by the government as an opportunity to improve social infrastructure in the Niger Delta or anywhere in Nigeria for that matter. Things are getting worse every day. A few months ago, people in a village next to Jonathan’s were protesting against Shell for abuses. People in the Niger Delta now recognize that Jonathan is a waste of time. Let me tell you that petrol is very expensive in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

Combined with the fact that the engines of boats consume a lot of petrol, it means that removal of subsidy will affect the Niger Delta the most.
http://saharareporters.com/interview/%E2%80%9Cpeople-niger-delta-now-recognize-jonathan-waste-time%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-isaac-osuoka

why cant these hackers tell us who beaf is and what his phone number is so we can handle him once and for all

I dont why when i am quiet when lots of people are talking, people think i am shy or that i am an introvert, the truth is I just dont give a Zap about what anybody is saying, i truly done

http://www.facebook.com/jonathangoodluck, excepts
1. A, Di.on, GEJ is a complete failure
2, amola Lafe, a Goodluck Jonathan is the GREATEST TERRORIST that Nigeria has to deal with, not BOKO HARAM.
3. , armate, at least boko haram sect came wit guns n ppl saw their deaths clearly, pls dont use reformation ad guise to kill ppl, nigerians r sufferring,dont add to it. pls a policy reversal is needed n fast too. wen d refineries start working, n more r built, we can understand subsidy removal then
4. Cha, es M O, fo, No one will ever think that Jonathan will acceed to the same old tune of his predecessor, considering how he appeared to have Nigerians interests at heart when he miraculously assumed office; instead of given the masses their most agitated hope, he further subjected them into languishing in anguish and abject poverty in the mist of their naturally endowed blessings of God;Days of reckoning shall come someday

so for ur mind we don accept fuel subsidy abi?

BEST PARODY I'VE HEARD IN A LONG TIME, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DDQQzSX92Ok

DeeMain:
While all generalizations are wrong, the OP has some points:

First highly intellectual people are mostly logical people. Logic and Emotions don't go too well together. IQ (Intelligence quotient) is not the same as  EQ (Emotional Intelligence quotient).

A strength in academics, career or at work may actually be a weakness in a relationship. Many intellectual people aren't flexible enough to make the transition.

A ''head'' person interprets, analyzes and justifies everything with the head. This will be in serious conflict with matters of the ''heart''. The result: untold conflicts in the relationship.

Unless, an intellectual person has developed enough self-awareness to inculcate emotional maturity,  he will have serious issues with relationships.

true talk

behind every successful man there is a surprised woman

Every woman is beautiful , it just takes the right amount of alcohol to see the beauty

Every woman is beautiful depending on the amount of alcohol I have in my system

Femmy,
This is very educative, How much will it cost to clear a 2002 mercedes C220. It will be shipped from Germany, Thanks

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires

Awolowo was a local champion, that is one fact SW cant live with, Yes he was a visionary leader and an intellectual but he was naive and perhaps a proud dude. prior to the 1979 elections, Awo did not even know anything much about the north, If he had gone outside of the SW, he might have been able to forge alliance with Aminu Kanu and other northern progressives who had similar ideologies. The only friend he seemed to have made in the north was Joseph tarka. Even then it was not a sincere friendship, he was only trying to use Joseph Tarka to break the ''middlebelt'' from the powerful north and he had no interest of the ''middlebeltans'' at heart, he didnt even know the political dynamics of the middlebelt at the time and that led to joseph tarka dumping him to support the NPN in 1979 when he realised Awo was just using him. Awo simply was a regional/tribal leader and had no friends outside his yoruba race. I have a lot of respect for Pa Awolowo. His policies turned the south west into what it is today but he was a not a ''good politician''. Politics involves building ties and friendship from every part of a country you want to govern

Awolowo was a visionary leader for the yoruba race but he sure was an ethnic jingoist, Can anyone truelly tell me who awolowo's friends were outside of yoruba people, Im not talking of emergency alliances for election sake like his freindship with joseph tarka, Awo was a divisive leader and he could never had won elections in Nigeria. He was educated but politically he was very naive, he wanted to be seen as an icon and no one else could talk to him. he was an idealist but good politicians are realists. His friction with akintola and later joseph tarka showed that he lacked guile in dealing with conflicts, Its a huge challenge with intellectually minded people, they never recognise that being a student of life makes you a better leader in a multicultural country like Nigeria. Sir Ahmadu Bello knew that he was more of a regional leader and would have been a less successful leader at the national level hence his reason for picking tafawa belewa, Tafawa belewa is one person you might not like but you find it hard to hate him, ahmadu bello and awolowo sure had lots of haters,

g

http://news2.onlinenigeria.com/sports/107464-chelsea-midfielder-john-mikel-obi%E2%80%99s-father-missing.html

Beaf:
Abati is man who got his PhD in his early twenties, probably at the age you attained your first degree (if you have one). A fool?
Dude, pick your brains from your arse and actually attempt to engage them.

That is my problem with Nigerians, Equating education (PhD)with patroitism, arrant nonsense, It is the educated class that are killing Nigerians, Do we not know how many intellectuals IBB used. What we need in Nigeria are men with honesty and courage, guts to take on the corrupt elite not some wimpy '' intelligent'' fool who changes his words depending on who pays him, I will pick a sanusi anyday over a prof soludo or an aganga who cows b4 the senate. Reuben Abati is a sellout, Any Nigerian intellectual who is not honest to himself and the ideals he stands for does not deserve our respect. There are so many First Class Degree Holders sent on Government scholarships overseas who do not return home to serve their countries. they would rather scheme their way around their contracts. For those dishonest first class or phd holders, I would rather have an honest uneducated man with guts than have that intellectual serving Nigeria. Reuben Abati has proven himself to be a hypocrite like the rest of them

The Fact remains that most Nigerians are bunch of selfish people. even when they are abroad, they look at their jobs from a point of how much it benefits them as individuals. While we are quick to point accusing fingers at the govt, we forget that the so called bad name we have abroad is not because of our government but bthe 419 business that individuals chose to do. Nigerians today are known to be criminals and it is a reflection of the whole society not the government. Until we decide to look upon my country as a plce not sacrificing for, we might never find any personal fufilment. The asian abroad alwaiz thinks creatively. While Nigerians in the 70'S AND 80'S were studying in the western world, their asian colleagues were thinking about what they could export back home to develop their economies tru their copy technology. We have to change our orientation to one of service irespective of whether u will be appreciated or not, it is only then we can move our country forward

Reptyle:
Please always credit your sources especially when you copy word for word. Its plagiarism if you don't:

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/dead-end-of-taliban-banking/95687/

Thank You bro, typical nairaland intellectuals, Picking up other people's idea and expressing them as theirs. Plagiarism is criminal and u can be jailed for it.

And Sanusi is not working abi?

If SLS was a graduate of Havard, oxford or one of these Ivy league uni's. most southerners would not feel comfortable debating him on policies. Infact there would worship him like they do the Ngozi iweala's and aganga's. What we dont realise is that IVY league education, IMF or world Bank experience without Guts or courage amounts to nothing in Nigeria.
They make it sound like being an orator is now a bad thing. If he wasnt well spoken, he would have been branded an thorogh aboki. Now that he does speak well, he's been compared to Hitler, Una no go tire, Instead of us to ask the likes of adeboye, oyedebo and oritsejafor(that politician priest) to sell their jets and start non interest banking, we want to stop others from starting what will help their followers.
SLS is not cowed by unnecessary arguements on nairaland and other internet based ''intellectual sites'' and he knows that arguements on the internet is like competing in the special or paraolympics. even if you win you are still a disabled

sad sad sad however it is suppose to be 4 better 4 worse sha, just saying