₦airaland Forum

Beaf: Dude, there is only one Beaf. Deal with it.
If that challenge isn't a knockout punch, can you be so kind as to show us how the naming of MAULAG violates the constitution as you claimed?

Since you've asked me to reply (presumably, because the "violates the constitution" argument was made up), I'll save your neck by saying it loud and proud; that NO section, paragraph, sentence or puntuation mark in our dear constitution was violated by the christening of MAULAG. There you have it.

Those students bera learn how to grow cassava if they don't want to go to school. We be needing loads of cassava to make our bread. Lol!

--Beaf, violently chews his cassava bread, bites some akara, drinks tea... waits for lanre_front--

Like I said, I've already answered the question by werepe-leri. And so has several other people. Your diversionary tactics and act of trying to put people on the defensive won't work with me.

The answer to that question has already being answered by several intelligent people on this thread.

Even one of such answers quoted names of legal luminaries like Femi Falan etc.

If u can't come with any answer, pls go and sit down for the toilet and do some groaning over the seat; the evilness in you may just pass out.. Praise the Lord!! Halleluyah!!!

Beaf: I like this post and observe that it remains unreplied. Its called a knock out punch.

As for you sir, I dont even know what name to call. Your job on Nairaland, along with your so many alternate names is just to come here and confuse the youth. No matter how long it tales, you will get your due reward.

As for the post, it is anything but a knockout punch. Only an ingoramus or mischeiveous person like u will name it so.

And if you open eyes well, you'll see that it has already been replied, and it is the the "reply" that is yet to get an answer. Why don't you just help him answer it sice youa re so knowledgable about anything Joanthan.

kennytidistar: @ all pls hold your peace. what gives you the assurance that the president have not communicated same with the national assembly in any way it is done in official settings is it every constitutional amendment will be held on air? or requires public opinion? even before the stewwardship account was render by GEJ on demo day it has already pass through neccesary authorities for venting and corrections to the student it shows that they have nothing upstairs, the question of characters comes in, are they morally qualify to be awarded a degree? the student are nothing for nau cause they dont have degree yet, i sense they will loose the case because they cannot claim to belong to UNILAG UNTIL they fulfill the neccesary requirement by registrying their names as aluminus that is only when they can have a say against FED decision, the only relationship they have is with the school authority which they must obey and respect.

You sir, are not moraly and intellectually qualified to be awarded a degree in Common-Sense. Haven't you learnt anything from contributions on the thread so far?

I give up.

werepeLeri: Quote us vividly which section of the constitution has been violated by the name change!

Another ingnoramus. Can't you detect within my post? It is the National Assembly that has the power to change the name UNILAG through a constitutional amendment of the act of parliament which establised the Univeristy. It is not within the President's competence. He supposed initiate a Bill, give his reasons, make his arguement and then pass it on to the National Assembly where it will be decided. That is how it is done in civilised countries. It is called due process.

edicolove: Hmmm, nice argument. But why aint they rather fighting for the very many serious issues that threathen their very existence. Instead they choose name change of all things to show their understanding of their human rights. This your argument is standing on one toe, bro. You need to do more to help it.

It seems to us that they have their priorities twisted. And please just to ask. These students have barely enough money to eat and keep up, so where will they get the money to run a court case that would go all the way to the supreme court if the parties are really serious and would span years. These kind of cases are very very expensive, believe me. Except of course, their generous sponsor, BAT, will bell the cat.

And just to let them know they will have long graduated by the time the case is thru or they will need to reject their certificate by the time they graduate because it will bear MAULAG. This is really hillarious!

Thanks Canucks for helpimg to answer this guy.

@ Edilove,

Your agrguement is a very ambigous one; it's neither here nor there. It's at best a distraction-arguement that can be used against any good cause.

What issues do you suggest that they take the Presidency to court for: the 3000 billion fuel-subsidy scam. Or the 150 billion laundering scam exposed by the US goverment ivolving Joanthan, Adoke, Dan Etete etc., or Jonathan's refusal to sack the indicted Petroleum Minister or refusal to punush those indicted in the subsidy probe of Hosue of Representatives?

They are fighting the issue within their sphere of influence.

You say thay are misplacing their properties. You do realize like I already said, the crux of the matter is not the name change but the violation of the constitution.

You do realize the santity of the constitution of a country is what lays the foundation for every good thing that happens to that country: development, industrializaton, good heathcare, good infrastructure, dividends of demoracy etc.

And what is this Foundation that the constitution lays which are important & which are the foundation all other good things are built upon. They are: Justice, fairness, human-rights, equality before the law, highest good for the majority, due process, separtion of powers, etc.

So do you still consider the priorities of these students who are obvoiusly more informed than you misplaced?

The problem of today so called educated youths is that they don't have much upstairs. They talk from an empty head.

Where are you at; I mean your loaction. Do you have a shop?

I have said sevearl times, and so has many other people, majority of Nairalanders are devoid of intellect. Otherwise, how difficult is to discern that the crux of the matter at hand (i.e. the case being files at court) is violation of the constitution and not the name change. The power to change the name of UNILAG belongs to the National Assembly and not the President.

Why is so difficult to understand, the reason why US and European countries are so much developed is no one can violate their constitution and go scot free. Even their President cannot violate their constitution by spending 3000 billion for an item which 247 billion has been budgeted by the lawmakers of the land.

What the students are doing is good for the country. They have more sense and balls than most adults and Nairalanders.

It's because our constitution is continually being violated everyday by the Executive that Nigeria is where it is today, a nation whose blood and intestines has been gutted by the terrible monster: CORRUPTION.

With the kind of youths we have on Nairaland, I don't see much hope for the nation being emacipated from the strangle hold of corruption.

Nairalanders, pls go and get yourself a brain and start using it for God's sake.

@ Skyblue

Thanks for your comments. The figure being talked about is 3 trillion naira, not 1 trillion; and yes 3000 billion naira is enough enough make a significant tranformation (that is an impact evryone can see) in all those sectors. It's more than half the entire budget of 2011, both capital and recurrent expenditure inclusive.

If spent without corruption, it's at least enough to say bye to power outages, provide good raods and make impacts in the sectord that matters. I'm not saying it will transform the country to Germany or France.

send price to my mail: checkdman@yahoo.com

I swear to God, Nairaland maybe the biggest Nigerian forum, but it is also now the worst: full of i.dio.ts and people who obviously lack any intellect. That is why I've stopped posting on Nairaland since like 4 months ago. But I just have to say something now.

I'm sorry to say this, but NIGERIANS ARE STILL GOING TO SUFFER A LOT. It seems as if all the youths have been brainwashed and cannot use their brains anymore.

Imagine, every evidence concerning Boko haram so-much-so points towards PDP. Even Jonathan said his goverment has been infiltrated by Bokoharam. Are CPC members part of Jonatha's goverment; Jonthan's goverment is 99% composed of PDP. All the politicians that have been arrested or questioned by SS are PDP party members. The National Security Adviser said in an important televised South-South conference that PDP is Bokoharam, and even went to give a detailed meaningful insightful explanation. Yet f.o.o.l.s of Nairaland conveneintly ignores all this and keep on shouting Buhari is chief sponsorer of Boko-harm.

What is wrong with the youth of today that they can so easily be brainswashed even when conspicious evidence points in the opposite direction.

In criminalites that borders mainly on finacials gains, the standard practise all over the world is to "follow the money" and it leads to the perpetrators of the crimes. Therefore in criminalities like Boko-haram which everyone on this forum has declared is seeking finacial gain, all you have to do is "follow the power" (power is the currency of politics) and it will lead to the perpetrators of the crimes.

If Jonathan is successfully prevented from running in 2015 presidential elections, where does the power go to? Does it go to Buhari of CPC? Or does it goes to the Northern elements of ACN or APGA?

I beleive everyone knows the anwer. The only place where the "power" goes is to the Northern Elements of PDP. Then why are Nairalanders brainswahing themseles with the propangada of the elites, who even have some of their agents working on forums like Nairaland.

I sense that Nigerinsa will still suffer a lot because they have not learnt any lesson. Otherwise, I do you explain a nation whose populace complain of so much suffering, yet keep on voting the same PDP party every four years; a party who has done nothing but worsened their lives in the last 12 years. The problem of Nigerian is Nigerians. And O boy, unless there is a change in this dogmatic attitude, more suffering, debasement, dehumisation etc. are still coming their way.

I was at a gathering recently and guys were talking about the 3 trillion naira fuel subsidy scam of Jonathan's Presidency (don't even get me started; it's impossible to spend 3 triiion naira for something 247 billion was budgeted for without the knowledge of the President) and an educated south-south guy just shouted, "Abeg make una shut up there, didn't Obasanjo chop 16 billions dollars on the power-sector". At that point I just had to join the discussion and I asked him: if Obasanjo chopped 16 billions dollars, is anyone commending him for it? Do you know the greatest condemnation of Obasanjo during & after his Administraion came from the Southwest. Then are you saying if Obasanjo chopped 16 billion dollars, the Jonathan should be allowed to squander 32 billion dollars?

Nigeria youths, wise up; among the elites, there is no ethnicity. They are one. Ethnicity is something they only use to manipulates brain.less Nigerians to achieve or protect their selfish goals

People need to shun sentiments and ethnicity; search for the truth and speak the truth in all matters, otherwise u go suffer tire.

The truth is, whether you admit it or not, Jonathan is not on the side of the people; he is on the side of the corrupted, selfish and greedy elite. The truth is Jonathan is totally corrupt. He is not a victim of some cabal; he is part and parcel of the cabal.

The truth is Nigeria's problem is not power, education, poverty, bad roads; Nigeria's problem wicch is the origin & source of our every other problem is CORRUPTION.

The truth is Jonathan's Administraton cannot do anything about corruption because Jonathan's Aministration is one of the most corrupt in Nigeria's history. In just one year, it had perpetrated a fraud of almost 3000 billion (3 trillion) in just one sector of the economy.

Do Nigerians youth actally know what 3 trillon is? That money is enough to tranform every sector of Nigerian life: from heath sector to education, to roads, to railways, power etc, just mention it. Yet Jonathan who promised in his inaugural speech "to always put the common man first" in everything he does perpetrated this wickedness on the common people.

Do you know that right, Jonathan's Aministration is still looking for a way to further increase fuel price. Therefore before it can do this, Jonathan's Administration is looking for a way to infiltrate and destroy the unity of the NLC. But God won't allow them to succeed.

Hvae u forgooten so soon how so many people defended the subsidey removal saying it was for the good of Nigerians. Even Jonathan himself said if the subsdiy was not removed that Nigerian Economy will collaspe in 3 months. Now with the fuel subsidy report, we know better.

Then concerning Buhari, please people, why not make your reseach about this man, and not just swallow the propangada that goverment agents are spreding all over about him.

The truth is that the Nigerian elites, irrespective of tribe are afraid of this man coming to power. But now they don't even have to lift their hands gainst him because Nierian youths are already doing their job for them.

Please, Nairalanders, Nigerian youth, go and develop yourself a brain. If you don't have a brian, borrow one. If you can't borrow one, buy one. If you can't buy one, go and steal one. Whatever you do, by all means get yourself a brain AND USE IT FOR GOD'S SAKE.

Pictures

I am selling a Nokia E61 for the cheap price of 8k. It is still decently clean and in perfect working order.

My number is 0815 171 4053

Oh yes, Pat Utomi would have made a good President. He 's intelligent, has business acumen and all that; but above all the most important quality a person that will make a good president needs is a heart to do the right thing. He also has this, but the truth is Pat Utomi may not have the necessary clout to win a nation-wide election.
The only man right now who has this most important quality (the heart & unshakable conviction to do the right thing) and also the necessary clout to win a nation-wide election is General Buhari.

Also whether u like it or not, Nigeria needs a strong leader who has the charisma to invoke deep patrotismn and ability to deal with ruthlessly with corruption and power-brokers. This man antecedents speaks for him. This is where he exells past Pat Utomi.

Because the Elites, even including Hausa elites, knows this man's stuff and are afraid of him, so much propangada are being spread around about him and unfourtunately, gullible Nigerians are buying it. I plead with people to do their own research and find out what the man Buhari is about.
I tell you the truth, if Buhari had been elected, even before he is sworn in, most of this so called Cabal, and loads of bad people would have relocated outside Nigeria.

You would have seen by now what they call "revolutionary change". Even the policemen on the road, by the time they see how corruption is being sincerely dealt with at the top, and a charismatic leader like Buhari tells, stop collecting 20 naira and harrasing your brothers. I will make things better for u. Dont worry, the evil people making life difficult for u, soon u will see them no more, they will listen.
It's that serious a matter for bad peopel; so much so that the Northern elites are ready to all within therir power to make sure he never becomes President.

The problem of Nigeria is Nigerians and not Jonathan.

Is this news really true?

Some devilish people having been spreading dangerouse fake news in order to cause reprisal attacks from other parts of the country.

If there really is house to house killing going on, there is no way it wouldn't have become public knowledge by now through the news media.

If the army could be sent to escort 20 buses, that means the militray is already aware and under an hour such vital information would have reached the Preisdeny. Wouldn't the army by now have been sent en-mass to stop this genocide?

Please, I'm pleading with everyone, please do not make any comment on this thread. Ignore it. Infact ignore every thread opened by this attention seeking pshycophant. That is the only way to deal with him.

Stop adding fuel to the Fire called Beaf. All u guys who rush and follow him from thread to thread, pls allow this stupid BEAF fire to die out.

You are the one giving him power,

@ Deep Sight

Your post is simply exellent.

Infact, you totally killed it, nailed it inside a coffin and buried it. You opened my eyes even to see what I could not fathom & proffer before.

Your proffered solution to the much touted "smuggling problem" by goverment officials is one I have never heard, even from intellectuals opposed to the subsidy removal. It's simplistic, as it is exellent and precise to cut off the head of this so much touted excuse.

Respect,

Anyone who start argueing statistics with the poster, that means the person has already fallen into the trap; the same one which GEJ and his officials did set up.

As long and as brilliant your analysis seems, (we should not put the cart before the horse) its based on one big assumption, which is that Nigerai consumes 35 million litres per day and it's total falsehood.

Where did u get this figure? Is it not from goverment officials? Since they have said we consumed and unpredecented and unexplainable 1.4 trillion subsidy in a year, is it not only logical they must & will manufacture a PMS figure to match the money.

And thank God, even during the Town Hall Meeting, Lamido Sanusi himself said said there is no way we are consuming 35 million litres per day.

This is the real reason the Senate and House of Reps. are not in support of Jonathan. Neither Jonathan or any of numerous officails have been able to offer any satisfactory explanation how subsidy jumped to 1.4 trillion/35 million litres per day - the two are inextricably linked together.

So respectably I say to you sir, this is just voodoo economics to pull wool over the eyes of the populace.

One more thing, I see that posts are less than 20. Are u sure you are not Beaf?

Koikoi:
Do you even believe yourself on this figures? If for instance petrol sells for N175 in Ghana, while it sells for N65 in Nigeria. Multiply the difference by the average daily consumption rate in Nigeria and again multiply that answer by 365 days in a year. It is only then you can come up with figures that maybe reliable. What's Nigeria's average daily consumption rate of petrol?

Don't come here and quote figures you cannot substantiate

What nonsense are u babbling about? These figurs are in the public domain, how did I come up with them. The Joint Sensta Committee charged with the task of investigating the subsidy regime was televised live for all Nigerians to see. Subsidy untill 2yrs ago had always been under 300 billion.

If you are an ignorant person, pls spare us ur shallowness. It's not by force to say something.

Your rediculous over-simplistic primary school oil arithmetic shows: you are either a mischief-maker or the matter is truly beyond your brain-power.

hollandis:
Is it not because NNPC has been discredit that such a report came out in the first plsace.In fact KPMG should be investigated and punished accordingly because of their non-exposure of fraudulent practices over the years.Rubbish report.They should also publish how much they were paid for the auditing job

Are sure you there is brain inside your skull?

People need to understand why the Senate, and the House of Reps do not support Jonathan. The main premise upon which GEJ's arguement for need to remove subsidy is based is that the nation spent 1.34 trillion on subsidy, which is too much.

The Senate committee presently investigating the subsidy regime and the House of reps have told him that figur is fraudulent, that the subsidy in the last sevearl years has never exeeded 300 billion, it illogical and impossible for it to suddenly ballon like five times to almost 1.4 trillion. Neither Jonathan nor any goverment official has been able to offer the senate committe or House of Reps any satisfactory explanation.

Are they supposed to blindly follow Jonathan and just take his word for it.

Pat utomi said it during Jonthan's campeingn that the guy was spending like 100 million naira a day.

The issue is this, the real subsidy figur is lower than 300 billion and easliy affordable to the nation's purse.

It's amazing how easily educated Nigerians can be easily fooled by cheap eloquence and sophistry of speech. Funny how people kept on clapping when Sanusi was talking; thank God Falana came to displace some of the things he said.

The fact is that, Sanusi's speech is a mixture of truth and flasehood. Ask CIA spymasters & masters of misinfromation of foremost intelligence bodies all over the world, one of the 1st step of effective misinformation is to present a kernel of truth, then weave falsehood round it. Sanusi can be honest, but when he wants to, he's a master at deception.

I'll pick on only one thing he said: subsidy removal will bring about only a 2.5% inflation per year. I may not be a big time economist like Sanusi, but I'm knowlegable enough to know that is a big lie. I don't care what statistics he reels out. It's simply mot true. Sanusi so much groosly understated the serously serious inflation incraese of fuel from N65 to N120 - N150 will bring about. The import of that one falsehood is so great that it's enough to conclude he's only trying to use eloquence of speech, and the assumption that as the CBN governor, he should be in the know and the rest of us know nothing at all.

Secondly , and I'm really tired of saying it, the subsidy removal goverment is proposing will not stop the pupported CABAL from making billions off the nation; instead of collecting the money from goverment, they will simply now be collecting it directly from the masses when they begin to pay more than twice for every litre of fual they buy. So when goverment say subsidy is benefiting only a certain Cabal and their proposal will put a stop to it, it's total falshood. For all we know' it's quite possible they may even start amking more money.

I'm astounded when educated people say goverment cannot build and maintain refineries, and I wonder why? These people like a mindless robot are just spewing arguements they've heard from goverment officials or some other people saying.

Another person (Nairalander) said, restoring our refineries to capacity and even building additional ones does not mean price of PMS can become cheaper; he goes on to explain some principles why they will have to get the crude oil at international price. What rubbish. The crude oil is our national endowment. Does a father, the breadwinner of the family who has a big farm sells the about the 7% of his food-production needed for the upkeep of his wife children to them or exactly on the same terms. This not a strictly business term/principle thing. The oil belongs to the people and goverment is only a custodian. I get really irritated when people try to complictate simple things with compilacted grammar and analysis.

Then please explain why PMS sells for about N17 in Venuezela. And I'm sure almsost, if not all, the refineries are publicly owned. Some about few yrs ago or thereabout, the Venuzealan Ambassador embarrsed goverment officials at a public function when he told them some hometruths, using his country as an example. Are the people from his counrty from Mars, or they minning a different kind of crude-oil.

I said enough for now. Its not as if it will enter some people's head.

.

Kobojunkie:
I'd rather we import fuel, crush the cabal that has hijacked fuel subsidy, and still pay less at the pumps. We have already beaten this refineries 'horse' a couple too many times, each time ending with not much of an improvement to the situation, and billions of naira lost down the Nigerian drain.

Rubbish comment. Go and borrow yourself a brain.

You rather we import fuel; well, that's exactly what the CABAL u want us to beleive u are against wants: for fuel-importation to continue as long as they can enable it, so that they can keep on making their billions.

Do you have any mental or intellectual grasp of what u are saying at all? If u do pls explain how "subsidy removal + fuel importation" will crush the cabal?

PEOPLE! PEOPLE!! PEOPLE!!!

How many times do we have to explain this? Subsidy removal that GEJ is proposing does not stop the CABAL (I'll rather say PDP) from milking Nigeria. What happens is this: instead of collecting the money from goverment, they will now be collecting it directly from the masses. When the populace start paying N150 or so for petrol, that's what they are paying for.
what it really is: is transfer of corruption-subsidy from neck of goverment to the neck of the masses.

The only sensible and logical way of crushing the so called CABAL is by stopping fuel importation as soon as it's possible; and the way to do this is by making it an emergency number-one priority for our refineries to start fully functioning.

But will PDP allow their greatest instrumentality (fuel-importation) for political patronage come to an end?

This is an instrumentality that was delibrately-painstakinly created by sabotaging the nation's refineries.

@ Beaf/dmainboss

Looking at the amount of post and replies you make on Nairaland; the amount of time u spend making PR and arguements for GEJ, I'll say you probably spend more time than everybody else on Nairaland.

I beleive I already answered your nonsesical question. I say "nonsensical" because it's bereft of logic and only a ploy to get the other person on the defensive.

On the other hand, u are the expert at not answering (dodging) simple questions. I have asked u: explain how subsidy removal will put a stop to "the few Nigerians" as u have campeigned so viciously' from feeding fat?

Concerning your "ACN" question, any knowledable person knows, inspite of whatever party affiliations they may have, governors are a tribe of their own and the only language they understand is "money" & "more money". Do u know they are already engaing the FG in a fight as to their share of funds accrueing from subsidy removal will be?

I wonder, is it Jonthan or Iweala this will monitor how the shamelessly corrupt 36 governors spend the money?

Having said this, who the hell cares whether the ACN is suffering from policy-scizophrenia, thereby sending out mixed signals. This not an ACN vs PDP problem. It's the people vs their wicked goverment, or PDP if u like, since that party froms the present goverment.

Why is Jonathan so bent on this help he wants to provide for the people; this help they have said they do not want.

Is it because he loves Nigeria so sp much that he must help them by force? When you see traviling so much to offer help by force the way Jonathanis bent on doing, then u should know there must be something pushing him; more to it than meets the eye.

Opposition to fuel subsidy
removal rises
Posted by Information Nigeria in Home »

Uncategorized on December 19, 2011

THE days roll by. It is countdown to
January 1, 2012. With a certain frenzy,
the Federal Government reiterates its
resolve to remove oil subsidy on that
date. But will it be a smooth sail? The
opposition groups do not think so. They
are refining their measures to counter
the government’s position.

The Conference of Nigerian Political
Parties (CNPP), civil society organisations
(CSOs) and the vice presidential
candidate of the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC) in the last general elections,
Pastor Tunde Bakare, were among those who at the weekend expressed their
resistance to the fuel subsidy removal. The statement of the CNPP and civil
groups at a meeting on Saturday night in
Abuja, which was made available to The
Guardian by the Secretary to CNPP, Osita
Okechukwu, noted that the stakeholders
would not hesitate to take to the street if government is adamant that the fuel
subsidy should not be removed. “Don’t push us to the street; for we went
to the street to make you president and
would not like to go to the street to
remove you as president!,” the document
warned. While calling on Nigerians to join “the
Mother of Mass Actions,” Okechukwu said
that the CNPP and the CSOs would work
in league with the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress
(TUC). The statement titled: “Fuel subsidy:
Seven-point charter to President
Jonathan,” requested that new refinerie s
be built.

“We are saying build new
refineries; for if you don’t have
confidence that Nigerians can manage refineries, we don’t have confidence that
you can manage the withdrawal
proceeds. Stop the rampant corruption in
fuel importation; before removing the
fuel subsidy! If you can’t stop rampant
corruption in fuel importation; you cannot guarantee the proceeds to
be withdrawn,” he said. According to the document, the removal
of fuel subsidy is a road Nigerians have
passed severally since 1978 and
unfortunately, all promises made were
broken while the pains of serial removal
of fuel subsidy have remained permanent. Explaining why Nigerians should resist
the move at a press conference in Lagos
yesterday, Bakare said successive
governments had failed to explain why
the refineries had remained
incapacitated despite the huge investments over the years in Turn
Around Maintenance (TAM). Bakare also wondered why NNPC had to
leave its own storage facilities unused
and proceed to incur additional costs
from leasing third party storage facilities.
According to him, the owners of these
third party facilities are not faceless people, “they are part of the cartel
siphoning the resources of our nation.” He further noted that the Federal
Government had failed to tell the whole
truth surrounding the matter as “each
time it trumpets and blows its
propaganda machinery that the N65 per
litre we pay for petrol is the lowest in the world. Ours is the highest if we
compare the price here to other oil
producing nations.” Bakare warned that if the country ever
allowed the removal of fuel subsidy,
“Nigerians will be made to pay for the
ineptitude of their leaders and the
kleptomania of government
functionaries.

” But rather than castigate President
Goodluck Jonathan for the decision of his
administration to remove oil subsidy,
former Defence Minister Tokunbo Kayode
said Nigerians should praise the
president for his courage to take the step. Kayode, who stated this in his Ikaram-
Akoko, Ondo State country home at the
weekend said successive governments in
Nigeria knew the desirability of the
removal of fuel subsidy but lacked the
political will to implement it. According to the former member of the
Federal Executive Council (FEC) who
spoke during his inauguration as the
Baba Ijo of his local congregation, St.
James’ Anglican Church, the decision
being taken by Dr. Jonathan was sealed during the administration of the late
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Kayode, who was in charge of the
Ministry of Labour and Productivity when
the controversial decision was taken in
2009 by the cabinet of President
Yar’Adua, said the administration lacked
the courage to go through the process of implementation.

On its part, the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) in Osun State has called on the
National Assembly to save the nation
from an unwarranted crisis by prevailing
on Jonathan and his economic team to
shelve the plan for fuel subsidy removal. The party said the widespread poverty,
unemployment and insecurity in the
country might be aggravated if the
Federal Government removed fuel
subsidy. The party also blamed the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal
Government of President Jonathan for his
stand on the matter despite the outcry of
Nigerians against the action, warning
that the authorities should be prepared to take full responsibility for the outcome
of the subsidy removal. Speaking at an interactive session with
journalists in Osogbo, the state capital,
the ACN Director of Research and
Strategy in the state, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi,
expressed worry that the Presidency was
yet to have a rethink about the unpopular policy despite outcry against it by
Nigerians. Describing the fuel subsidy removal as
anti-people policy by the PDP-led Federal
Government, the party urged the National
Assembly to stand by the citizens by
ensuring that President Jonathan and his
economic team do not succeed in inflicting unbearable burden on the
already pauperised populace.

Besides, a member of the Upper Chamber
of the National Assembly, Senator Jide
Omoworare has accused the Federal
Government of insincerity in the
management of refineries, saying refusal
to build new refineries informed the proposal for fuel subsidy removal. Omoworare, representing Osun East
Senatorial District therefore called for a
state of emergency in the nation’s oil
sector to enable the government to
embark on aggressive measures to build
more refineries in different locations to increase availability of petroleum locally. The ACN lawmaker spoke at the
weekend in Ile-Ife, Osun State after he
gave certificate of recognition to some
cooperative societies to enable them to
access bank loan facilities to enhance
their businesses. He dismissed the argument for fuel
subsidy removal as a capitalist agenda
aimed at causing dislocation in the
economy, adding that the proposal was a
way of shifting the high cost of fuel
importation by a few rich elements to the masses. According to him, instead of fuel subsidy
removal, which would increase the
suffering of Nigerians, the Federal
Government should declare an emergency
in the building of refineries across the country.

informationnigeria.org/2011/12/opposition-to-fuel-subsidy-removal-rises.html

dmainboss:
@Lanre_post

I will like to ask a very simple question, while ignoring your side talk about who I am because it adds nothing to the argument.

In the US and Europe where their economies have come crashing down, do they not have hundreds of eminent professors of economics who are ten times more qualified than Pat Utomi? I ask this because you seem to have taken a stand that what Pat Utomi says is the be all and end all of economics and should be the bible of the government. And if they have and these economists are employed in the various government agencies, why are their economies still going into recession? Please respond.

What are u talking about? Stop attributing to me what I've not said or implied. Infact you are saying the exact contradiction what I've said.

I was saying the entire rest of professional and technical experts that should be in the know can't all be wrong and only the ones in employ/service of goverment can see the light.

I only cited & posted Proff. Pat Utomi (and two others) as one of these numerous people.

For clarity, this is the relevant extract of my post:

{{ Is it
that u guys close your brain to every
other arguement of public & informed
personalities made available on this thread and several others and just choose
you must swallow line hook and sinker
whatever comes out of the mouth of the
President and his officials?
Do they possess some monopoly of
knowledge which is inacessible to any other person? Do goverment officials (economist,
bankers etc) once appointed to their
portfolios suddenly develop exra brain-
cells which empowers them to
understand phenomenon which their
entire rest of expert colleagues cannot comprehend How come their presentaions,
submissions, persuations, arguements on
the subsidy-removal matter is not
acceptable to almost all other
professionals who should be in the know,
have intergrity and can be trusted?

Or are we saying Ngozi-Iweala,
Madieson, etc. are the only people who
and can understand and comprehend? }}

Then your analogy of Europe and US and them having plenty of economists and the counrty failing is nonsensical: has no head or tail. Are yoy saying eminent economist & financial experts shouldn't be listened to? Because that will also include Ngozi-Iweala, Mandisean and all the rest of goverment officials. I think not.

And if we must listen to them, while at it, why should we ignore all the rest and what they have to say. There are numerous Nigerian energy & petroleum experts in Nigeria and US who have lent their knowlegde and experise to analysis of the dileama; and beleive me they are making a lot of sense. Dr. Tam David-West is another example, a former Petroleum Minister.

So many issues has been raised which must be addressed. The President cannot expect these serious and thorny issues to just be swept under the carpet. What is this insane hurry? The National Assembly say this is something that cannot be rushed. The President seems absolutely uninterested in seeking truth at all.

People, make no mistake about it, this is all about protecting the biggest vested interest of the PDP, the "goose which lays the golden eggs": the billions-of-dollars-making fuel-importation business; to sustain it or make it last as long as possible while they strategise how to shift the "billions-of -dollar-making" from the endangered fuel importation to the refining of crude-oil and selling it to us at International price.

You know someone has raised the question, the goverment has been completely silent on what happens once the nation start refining locally all of our petroleum consumption demand. Experts are expecting goverment to say something like: once we start refining all our PMS needs locally, then the price of PMS will go back down to N65(or even lower).

No, no, no; once through the instrumentalty of the NNPC & power of incumbency, the local refiniment of our pertoleum consumption demand is transfered to the former fuel-importers (CABAL), they continue selling to the country at International price.

The PDP goverment will simply see no need to bring down the price again. Is there anyone who does not know that in this country, so far as we know, when prices go up, they don't come down again. I remember GBAWE did day that it was unbeleivable that GEJ will put the now almost universally acknowledged corrupt NNPC currently under investigation, in charge of getting the 4 refineries to work and acquring all the new ones that should come up.

So like I said, wise guys in the house, do the arithmetic and the brainstorming, the so much dileama and travails of Jonathan and the "others" is to at all cost preserve this PDP's "goose that lays the golden eggs". They believe beyond anything you can imagine that it is imperative to their political survival. Afterall, the biggest powers of PDP is icumbency and vast financial muscles. Money has a lot to do with GEJ's electoral victory.

Take note that it is impossible for PMS price to be increased to Inernation price after the refineries must be fully working.

So PMS prices has to be increased now, so that it will continue selling at that price even after the refinires would have started fully working.

Unless it's done in this order, that margin, which amasses to billions of dollars, the golden goose will be forever lost to the PDP.

Call me crazy? Well that's my take on the matter,

Fuel subsidy: ‘Jonathan can’t
convince Senators, Reps
December 18, 2011 Politics By Paul Odenyi

President Goodluck Jonathan was
unable to convince members of the
National Assembly on the imperative
to remove the subsidy on petrol at a
recent meeting, according to Hon.
Bimbo Daramola, a member of the House of Representatives, present at
the parley. Daramola exclusively
spoke to Sunday Vanguard. Read on…

Let us begin with the meeting
between the president and members
of the National Assembly at the State
House. How did it go?

First and foremost, a few of our
members felt that we should assert
ourselves as an arm of government
after assessing the implication of
having to go to see Mr. President in his
own turf. But reason prevailed and members felt this is not about
Goodluck Jonathan, it is about the
Presidency of this country, that, most
likely, the president will be talking to
us about Nigeria. This is the superior
argument that made us to go and listen to Mr. President. The National Assembly, particularly
the House of Representatives that I
have the privilege of being a member
of, we know too well that we will not
be parliamentarians if we are not
Nigerians in the first place. And then we felt that whatever the president
will be talking about will be anchored
on our country which is very dear to
every one of us. As we prepare for 2012, a number of
issues are on the ground and we felt
that Mr. President will have the
opportunity to broker an amity, close
ranks with us and make our
relationship seamless. Then we will be able to see his side of the story.
Like I said, a few members said, no,
he should come to us because that is
the way it should be. We prevailed on
them and so Mr. President had the
opportunity to speak to the 469 members. That would be the first time the
president was addressing the joint
session of the National Assembly even
if it happened in his on turf. Well, everyone of us who made it to
that meeting must be representing a
vital constituency in this country. So,
you may say that he was talking to
Nigerians but, because we did not
have the media in attendance, it could be compared to what we call
executive session in parliament. Hon. Bimbo Daramola He presided and there were some of
his ministers and the anchor person
was the Secretary to the Government
of the Federation (SGF), Senator
Anyim Pius Anyim. So we wanted to
extend the courtesy to the president to show we are not in adversarial
relationship but we must have a
relationship that recognizes that we
have a nation to administer. As the executive and the legislature,
one thing that binds us together is
that we must collectively address the
nation’s problems. On the strength of
this, we went to meet Mr. President. What we heard earlier was that it
was the Senate that really wanted to
see the president as a result of the
issues raised at a sitting of the Upper
House.

How did the invitation extend
to you at the House of Reps?

This is not the first meeting between
us and the president. As the vice
chairman of one of the committees, I
was privileged to, alongside a few
chairmen, meet the president about
two months ago. It was Dr Okonjo- Iweala (finance minister and
coordinating minister of the
economy), who spoke to us then
about the intentions of the president
vis a vis the 2012 budget. So, when
this invitation came, it was impromptu and some members,
smarting from the past experience of
chairmen going to meet Mr. President,
felt we needed to be very careful
about this one. The invitation was all-embracing.
Whether this invitation was at the
instance of the senators or not, I may
not be able to clarify. For some
reasons, it was extended to us. I think
that if it was at the instance of the senators which grew from their
executive session over security
concerns in the country, then it should
be seen as an attempt to kill two birds
with one stone. If it was at the instance of the
senators, the president may have
decided, ‘let us all meet’, because,
indeed, the issue of security has also
been discussed at the House. The first
motion of the seventh House of Representatives was moved by me
and was entitled, “Emerging Threat to
Internal Security and the Need for
Establishment of the Department of
Homeland Security in Nigeria.” It was modeled after the United
States. The same challenge, the point
at which America got in 2002, when
President George Bush Jnr needed to
frontally take on the issue of internal
security as a result of the upsurge in global terrorism, we have also
reached that point. And members also felt that these are
some of the issues that we need to
see and resolve. That bill is in the
pipeline in the House of
Representatives and maybe the
president must have said whatever we discuss on how to increase our
security infrastructure, the House of
Representatives must be carried
along.

At the end of that meeting, what
impression did you come out with on
the state of the country?

Without wanting to divulge what
happened, when the meeting started,
Mr. President spoke to us about
deregulation and then the thrust of his
2012 budget. The issue of subsidy
removal, as it has turned out, is one of the planks of the 2012 budget. He
wanted to have a soft landing for that
because the National Assembly is the
hurdle he must cross in his pursuit of
this policy. There were mixed
reactions. The way it was received would not be
satisfying to the president. I am sure
he would not have been satisfied
with the reactions he got. Don’t forget
that the National Assembly is the last
gate keeping post for Nigeria and, if anything slides at this point, then we
may be imperiled. We may begin to
say that the horse is out of the stable
and so we are in trouble. We made
that very,very clear, especially
members of the House of Representatives. We made it clear to the president that
we must be very careful on that issue
and that it was something that we
would take more time to discuss, not
one to be exhausted within one hour
that the meeting lasted. But beyond that, Mr. President used the
opportunity to address what the
Senate President raised about the
security of the nation. He wanted the
president to address the issue at that
meeting. He tried to acquaint the
parliamentarians with what he is
trying to do. He went to into the
historical trajectory of violent crimes
in Nigeria. He spoke about the Niger
Delta and the pogrom there, he dovetailed into the Boko Haram issue.
I think he is reasonably convinced
that his government is trying to deal
with it. To me, he can still do a little
bit more.

Encountering the president at this
level, and given the reasons he gave
for his planned removal of fuel
subsidy, how convincing were they? Mr. President did not sufficiently
convince me or my other colleagues in
the House of Representatives. I don’t
want to be graphic on what happened
there but I am telling you that it was
a faux pax. I don’t think he achieved any purpose. I don’t think he moved
the story forward. I would say that
his reasons did not appeal to members
of the House of Representatives. He tried to say and, indeed, make it
clear to us that if he does not take out
the subsidy, Nigeria will go down. In
his own words, Nigeria will crash. I
don’t think that was the right thing to
say but I believe very strongly that the nobility of the intentions of Mr.
President may not be questionable.
Like he said, it is not about Goodluck
Jonathan, it is about Nigeria. We are
on the same page on that score. The truth of the matter, however, is
that there are so many ways that lead
to the market.

(I said something on my posting to this thread "There are always several paths that leads to a stream"

His strongest argument
was that it was becoming difficult to
sustain the high subsidy regime on
fuel products. He said if we go on this way, Nigeria will be in deep trouble.
His words: ‘Nigeria will crash’. The
truth of the matter is that we need
more money, but there are many
ancilliary issues that will need to be
sorted out. Removal of subsidy is not an isolated event. This is an economy that is mono-
product and driven by the same
product, we would expect that
anything that happens to this product
will resonate across the length and
breadth of the country. What the president did was all rationalization.
He said the guys who move the
product to the market don’t actually
use PMS, that they use diesel. This is
simplistic rationalization.

He also tried to say that the subsidy
we are talking about does not profit
Nigerians but a pocket of cartel in the
industry. And people immediately
rose up to say, ‘Mr. President, why are
you saying this? If it is a cartel, you crack it’.

Abdul Ningi, I remember,
said it clearly that he was the most
powerful president in the black world,
and that is the truth. And if we are confronted by a cabal or
cartel, then it is about time we deal
with the issue decisively. And, today,
we are trying to give this reason for
taking such a decision that will affect
the masses of our people. He also tried to talk about the issue of bunkering,
that it was also being resolved and all
of that. People also said, ‘ okay, if you take
out the subsidy, what becomes of the
amount of money you may eventually
raise?’. He tried to tell us that there
was a committee headed by the vice
president and that they were working on what will be committed from the
revenue from the removal of subsidy
and that they had gone eighty percent
and all that. To me, that is not sufficient to begin
to push this idea of removal of
subsidy. The strongest of the
arguments is pure simplistic and
rationalization. Issues like the
removal of subsidy must have cogent, articulate, verifiable, clear cut
arguments for and against. You must be able to say, ‘ Yes, if you
do this, we gain this and that’. Abdul
Ningi tried to raise the political and
security consequences of the push
particularly at a time when you have
the Arab spring and all that. Removal of subsidy should not be left in the
realms of conjecture and simplistic
rationalization.

Notes From Atlanta

▼
Saturday, November 5, 2011


Biggest Scandal in Oil “Subsidy Removal”
Fraud
By Farooq A. Kperogi

To begin with, the idea that the Nigerian
government is subsidizing fuel for the
masses is a willfully double-tongued
twaddle. Only four kinds of people
believe that: the hopelessly ignorant, the
mentally subnormal, masochists with a perverse thirst for self-abasement, and
beneficiaries of real government
subsidies such as our indolent,
unproductive, and ruthlessly acquisitive
government officials and their equally
debauched cronies in the private sector. Many informed commentators have
conclusively proved that.

But there is an even more treacherous
scandal in this “oil subsidy” scam that the
Nigerian national media is either not
aware of or has chosen to ignore. Two weeks ago, when I compared fuel
prices among oil-producing nations of the
world and showed that Nigerians pay the
highest price for petrol even though they
receive the lowest minimum wage
among their peers, I actually did a gross disservice to my argument. The situation
is a lot worse than that. I will come back
to this point shortly.

I pointed out that the petrol I use for my
car in America burns A LOT SLOWER than
the one I use when I visit Nigeria,
meaning that, at the current rate,
Nigerians (with a miserable minimum
wage of N7,000 per month or about $45 per month— against America’s over
N180,000 minimum wage per month)
actually pay more than or about equal to
Americans for petrol. It takes a
remarkably heartless person to ignore
this heartrending fact. But that’s an issue for another day. A Nigerian online citizen investigator
who goes by the handle “Viscount”
revealed on a Nigerian Internet
discussion forum recently that Nigerians
not only pay the highest price for fuel in
OPEC; they also consume the worst imaginable grade of petrol among oil-
producing countries. That means
comparing fuel prices between Nigeria
and other oil-producing countries—or
even countries in Europe and North
America— is actually like comparing apples and oranges. These countries not only pay considerably
lower prices than us for high-quality
petrol, Nigerians have been paying
unconscionably high prices for toxic fuel
for the past 12 years, as you will see
shortly. And they will pay even more for it next year. If this is not sufficien t
reason to give up everything and
“occupy” Nigeria until the oppressors are
brought to a standstill, I don’t know what
is.

At the center of the tragic importation of
toxic petroleum products into Nigeria—
and other West African nations— is an
Amsterdam-based multinational
company called Trafigura. Keep that
name in mind as you read this. Many Nigerians know that the fuel they
consume domestically isn’t derived from
the crude oil their country exports. They
also know that they have one of the
world’s best and finest quality of crude
oil. What many of them don’t know is that the cabal of rapacious oil importers
that the Jonathan administration—and
the administrations that preceded him—
mollycoddle with “subsidies” actually
import toxic, low-quality oil that is not fit
for consumption in Europe or North America—or in any society that cares for
the welfare of its citizens. In 2010, a group of journalists from the
UK, Norway, and the Netherlands won a
prestigious international journalism
award for a series of investigative
reports they did on Trafigura’s barbarous
dumping of toxic petroleum waste on Cote d’Ivoire. The waste killed scores of
people and sickened thousands more. In
July 2010, an Amsterdam court found the
company guilty and fined it 1 million
euros. (The caustic petroleum residues
were dumped on Cote d’Ivoire on July 2, 2006). On June 24 this year, Afrol News, an
Africa-centered news agency, reported
that it had been “given documentation”
that shows that the same Trafigura that
was fined for dumping deleterious waste
on Ivoirians had offloaded “dangerous and poor gasoline [i.e., petrol]” in the
“Nigerian port of Lagos.” This toxic
petrol, which Nigerians have been
consuming for years and which our
governments “subsidize,” according to
the Afrol News report, “is highly unstable, not enduring sunlight exposure,
and will cause damage to vehicles. It will
also cause environmental damages due
to high sulphur values, and can therefore
cause human health damages. The
product is strictly illegal in Europe and the US, but may in some cases be within legal
quality and environment standards in
some West African countries.” But this wasn't a one-off occurrence. It's
been happening for over a decade. So,
ordinary Nigerians are being forced to
use their hard-earned money to buy
inordinately overpriced and
demonstrably harmful petroleum products. Yet the Nigerian government
says this isn’t bad enough; it wants to
increase fuel prices again next year. And
the government has no plans to repair
our refineries so that we can refine our
own crude domestically and bring down the cost of petrol. \
But the bigger scandal is that in January
this year, the Jonathan administration
signed a multi-billion-dollar annual
contract with the same Trafigura of toxic
fuel dumping infamy. And there was no due process in the award of the contract.
According to Business Day of January 4,
2011, “Under the agreement with the
Nigerian government, Trafigura is
expected to pick up Nigerian crude oil
and in return, supply her with refined products; but it is unclear why the firm,
which has supplied refined products to
Nigeria in the last 12 years, was
favoured for the deal. “Trafigura agreed to an annual contract
with the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) on the basis of taking
60,000 barrels of crude oil per day in
exchange for refined products such as
gasoline and gas oil of equivalent value estimated at around $3 billion a year.” An oil industry expert who spoke to
Business Day said just “$1 billion of the
amount would have put the four
refineries in proper shape.” When I wrote
two weeks ago that Nigerians were
faced with a choice between death and life, I didn’t even know about all these. I am going to leave the reader with
“Viscount”’s parting thoughts: “Nigeria will give Trafigura (confirmed
supplier of bad petrol), 60, 000 barrels of
oil per day in exchange for their mega
tonnes of DEADLY-sulphurous petrol! Yep,
Jonathan's government is paying a
foreign company to systematically KILL Nigerians. And poor Nigerians are being
asked to be happy jare! “So, Nigerians, when your brand new
Tokunbo engine knocks - just like that,
thank Trafigura! When your I-better-
pass-my-neighbour generator's fume
smells funny and leaves a film like Casper
the Ghost - just like that, thank Trafigura! When you are walking in Lagos, or any
other Nigeria [city], and you are
experiencing a choking sensation from
the mundane act of breathing in - just
like that, thank Trafigura! Nigeria!”

First let me say dmainboss is the same old Beaf. You can tell from his manner of writing and style & points of arguements just by reading this thread from the beginning

But I marvel when I still see posts SIMILAR that of the "dmainboss" aka Beaf (Beaf's post is not a marvel). Is it that u guys close your brain to every other arguement of public & informed personalities made available on this thread and several others and just choose you must swallow line hook and sinker whatever comes out of the mouth of the President and his officials?
Do they possess some monopoly of knowledge which is inacessible to any other person?

Do goverment officials (economist, bankers etc) once appointed to their portfolios suddenly develop exra brain-cells which empowers them to understand phenomenon which their entire rest of expert colleagues cannot comprehend

How come their presentaions, submissions, persuations, arguements on the subsidy-removal matter is not acceptable to almost all other professionals who should be in the know, have intergrity and can be trusted?

Or are we saying Ngozi-Iweala, Madieson, etc. are the only people who and can understand and comprehend?

Did you guys read the post above: The real Price of fuel. Are u saying its all stupid talk?

The Presdient and his officials will like us to believe every other person, no matter their inergrity, technical and professional know-how hate Nigerians and are talking nonsense. They just want Nigerians to deactivate their brains, (including National Assembly) jump on board and give them full support.

For instance here is Pat-Utomi on an Inerview with Newswatch Magazine:

Pat Utomi, professor of political economy
and founding director of the Lagos
Business School, speaks with Dike
Onwuamaeze, principal staff writer, on
the contentious issue of the removal of
fuel subsidy. Excerpts:

Newswatch: What is your opinion on the debate raging in the country on whether
to remove or retain fuel subsidy? Utomi: Well, the problem with this discussion is that it is very easy to miss
the critical issues and reduce it to a
simple argument of who wants or does
not want the subsidy removed. But it is
not as simple as that. First of all, when
you are discussing subsidy, what you are essentially discussing is fiscal transfers.
The big argument of those against what
is called subsidy is that you take from the
common pool and you give it to a small
group of people who, therefore, develop
a consumption pattern that is not appropriate because they do not pay the
appropriate price for it while the rest of
the society suffers from being denied the
greater good that could have come from
the use of the revenue. That is the classic
argument. I would have been making this argument 10-15 years ago. But one
of the things education and observation
does for you is that you grow out of
narrow stylistic orthodoxy in discussion
of issues. So, the orthodoxy of efficiency
of allocation of resources which is lost in the provision of subsidy becomes a
banner that covers all kinds of
inappropriate behaviour that is taking
place. What is the real situation with the
financing of petroleum products in
Nigeria? First and foremost, there is no statistics. What is claimed to be
imported into the country on which basis
“subsidies” are paid is twice the quantity
Nigeria is consuming. If we can claim to
be spending X as subsidy, it is still an
assumption. Now, about 50 percent of that sum is not on something Nigerians
are consuming. So, the reality is that the
N1.3 trillion they are talking about is not
a true reflection of what Nigerians are
consuming. That is one statement. The
second statement is that, and that is the biggest learning for me from experience,
is that every government makes the
same promise to spend the subsidy on
building of roads and providing essential
services to the citizens, yet the FRSC
rated Nigerian roads as the second worst in the world. If you look at the all
Millennium Development Goals, Nigeria is
worse today in reality than before. The
question to ask should be: “what did the
last removal do for railways, roads? The
point I’m making is that we have come to the point where you can say that it is
not sensible to allow government that do
not know how to use public resources to
take more of it away from the citizens. I
would rather agree that the Nigerian
individual spends his money the way he or she likes rather than the government
of Nigeria waste it for him. Newswatch: Some Nigerians still claim that there is no fuel subsidy. Utomi: People who said that there is no subsidy, essentially, argue that if we had
an efficient system and can refine petrol
locally, the actual cost of what we are
selling petrol cannot be called a subsidy.
But the logic of the government is that
we do not have the refined product locally and we are importing it and
paying international price to get it. But
these are not even my argument. My
argument is that the process involves
taking money from citizens and putting it
in the pocket of the government that has used money not particularly wisely. In
fact, the way the Nigerian government
has used money has impoverished the
Nigerian people rather than making their
quality of life better. Years ago, I’ve
begun to be gradually won over by the position taken by two remarkable
economists who were consultants to the
IMF. They argued that there are countries
in the world, and Nigeria being the best
or worst examples, where the
governments are so incapable of advancing the good of the people that it
is not in the best interest of the people
for the rent from that mineral wealth to
be given to the governments. They
proposed that it should be shared to the
citizens of that country. Some national government like Norway have actually
done that. The state of Alaska in the
United States of America, at a particular
month in the year, write out cheques to
Alaskans and give them their repay funds
from oil rents. Alberta in Canada does the same thing. Newswatch: How appropriate is the quest to remove the subsidy when local
refineries are not functioning optimally? Utomi: Why do we have to go back to be talking of these refineries every year.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the
trouble with Nigeria is that we have lost
the sense of shame. We do not feel
ashamed any more. If we do, I think that
we should be embarrassed that in the arena of public discussion, we are still
talking about our refineries not working
optimally. That shows that something is
fundamentally wrong. And for me as a
citizen, that is not the way to go. Newswatch: Where will the subsidy be invested if it is eventually removed? Utomi: I’m not in government to be in a position to do this. But I still stand on the
comment I gave when the last removal
was done. Let us build standard railways
from Lagos to Calabar and within our
cities and create lasting infrastructures
that can ensure that people are more efficiently moved around. Look at the
history of contract administration in
Nigeria. How do you think that the use of
that “N1.3 trillion” will be? It cannot be
different from the way it was yesterday.
The previous removal of fuel subsidy did not provide roads that are motorable. Newswatch: The government has given 18 licences to private firms to build
refineries, yet none has commenced
building a refinery. Why is it so? Utomi: Because they are intelligent people. And if you are an intelligent
person, you won’t do something as stupid
as building refineries while others who
are going to be importing it are getting
sweet deals to go with. You will never be
able to survive. Machiavelli said 500 years ago, that nothing is more difficult
to bring around than a new order of
things because those who profit from the
old order will do every thing to prevent
the new order from coming about. And
that is why we are running around in circles. There is a class that profits from
the misery of the Nigerian people and
they do not want to give up. Newswatch: You are used to remarking that Nigeria is on the high way to
Somalia. Some people also perceive
Nigeria as a country on the brink. So, as a
political economist, what do you foresee
as the socio- economic implications of the
removal of fuel subsidy? Utomi: We are not heading to Somalia any more. We’ve arrived Somalia. What
do you think Jos is? What do you think
Bauchi and Borno are? They are Somalia
already. Thank God that people can go
back a few years and see my warning in
the things that are happening. The average Nigerian now seems
disconnected from the Nigerian state. He
doesn’t feel that he is worth much. If his
life means nothing, the life of others
mean nothing to him also. So, we are all
in the danger. The problem is not that Nigeria would not want to pay for what
they are consuming, it is just that
Nigerians do not trust their government
that the money will be used in the
interest of the Nigerian people. And if the
government is wise, it would have taken proven steps to cut the wastages that are
going on in order to regain public
confidence. More importantly, the
government needs to do a number of
things quickly enough to provide jobs and
raise the income of Nigerians to enable them to pay the new price that will come
because there is the need to compare
how much a Nigerian pays to buy petrol
relative to his income and how much a
Ghanaian pays to buy petrol relative to
his income and then we can justify our positions.
.

@ Beaf

Beaf, Beaf, Beaf,

Since you are more knowledgable in Ecnomics more than all of us combined, please do tell, how subsidy removal will stop the "few individuals" from milking the country ?

When we say people have alledged the true subsidy needed should not be more than 200 billion naira, we are talking about guys in the National Assembly. Father Kukkah has implied recently at a public function that President should fight the corruption in oil sector instead of blackmailing Nigerans with his "the economy will collaspe in two years" rhetorics. Are you saying we should disregard all these people and only listen to what comes out of the mouth of the President and goverment officials?

Are you more knowlegable about Nigerai more than Father Kukah? Do you have his inergrity? So why should we not consider what people lkie him are telling us?

Then we say, neither the President or any of his goverment official has been able to offer any meaningful satiisfactory answer to the Senate committee's question as to how 250 billion naira jumped to 1.3 trillion, but you say all those are just sentiments and hysterics. Is it not a cold fact that the figure jumped to 1.3 trillion naira? How cold must that fact be for u to acknwledge it?

If this question are inconsequential to the whole subsidy debate, I wonder what the is important. I guess it must be the fanthom collaspe of the economy that is being forced down our throat.

@ BEAF

Firstly, like the expert dodger that you are, you've avoided the part which says, removal of oil-subsidy will not stop the CABAL from feeding fat off the country; that so far is the strongest consistent arguement being weilded by the goverment and their supporters like yourself. And it is a big lie. The "feeding fat" will merely be tranfered from the goverment directly to the masses.

Secondly, all your arguements (e.g smuggling) are not a new one. The PDP goverment has been dishing out this rhetorics for 12 years now. Let's assume smuggling is the main problem like u say; look here, smuggling of petroleum products in large quantities across our borders is not like rice or contraband clothes. It is highly visible. It cannot be successfully consistently done over years unless it has the blessing of the goverment in power.

It is lauhgable and indeed rediculous when goverment officials and people like u try to imply that Nigerian goverment is incapable of stopping our fuel supply being smuggled across our borders into neigbhouring countries.

Then are you also saying it's an impossible task to monitor the amount of Petrol that is imported into this country, and the actual consumption of Nigerians every month. At the ongoing Senate seatings, the goverment has been tasked to get the figurs for the amount of petrol the country needs in a month, in order to arrive at the actaul subsidy necessary.

Then there are several other pertinent quetions the goverment are not intersted in answering; they just want the go-ahead to remove subsidy and increase price of petrol.

For instance, no goverment official has been able to give any satisfactory answer to how the 250 billion allocated to subsidy from January to October jumped from that figur to the 1.3 trillion that has being spent.

Many people have alledged that the actual subsidy should not be more than 200 billion naira which is an amount very much affordable. Jonathan has shown absolutely no interest in exploring this angle.

So people are saying, sanitise the whole subsidy scheme; weed out the corruption-subsidy-part from the actual subsidy, and affodability of the subsidy will not be a problem.

They have shown no intererst to answer, addresss, ivestigate or take up this recommendtaion; rather Jonathan is always begging us that subsidy has to go; that the economy will collaspe in two years. It's a small wonder that Senate and especially the House of Reps. keep saying that Jonathan's arguements are unconvincing.

Then you say three of the refineries are WORKING at high percentage capacity is simply not true. Very untrue.

Then you say if the four refineries are working at 100%, that cannot stop fuel importation. What nonsense are you talking about. I dont have the figurd off-hand, but according to all the experts that have spoken on the issue, the joint daily total capacity of the four refiniries is well above what the country needs daily. Do you more than all those guys?

Let me just stop here. It suffuce to say I know what Im talking about. I'm not one of those you can confuse.

Stop trying to pull a wool over the eyes of the people.

X-factoria:
You make a lot of sense!!!

I also suggest that he sells the refineries to Otedola, Dangote, Adenuga, Jimoh Ibrahim, Sayyu Dantata, Wale Tinubu and co and let them run it. We'll see whether they will run well or not.

Thanks.

Whilw your suggestion is not necessarily a bad one, the truth is the country is well capable of running 4 refinries if selfish interests of the ruling party are kept at bay. Ofcourse they can be more refineried owned by private indidviduals.

Knowing how things work in Nigeria, the danger is that the refiniries may be given out at peanuts. If governent can own at least just the 4 big refineries, it can be used as a stabilizing factor in terms of pricing when the so many other private refiniries come on board.