The nationwide strike has come and gone but as citizens of Nigeria we must not forget the main reason behind the strike action which is the waste in our government. The elite group has a major share of the blame for the poor government experienced since 1999 till date as summed up in the quality of persons in key leadership positions, starting from the President to his Vice, the National Assembly, Governors and their Deputies, Ministers and Special Advisers, Commissioners and Heads of government parastatals.

The Jonathan administration wanted to generate more funds in order to pay minimum wage so they came up with the idea of removal of subsidy on petrol and colored it 'deregulation'. Don't forget that the same PDP government removed subsidy on diesel and kerosene under the sale policy of deregulation which led to the closure of our manufacturing sector.

Nigeria's budget is solely hinged on the revenue generated from crude oil and this has been so for many years. It is very shameful that no government has come up with other sources of revenue generation aside from the sale of crude not even considering sale of refined products rather they came up with the idea of subsidy by shutting down the refineries. NNPC was taking 445,000 barrels of crude daily and nobody has asked them to account for the crude. A large portion of the crude is sold but where are the sales proceed? The portion they claim they refine locally at what cost and are we paying subsidy on the locally refined products too?

Twelve years of PDP government has ruined this nation in terms of her resources, both human and natural. The quality of the human resources in the nation has gone so bad using the quality of education.

I therefore urge all the compatriot of our struggle not lose hope or give up the fight for a better Nigeria or feel let down because we could not achieve our goal of reversal of petrol price to N65 despite the lives that were lost during the course of this struggle. However, let us see it as a challenge to galvanize/spur us into the bigger challenge ahead of us which is to rescue this nation from the hand of selfish politicians.
We were bound to lose the struggle because we let the NLC and TUC to lead the protest when infact we should have been the ones championing our course through the civil society groups. Today, we know those that betrayed our struggle and must have learnt our lessons that the NLC and TUC are agents of government never to be trusted.

We should immediately turn our attention to the proposed 2012 budget which is presently awaiting approval of National Assembly. We fight the National Assembly to cut over 60% of the recurrent expenditure accounts for over 50% of the entire budget. The National Assembly must also make significant sacrifice in cutting over 60% of their allowances.

We must continue the fight to reduce the cost of governance at all levels, we must take the fight to the National Assembly, the various State Governors and the Local governments. Nigeria does not need all the Ministries and parastatals we are presently funding for they do not in any way neither contribute to her revenue nor provide any essential service.

Government must lead by example, but we must not relent in questioning the rationale of government and most especially we cannot remain apolitical, we must get involve if and only if we want a change in leadership.

As youths of Nigeria, the internet has offered us a voice whether it is twitter or facebook using our blackberry device to form a pressure group, though we could not occupy now but I believe some day we shall surely occupy either through a free and fair election or revolution.

GODBLESS NIGERIA

Fellow Nigerians, finally we have found our voice and have decided to occupy our great nation. Please open this link http://69YCeMKo to download the proposed 2012 budget. I urge you to painstakingly go through the entire documents and see the make up of the N2.47 trillion recurrent expenditure and you would weep seeing how monies are being mismanaged. Since the commencement of this nation-wide strike action I have been following up on Channels Tv (Sunrise daily) and feels the problem of the masses rest solely in the elites. The guests who have spoken so far on behalf of the government have been so disappointing showing high level of insensitivity to the plight of the poor.

The essence of deregulation in any economy is to raise level of competitiveness, higher productivity, more efficiency and lower prices overall. Let me put this clearly that Nigerians are not against deregulation, we all want a better Nigeria. Mr. President seems to have forgotten that Nigerians voted for him so that he can put right the obvious misnomer in the economy.

The challenges facing the country goes beyond fuel subsidy. The greatest of our challenges is 'POWER'. If there is going to be any deregulation in the land, it should be in the POWER Sector. The economy is in comatose because there is no POWER, manufacturers are moving to neighbouring countries, thereby making POLITICS the only sustainable business in the land.

Mr. President and his Ministers should cover their faces in shame for telling Nigerians that a certain group of people are untouchable. During his Presidential campaign, why did he not disclose that he was going to remove fuel subsidy and see if Nigerians would vote for him? Mr. President wants Nigerians to pay the subsidy whilst he and the 'cabal' would continue to milk the nation.

Mr. President failed to disclose to Nigerians, the actual daily consumption need in litres, the amount of subsidy per litre and what they have put in place to cushion the effect of the so-called removal, if there was any subsidy in the first place. Is it after the removal that Jonathan will give Nigerians POWER or improve the infrastructure? Why put the cart before the horse? Nigerians voted for Jonathan so that he can put smiles on our faces and not the other way round. The very first day of the year 2012, when the whole world is rejoicing, Jonathan felt that was the right time to sadden Nigerians.

What is the role of the NNPC? We have three Refineries, namely:

1. Kaduna with capacity to refine 110,000 barrels per day;

2. Port Harcourt with capacity to refine 210,000 per day and

3. Warri with capacity to refine 125,000 per day.

Are these refineries working or currently shut down? Going by the statistics provided by CBN that our daily consumption is between 30-33million litres per day, the three refineries which have a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day can effectively serve our purpose. A barrel of oil contains 159 litres and when multiplied, it would give us 70,755,000 litres which is about double of our daily consumption. Thus, if our refineries are working at full capacity, we would have double our daily consumption. However, according to Philip Chukwu, Group Executive Director in charge of refining when he told Business Day reporter in March, 2011 at an African Refiners Association conference in Cape Town that “our refineries are working at 30% but would go to 60% at the end of the year 2011”.

During a Senate ad hoc Committee hearing on the 13th of December, 2011, Mr. Austin Oniwon (GMD, NNPC) told the Senate that NNPC imports fuel from Cote d’Ivoire, Holland and Germany. According to him, out of the 445,000 barrels of crude oil allocated to NNPC daily, the Corporation could only refine 170,000 bpd at Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries, while 60,000 bpd is sent to SIR Company in Cote d’Ivoire, which has installed capacity of 80,000bdp. He further informed the lawmakers that another 90,000 bpd is swapped for refining by Duke Refinery, an overseas’ subsidiary that is wholly owned by the NNPC and another 60, 000 bpd is refined at the United Kingdom-based refinery, Travigora Refinery but he could not account for the balance of 65,000bpd.

The Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Mr. Reginald Elijah said that government pays N75 as subsidy per litre of fuel imported from Cote d’Ivoire and Holland. The landing cost is put at N140 per litre as against locally refined products at N128.13 per litre.

The questions to be raised, going by the revelation at the Senate, are as follows:

1. What is the role/responsibility of NNPC?
2. Is NNPC in the business of importing petrol or refining crude?
3. What is the true status of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, bearing in mind that the Kaduna refinery was a blunder on the part of the government?
4. Can NNPC provide statistic data of the fuel required for our local consumption?
5. Does NNPC truly refine 170,000 crude bpd, which translates to about 27 million litres, from the Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries?
6. If so, what then is the shortfall of the consumption needed to be imported by the independent marketers? (From the analysis above, it should be between 3 and 6 million litres, if there will ever be any need?
7. What is the cost implication of refining this 170,000 bpd locally?
8. What is the cost implication of refining our crude in Cote d’Ivoire, Netherlands and United Kingdom?
9. Does the government pay subsidy on the 170,000 crude refined locally?
10. Does the government pay subsidy on the crude refined by NNPC overseas?
11. Why has NNPC chosen to refine our crude in Cote d’Ivoire, Holland and United Kingdom?
12. If NNPC refines 380,000 bdp which is about 60million litres, why then are we still importing this same product?
13. What then is the point for subsidy?

Assuming without conceding to the fact that our refineries are grounded, NNPC is incapacitated and the nation must import fuel, using the independent marketers, what then is our best option? Below is the list of cheapest petrol price and the production capacity going by World Bank Data:

1. Venezuela - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.01, which in Naira is N1.55k with a daily capacity to refine 2,987,200 barrels per day.
2. Saudi Arabia - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.07, which in Naira is N10.85k with a daily capacity to refine 2,900,000 barrels per day.
3. Libya - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.13, which in Naira is N20.15k with a daily capacity to refine 360,000 barrels per day.
4. Qatar - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.19, which in Naira is N29.45k with a daily capacity to refine 543,000 barrels per day.
5. Algeria - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.19, which in Naira is N29.45k with a daily capacity to refine 498,000 barrels per day.
6. Turkmenistan - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.20, which in Naira is N31.00k with a daily capacity to refine 236,000 barrels per day.
7. Kuwait - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.21, which in Naira is N32.55k with a daily capacity to refine 940,000 barrels per day.
8. Egypt - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.32, which in Naira is N49.60k with a daily capacity to refine 732,550 barrels per day.
9. Oman - A litre of petrol is sold for $0.38, which in Naira is N58.90k with a daily capacity to refine 401,000 barrels per day.

Going by the above data, if Nigeria must import petrol, the nation ought to enter bi-lateral agreement with any of the above countries thereby avoiding the pain of refining this product. If the nation pays subsidy of N75 per litre on petrol and same product is sold for less than N70 in the countries listed above, it would be prudent to buy this product directly from these countries.

Better still, Nigeria can enter bi-lateral agreement with any of these countries to refine its product at a reduced price with a total landing cost of N70 or in the alternative, we continue with importation whilst we enter Joint Venture Agreement with Shell, Chevron, Total and Exxon Mobil to take control of our existing refineries with a view to turning around same.

If government has decided to stop looting and sharing Nigerians moneys they have been looting and sharing, why should it pass the ones that had been looted and shared to the generality of the masses, who did not partake in the looting and sharing, to recover same?

The above suggestions are the only palliatives to the sufferings of Nigerians as regards the removal of subsidy, which was never there in the first place. It is very shameful of the Minister of Commerce, Olusegun Aganga to categorically say on air that the Federal Government is bringing into the country 1,600 mass transit buses when according to the President of TUC, Tony Esele, it is the TUC that is contracting these buses with a facility to pay over a period of five years, which had been on a very long time ago before it became a success recently.

When last did the government oversee transport sector that it now suddenly wants to venture into transport? How many government transport business are still in existence, Nigerian Railway, Nigerian Airways etc, all grounded. The other day at the Townhall meeting, the coordinating Minister for the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Mrs) likened the expectations on the “so-called fuel subsidy removal” to the Telecommunications Sector and Airline saying people now but tickets at the airport to fly to their various destinations. I wonder if, as Nigerians or government or people in government, these people are not ashamed of the fact that it cannot run anything successfully and either grind it or sell it to foreigners, why then are they in government?

Can 1,600 mass buses solve the problem on ground? Presently, Lagos State government owned LAGBUS has over 2,000 mass transit buses, which are even far below the demand in Lagos, not to now talk of the 36 States of the Federation including Abuja.

Again, what exactly has government provided for its people in this entity called “Nigeria”? Nigerians provide water for themselves by erecting boreholes in their various houses; generate power on their own through the use of generating sets, which are also powered by the same fuel government has unilaterally and astronomically increased the price without considering the plight and the dastard effect on an ordinary Nigerian, who, according to one of them, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, lives below $2 a day. (If he/she lives below $2 a day, which is equivalent to N310.00, using N155 per dollar, can N310.00 feed him in a day, not to now talk of opportunity to do any other thing within the confines of the N310.00?

Nigerians provide education for their children by paying so much to private schools to give them quality education in the wake of decline in public schools at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels while the roads are extremely unmotorable and one actually wonders what the functions of government really are.

Besides all of these, it has become crystal clear that Jonathan’s administration is a military government in civilian dress if Minister of Labour, who is expected to protect the interest of Nigerian workers all over, would come on a national television like Channels Television and said “it is government’s policy and MUST be accepted by people and that government is not expected to listen or dialogue with the citizens” forgetting that it is the people that voted them in.

It is thus obvious that the Jonathan government is not telling the truth and as such, is a failed government, which has refused to admit that it has failed Nigerians. This government spent so much money during the last election and is hell bent on passing the burden to Nigerians. We must probe NNPC and the Federal government.

SAY NO TO GOVERNMENT’S PLOY OF REMOVAL OF SUBSIDY BY THE JONATHAN LED ADMINISTRATION TO FURTHER LOOT AND SHARE THE PEOPLE’S MONEY.

GOD BLESS NIGERIA.