₦airaland Forum

Is it such a difficult thing, as he has been told by some elder statemen (eg Gowon) and noble citizens (eg Father Kukkah); he should embark on the strategy of ending subsidy by making the refinieris to start working. In 18 months our existing 4 refineries can be producing at 60% capacity which is enough for our local consumption.

Why so much insistence on the option that will more than double the price of fuel and create a serious hyper-inflation and make life unbearable; then start looking for ways to curb the inflation. Why create a problem then start looking for solution?

Like Gowon said, the multiplier-effect of runaway/galloping/hyper inflation through the economy will be so much, no palliative can solve it; it will be beyond the control of the goverment.

There is a better optiion. Why not take it.

There is always several paths leading to a stream; why insist on a particular one, full of sharp stones, broken bottles, undulating valleys that can break legs and backbones.

Why not take the one that is tared and smooth like the road in Aso-Rock, even if is is a little longer.

The important thing is to get to the stream. To get there in good time (the country cannot collaspe in 18 months), with the least dificulty; not with broken bones and cuts on legs gushing out with blood.

The goverment is the guradian of the people and it ought to behave like a good parent.

Nairalanders that are echoing what goverment officials are saying, that subsidy removal will stop the "few Nigerans" (aka Cabal) from feeding fat off the country, are I'm sorry to say, du.llards. And ofcourse, those officails are liars icluding Ngozi Iweals herself. Because we don't work in Worldbank does not mean we have no sense of economics at all.

The cabal will not stop feeding FAT; instead of collecting the money from goverment in form of subsidy, they will now be collecting it from the masses in form of fuel increase. If anything, they may even start making more money.

The option which will will deal with the Cabal is one that brings a stop to fuel importation. But PDP won't like that. Fuel-importation is the biggest business of someone like Otedola and so many others. It's the biggest instrument of political patronage used by PDP for rewarding itself and its benefacors.

What angle are you talking about? And who told I was complimenting Beaf or GEJ? From my post, I believe it's clear to any reasoning person that what I'm trying to say is: you are a psycophant just like Beaf, the only diiference being, you tend to Fashola while Beaf tends to GEJ.

And your tactics is just like Beaf. Always twisting and spinning things off the way it suits you. You were accused of tribalism, and went into some well written prose which sound reasonable, but the fact is you did say "IBO people with their lies and delusions
sha. Must YOU people lie about
everything?".

You seem to think people are s.tup.id; that they can't tell A from B.

While I'm not saying that the 150 projects are true or not true, but know this, Rochas as a governor is 100 times more sincere than even Fashola, and the transparency of governance and utilisation of state resources in Imo under Rochas Administration cannot be compared to Lagos: no basis for comparison.

Also, maybe Eko-ile has a point or not, but one thing is sure: Eko-Ile is phycophant. What Beaf is to GEJ, Eko-Ile is to Fashola.

I have nothing against Fashola. When someone does good, we praise him; when he does bad, then we fault him. This is common sense and what is right.

Pastor Bakare is no doubt a very controversial pastor, and personally, I've criticised him about the manner in which he handles some issue concerning him and some other men of God, e.g Oyedepo, Adeboye etc and do not agree with some of his messages; but I have no doubt in my mind that he's one of the most honest Pastors in Nigeria who are not trying to build an empire of materialism for themselves.
Concerning, Buhari, he is simply the most foremost honest leader we have in Nigerai today who has a chance of becoming President.
With Buhari in the saddle of Presidency, even before inauguration, even before he speaks or take any action, you'll see all the evil men begin to relocate out of the country.

Not as in GEJ's case that they are winning and dinning with him.

Why then won't Nigeria elect him? Maybe it's God punishment that to us, that good leaders will never ascend to the throne in our land. I don't know. It's beyond me.

@ Beaf

Do you claim to love Nigeria more than Reverend Kukah? Do you even have 5% of this man's intergrity? Is Father Kukah not knowledgable? They are few Nigerians that have the intellectual capacity that this man possess in a multiplicity of feilds. To say this man is more knowledgable and versatile than I am is an understatement.

What of you? Do you claim to have undertanding and inergrity more tha Father Kukkah? Hear the advise he has for Jonathan.

Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Rt. Reverend
Matthew Hassan Kukah, and the National
Union of Textile Garments and Tailoring
Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTW, have
accused President Goodluck Jonathan of
allegedly blackmailing Nigerians with his claims that the country would collapse in
two years, if fuel subsidy was not
removed. Bishop Kukah asked the Federal
Government to address the issue of
insecurity in the country which according
to him is more serious than the proposed
removal of fuel subsidy just as the
NUTGTW said there was no difference between the current debate on fuel
subsidy removal and the same sex
marriage debate which Nigerians were
unanimous in rejecting. Kukah spoke in a sermon at the 2011
Christmas carol jointly organized by the
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria,
FRCN, Nigeria Television Authority, NTA,
and Voice of Nigeria, VON, at the
National Christian Centre in Abuja while the textile workers made their feelings
known in a statement in Kaduna Monday. According to Bishop Kukah, dividends of
democracy cannot only be measured by
the number of infrastructure a particular
administration is able to provide for its
citizens but by the level of fundamental
rights of the citizens. His words,”Democracy is not about
infrastructure. If democracy is measured
by infrastructure then South Africa should
have continued under apartheid because
most of the infrastructure in South Africa
were put in place during the apartheid regime in that country. ‘’So also in Germany, If democracy was
about infrastructure, the Germans should
apologise to Hitler because Adolph Hitler
developed Germany. ‘’The citizens must be allowed to have a
say in the social, economic development
of their nation. The issue of fuel subsidy
is minute compared to the level of
insecurity that the nation is going
through now. Lots of innocent lives have been lost; there is need for this present
administration to concentrate more on
how to tackle the issue of Boko Haram
and leave fuel subsidy for now”. However, the textile workers in a
statement signed by the General
Secretary Comrade Issa Aremu who is
also the Vice President of the Nigeria
Labour Congress, NLC, in commending
Jonathan on the way he has engaged Nigerians on the issue, said that if the
President had engaged his seemingly
abundant energy and “sweat capital” on
other economic issues, the country would
be a better place to live in. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/
leave-subsidy-for-now-face-boko-
haram-kukah

Bawss1:
N30 billion? The initial report says N1.033 billion

Try to take and read articles properly. I'm talking about the daily 65 000 barrels which equates to 31 biilion naira daily which the NNPC is unbale to account for. This is a fresh revelation.

You are quoting/talking about the 1.3 trillion the goverment claimed to be the amount spent so far on subsidy this year.

^^^

I laugh when I hear people like yopu say you don't really understand the issue, it's is deeper than that. How deep is it? Is a spiritual matter that is indicernible to ordinary mortals?

And I do have a very deep understanding of the matter. I see no need to go into complexities and be confusing people the way the goverment ministers always does. So i decicded to put it as simple as I can.

When you say there is no way goverment can successfully run refiniries, respectfully I say to you, you are not making sense. They are several oil producing countries who run state refinires successfully: Venuezela is very good example of this and the citizens buy petrol at N17 per liter. The Venuezelan ambassador himself said this at a public function to the embarrasement of goverment officials.

Have you heard the latest revelation from the senate committee investigating the management of oil-subsidy: 65 000 barrels or 31 billion naira daily cannot be accounted for by the NNPC.

Guys like you only repeat what you hear from otherd or are being told by goverment officials.

A good demonstration of this is what you said in your comment:

{{The money for all these projects are
being sunk into subsidy. This year alone it
stands at =N= 1, 340, 000, 000, 000}}

Have you not heard the amount which budgeted for the subsidy is 240 billion naira, and till now, at the ongoing investgation by the senate committee, no goverment official has been able to show how the cost jumped from 240 billion naira to 1.4 trillion naira.

Any Nairalander that does not have a brain should try to fasttrack growing one, or go and borrow one. It's essential to our collective survival,

This what we have been labouring to tell Nigerians and so many low-brain-powered Nairalanders. There is more than enough money for the goverment build whatever kind, manner or magnitude of infrastructure the country needs.

Jonathan wants to satisfy the greed of corruption and the yearnings of the people at the same time. Imagine about 30 billion naira unaccounted for daily. And they say the only money available to build infractructure is the one to be obtained through the unbearble burden of fuel increase and disastrous ripples of hyper-inflatiom it will cause in the economy.

What kind of wicked leaders do we have in this country, that are willing to destroy the collective destinies of people bacause of uncontollable greed.

Nigerians wake up. Demand accountabilty from your leaders and stop being silly and swallowing what you are told. In short, stop worshipping mediocrity and recognize it for what it is: something undeserving of your support and sympathy.

How can someone be pleading with you to allow him to continue to suck your blood?

A man, head of a family (President) of three wives(3 major tribes) and and thirty-six children (states); none of the children are going to school. He was advised, education (infrastructure) will better the lot of your children and safeguard their future.

Currenty the family budget is to be spent majorly on food, construction of a new house, cars, monthy Dstv bills, etc.

Now the head of the family, because the eductaion of the children is very important, decides he will divert the money allocated for Food and use to pay the school fees for Education of the children.

Won't the children starve to death before they can complete the education or at the vey least be irrepairable damaged (economy).

The head of family needs to think and look for a better way of achieving his goal. There are always several paths that leads to the stream,

Don’t remove subsidy by fiat,
Senator urges Jonathan

By Oseheye Okwuofu

The senator representing Oyo South
District, Olufemi Lanlehin, has warned
President Goodluck Jonathan against
using executive powers to remove fuel
subsidy. Lanlehin warned that removing subsidy
without the approval of the National Assembly is an impeachable offence. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
lawmaker spoke with reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at the
weekend. He said members of the House of
Representatives and the Senate are
against the fuel subsidy removal. Lanlehin said: “I don’t see how the President will use executive powers to remove fuel subsidy without the approval of the National Assembly. He can’t do that; he can only appeal. At the
end of the day, it is the National Assembly that will determine whether oil subsidy stays or not.” “Any attempt by the President to
dishonour, discard or ignore the will of the people as emasculated in the budget is wrong. It is an impeachable offence. “As it is now, they are still battling to explain how they got over N1 trillion extra budget. That means they have not been following the Appropriation Act.” Expressing dismay at the inability of the President to follow constitutional provisions, Lanlehin lamented that the President spent more money than was appropriated in the 2011 Budget. He said: “The Senate raised an issue on the fact that the President has spent much more than the figure contained in the Appropriation Act. On a monthly basis, N20 billion was earmarked for oil subsidy, which translates to N240 billion yearly. “But by the end of September, the President had spent over N1.25 trillion.
This means that before the end of the year, he had spent over N1 trillion more than the budget amount. “How did he come about this? Who gave
him the authority to spend that kind of
amount? There was no supplementary bill
through the National Assembly to look for
money or to use some virement to spend
such money. “The Senate has raised three committees
to look into oil subsidy and determine
whether there is a need to continue with
it or not. “They will also determine if there is
really a subsidy in the oil industry or not
and if oil is truly imported at the cost we
are being told. “When we know all these, we will
determine how much we are really
spending on oil subsidy. Is it up to the
budgeted N20 billion per month or is
lesser. Then, the Senate will determine
the appropriateness of oil subsidy.”

thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/29571-don’t-remove-subsidy-by-fiat,-senator-urges-jonathan.html

Typical Bretton Institution babe; more interested in achieving good paper statistics than actually improving the living standard of the populace.

Beaf:
And why would you want me to reply crap? How can I reply anyone who asks why GEJ has not ordered the refineries be repaired? As a token of help to the willingly ignorant, GEJ gave the order for the full repair of all refineries way back in August; therefore, it is painful to observe a grown man beating his rather hollow chest, only to reveal that he is ignorant to alarming levels.

Why would you want me to respond to drivel?

By the way, thanks for the various "titles"; I am flattered.

GEJ already gave the order since August. (Please don't make me laugh) So did Obasanjo some over eight years ago and after the expenditure of bllions of dollars, our refiniries are still comatose.

If u've been following the news, many notable Nigerians have been echoing something similar. General Gowon was saying this very thing in the papers today. Even mmebers of the special senate committee based their arguement against subsidy removal on this premise.

Note that what is in question now is not whether he gave the order or not. What is questionable is: why not a little patience; finsh the repairs of the refiniries, then remove the subsidy. This way you get have the saving that would have been spent on subsidy, and there won't be need to increase price of fuel. This is the humane way to go about it. If economic development is to serve the people, then the good and welfare of the people should be prioritized over the means to actualize that development.

if the goverment is really serious, there is no reason why existing refiniries can't start functioning at 60% capacity within 12 to 18 months. Never mind GEJ; Nigeria can't collaspe before that time.

Then another matter is, previous goverments have always said the same thing, allow us to increase the price, then we'll fix the refiniries. Why not fix the refiniries first, then there won't be need for you to be labouring so much to convince people that you are sincere. Infact not a single person will oppose you.

To further throw more light on what I was talking about in the above post, I'll write something here I already post on another thread.


The Reason Why Oil-subsidy Cannot Be
Removed Through The Repairs Of Our
Refinries.

The fanthom removal of oil-subsidy is
just
a ploy to increase the price of petrol.
Reason? GEJ wants his friends - the
CABAL to continue making billions from
fuel-importation, but wants to shift the burden from the neck of his goverment
unto the neck of the poor masses already
overburdend through goverment
corruption. Please anyone who has even a single
bone of sincerityin his/her body, please
ask yourself & answer this pertinent
question: Why can't this fuel subsidy be
removed
through making(by repairs) our refiniries to start working & functioning at full
capacity?

WHY CAN'T THIS OIL-SUBSIDY BE
REMOVED BY MAKING (BY REPAIRS) OUR
REFINIRIES TO START WORKING AND
FUNCTIONING AT FULL CAPACITY?

In my own opinion, the answer to this
pertinent question(also big puzzle) is
this: if the refinries start working as they
should, the need to make any trillions
availabe for oil-subsidy will vanish. But
that's not the only thing that will vanish. The very lucrative billions-of-dollars-
profit-making- business of fuel-
importation will automatically grind to a
halt since Nigeria will have all the fuel it
needs produced loaclly through our
refiniries, hence no need for importation.

So because fuel-importation must
continue at all cost, because
"chopulation" must continue at all cost for
the BIG BOYS of PDP and PDP associates,
the option to be taken is for price of fuel
to be increased instead of the best option (best both in short & long terms) of
repairing our refiniries. This way, the PDP Big Boys continue
making money; but instead of making it
off goverment, GEJ wants them t now be
making it off the poor masses.

Please, all you guys championing oil-subsidy removal, prove wrong what I have said here or shut up forever,

@Beaf

{{The generator and PHCN mafia's have
been defeated, next on the line is the petroleum mafia. Believe it, they to will
be swept away, "revolution" or no "revolution." I trust GEJ.}}

What utter nonsense are you babbling about. Tell that to half-wits and ingnoramus who are so common place on nairaland; people who cannot see beyond what they are told. How does the subsidy removal defeats the petroleum mafia.

In this particu
lar matter, when you imply that the petroleum mafoa will be defeated, common sense dictates what that should mean is: they will no longer be making billions off the country. But is that really the case.

The proper and right way of defaeting the petroleum mafia is for GEJ to get our four refiniries to start working as soon as possible.

But PDP +
GEJ, rather than fix the refiniries, wants
fuel importation to continue at all cost,
because it is the biggest & easiest source
of political patronage used by PDP to enrich its chieftains and rewards its
loyalist and financial backers. But
because it's an heavy burden, GEJ wants
to eat his cake and have it: he wants to/
believes-he-can satisfy the caprices and
whims of a corrupt political elites (and their collaborating business elites) and
also the need for economic development,
so he decides he will shift the burden to
the neck of the masses. So instead of
importers collecting the corruption-
subsidy from goverment, they will be collecting it directly from the masses.

making and executing polcies/decisions for economy development is about healing the land
and not flying to some cloudy theories
and pandering parochial interests. May
our destiny not depend on their subsidy.

This means the ultimate responsibilty of GEJ
is to better and improve the living
standard of the masses and not acquire
some exellent paper statstics for Nigeria
on GDP,macro & micro figurs exetera
bullshit.

Exellent write-up; explains in vey simple terms what we have been saying. PDP + GEJ, rather than fix the refiniries, wants fuel importation to continue at all cost, because it is the biggest & easiest source of political patronage used by PDP to enrich its chieftains and rewards its loyalist and financial backers. But because it's an heavy burden, GEJ wants to eat his cake and have it: he wants to/ believes-he-can satisfy the caprices and whims of a corrupt political elites (and their collaborating business elites) and also the need for economic development, so he decides he will shift the burden to the neck of the masses. So instead of importers collecting the corruption-subsidy from goverment, they will be collecting it directly from the masses.
I especailly love the ending part/parting-shot of the article:

{{The dames of subsidy should realise that
the economy is about healing the land
and not flying to some cloudy theories
and pandering parochial interests. May
our destiny not depend on their subsidy}}

This means ultimate responsibilty of GEJ is to better and improve the living standard of the masses and not acquire some exellent paper statstics for Nigeria on GDP,macro & micro figurs exetera bullshit,

The phone was out like just yesterday. Relax a little. I'm sure SLOT should be able to have it late December or latest January.

hope u know its like iphone. No sd card, can only move music & video to your phone throuh Zune, no flash etc.

nsiadi:
Somebody said he discovered some few people are milking us blue,
, & initiated actions to stop the mess. Yet people are saying he is benefiting from the mess!
What a bundle of contradiction
Under a normal circumstance removal of subsidy, in a field as strategic as petroleum can result in vortex of bad after effects, to the extent that expected gains could be wiped out by hardship resulting from hyper inflation, retrenchment, discontentment. If we allow such to be inflicted on us how are we coming out clean.

My brother, is what you are saying within your mental grasp at all? Your comments does not vallidate Beaf, it actually villifies him.
Your comment is actaully anti-subsidy removal and not pro-subsidy removal; and I must say the bolded/quoted above is indeed very well said.

By the way, I hope your brain is under the control of your spirt and it's not acting on his own?

You are not schizophrenic, are you? You know , double personality , like two of you within yourself.

The title of this thred is misleading.

Maybe in the future, the Senate will or will not embrace subsidy removal, I don't. What I know is this: I also watched much of the debate on AIT today, and from what transpired, it's not possible or appropriate to draw that conclusion; at least not yet.

@alj_harem

((1.There is simply nothing like those
benefitting from the subsidy,its simply
business
2.There is a shortfall in demand and the
supply of petroleum product in the
country))

Well, this shortfall in demand was delibrately & systemically created by sabotaging our four refiniries.So the so called "business" you mention in your comment was created by PDP goverment as an instrument of political patronage for thier associates and ofcourse themselves.

((If the subsidy is removed, Would the
government still not be paying huge
amount to the importers aka the benefit))

Actaully goverment would no longer be paying for it. The gameplan, my dear brother is to shift that heavy burden of corruption from the neck of GEJ's Administration to the neck of the poor masses. Simple. No need for big grammar.

You see the, the PDP GEJ's Administration still desires & wants to sustain the evil corrupt pratice of fuel importation because it so sweet for them, but because it is so heavy and it's affecting goverment viabilty, reasoned it's best to shift of its neck unto to that of the masses.

When Nigerians start paying N150 for fuel, that is what they are paying for. Instead of these "PDP annointed fuel importers" waiting to collect the money from govermnet in form of subsidy, they just collect if directly from the poor masses - you & I - in form of fuel price increase

Bawss1:
How the heck does Lanre front escape the spambot hammer?

Hey, what do you mean? Don't understand; care to throw some light.

Fake Subsidy and Fuel Subsidy
(II) Simon.Kolawole@thisdaylive.com

I’ll go
straight to the point: the current debate
on fuel pricing is headed nowhere until
we get the facts and the figures right.
There is “fake subsidy”— amounting to
over N1 trillion in 2011 alone; and there is “fuel subsidy”—which may not be
more than N300 billion this year. I will
explore further the “fake subsidy” aspect
today. Last month, I narrated an
encounter I had with an insider in the oil
industry in 2009 who told me the dirty secrets of the subsidy business. One day,
we would come to realise that the
biggest fraud in the history of Nigeria is
this thing called fuel subsidy, especially in
the last 10 years. I have gathered so
much information on this monumental fraud (since my last article on it) that I
am so depressed. But I believe that with
sincerity of purpose, we can overpower
these gangsters who are looting Nigeria
silly. Today, I have only one proposal for
President Goodluck Jonathan: set out to find out the real truth, and nothing but
the truth, about this subsidy regime
through a proper probe. The best way is
NOT to set up a panel headed by, and
made up of, the same people holding us
hostage. The Senate says it wants to probe fuel subsidy but why do I find this
difficult to believe? The senators I know
are not really bothered about anything. I
would rather think they are worried that
they have been left out of the subsidy
action. So I have no faith in the Senate probe—even though I believe they
should still go ahead for whatever it is
worth. We were all here when the House
of Representatives woke up one day and
said they wanted to probe the
expenditure in the power sector between 1999 and 2007. What was the
outcome? Can someone please remind
me? I am one of those who believe
staunchly that the National Assembly is
not to be trusted when the issue at stake
is the progress of Nigeria and Nigerians. President Jonathan, I would suggest,
should appoint an internationally
renowned accounting firm to carry out a
comprehensive audit of the fuel subsidy
regime. In the alternative, he could set up
a body made up of Nigerians who still have integrity, persons who do not
worship money, persons who believe—
and have shown through the years—that
a good name is better than silver and
gold. The probe should cover all the areas
we have been asking questions and not getting answers over the years. The first
area is local fuel consumption. According
to the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), we consume 32
million litres of petrol per day. This fact
needs to be verified. This is because subsidy is based on the volume of
consumption. We need to establish, as a
matter of urgency, how many litres we
actually consume daily. The major benefit
of this is to determine if indeed the
consumption figures are “sexed up”. That should provide us with the foundation for
further analysis. The second area of the
probe should cover the local refineries.
What is the production level on a daily
basis? How many litres of every product
do they produce? How are the products distributed or sold? At what prices are
these products distributed? Who are the
receivers of these products? What records
exist to that effect? NNPC told us recently
that the refineries were working at 60
per cent capacity. What does that mean in practical terms? There are about 78
litres of petrol in every barrel of crude oil
(source: Texas Oil and Gas Association).
Our four refineries have a combined
capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. If,
therefore, they are working at 100 per cent capacity, the petrol yield would be
around 30 million litres per day. If they
are working at 60 per cent, that would be
18 million litres produced locally per day.
It would mean our daily import need is
just 14 million litres. These figures may not be accurate—since the configurations
of the refineries are different—but the
onus will now be on the NNPC, and the
subsidy probe panel, to provide us with
the exact figures. How many litres of PMS
do we get from a barrel? At what capacity is each refinery working? The
third area of interest is the fuel import
component. If indeed the refineries are
working at 60 per cent and we import
only 14 million litres daily, how do we
now arrive at a uniform subsidy? What is the “landing cost” of fuel refined at
Warri? Is it the same cost as fuel
imported from Venezuela? The fuel from
Venezuela should cost more, of course.
Shipping is involved. Demurrage is
involved. Throughput and storage costs are also involved. So how is the current
landing cost of N144 per litre arrived at?
Furthermore, does every litre of fuel we
import incur demurrage? Do we import
the same grade of fuel? If not, why then
do they all have the same “landing cost”, no matter the quality? These questions
will help us to be able to differentiate
between the actual costs and how we
have been paying the same “landing
cost” for our consumption for many years
now. Four, who are the fuel importers? We need to get a comprehensive list:
when and where the companies were
registered, as well as their competences
and pedigrees. On the list, we need to see
actual data on quantities imported by
every company and how much each company was paid for its supplies. We
need to know the origin of the products
(that is, where they imported the
products from) and the prices at which
those refineries sell their products to
buyers. We must be able to trace the source of every cargo. We must then go
and verify these costs from the sellers.
We need a proper forensic investigation.
This particular inquiry is very critical so
that we can get the real figures on the
costs of these products. The moment we are able to trace the origin of the fuel and
the quality, we would be able to
determine the actual cost at every point
in time. After all, it is an open-market
business. Five, how much has NNPC spent
on demurrage in the last six years? The bill, I understand, is in excess of N1
trillion. Why does NNPC pay demurrage?
Because its reception facilities at Atlas
Cove are inadequate for the quantity of
products imported by its contractors.
Now, commonsense dictates that NNPC could have spent a fraction of that
amount to expand the reception facilities
at Atlas Cove and save us the scarce
resources. Closely related to this is: what
informed NNPC’s decision to store its
imported products with private tank farms when indeed it could have built its
own? How much have they paid to tank
farms in the last four years? Most
importantly, the idea of paying
demurrage is because we import
products. Over the last six years, what we have incurred in demurrage would
probably have given us a new 400,000-
barrel a day refinery which would
forever banish the idea of importing fuel.
I conclude. Don’t think our rulers didn’t
know what they were doing by concentrating on imports and ignoring
local production over the years. The
biggest source of political patronage has
been fuel import contract. That is the
easiest way to produce emergency
billionaires in Nigeria. The refineries are not working not because there is no
solution to the problems. The government
has failed to build refineries not because
we cannot afford the cost or because of
the so-called deregulation policy. If the
refineries work and we produce all the fuel we need locally, a major source of
patronage will be gone. Gen. Olusegun
Obasanjo, a military head of state, built
two refineries and started a third one all
within three years in the 1970s. When he
returned in 1999 as civilian president, he was shocked to discover that the
refineries were all but dead. He blamed
Gen. Sani Abacha for running down the
refineries because Abacha wanted his
family members to be
importing fuel. But by the time Obasanjo spent eight years and left in 2007, the
refineries were still not working, neither
was a new one built because of the
excuse of “deregulation”. Look deep.
Search deeper. Who were the people
getting the fuel import contracts? Abacha’s family members? You guess is
as bad as mine. The truth, if it must be
told, is that the fuel subsidy fraud—
perpetrated through the import regime—
serves the interests of our rulers and
their cronies. The “fake subsidy” needs to be removed. We need a
probe by eminent Nigerians or
internationally renowned auditors to
unveil the fraud so that we can begin a
proper discussion on the real fuel subsidy
and the way forward. Stay tuned. Like

Nigeria: The Art of Misleading A President By Kali Gwegwe

While it is not criminal for a magistrate or judge to err in law, same cannot be said of a president when he or she errs in democracy. In law, an appellate court will simply correct the error which is also seen as “mistake of law.” In a presidential democracy, the electorates will correct an erring president by voting him out of office if he or she is seeking re-election. On the other hand, the electorates are easily persuaded to embrace the opposition if the erring president is not seeking re-election. This has happened several times in American presidential democracy. There is an emerging line of reasoning that sound political leaders can never be misled by their lieutenants in a democracy. This is not true. It must be noted that different people are in government for diverse reasons. While some are for service, others for personal gains. There are still some who seek power just to protect the interests or agendas of third party organizations. Of greater worry are those who stay in government to deliberately give counsels that will pitch the people against government. In most cases, those who prime themselves to deliberately mislead political leaders wear honourable personalities and also parade very attractive credentials that can flatter anybody. They are the ones I term “false patriots.” This is what Jesus Christ said of such people in Matthew 24:24-25, “For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.” There are very many “false patriots” in the corridors of power in Abuja. The only way to survive this minority but influential clan of “false patriots” is for the president to stand with the masses. One question that readily comes to mind at this point is: why are political leaders easily misled by “false patriots” even in the light of all the deliberate designs put in place to protect the culture of democracy and promote good governance? Specifically, political leaders are misled due to the peculiar template of democratic bureaucracy, where internal independence is usually granted some specialized sectors such as military, economy, agriculture, science and technology. For instance, current and past global economic crisis are products of internal independence granted some specialised agencies of governments in the West. To be more specific, former president George Bush of the United States was misled into ordering the invasion of Iraq in 2003 owing to false intelligence. It has now become clear that internal independence gives too much room for administration officials to mislead political leaders and heads of national government. ( Continues below…, ) President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria Photo Above: President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria As part of efforts to effectively tackle this problem, most legislatures in the developed climes have responded by showing deeper interests in critical national issues that are traditionally left in the hands of the executive arm of government. The aim is to safeguard national security and economy. In almost all advanced democracies today, national security has been elaborated to consciously identify causes of dissent arising from unpopular government policies. Members of the legislature and the media play a major role in this regard. It is in realization of this important fact that the fanatical anti-subsidy apostles in Nigeria have now shifted their battle to the sacred floors of the National Assembly in Abuja. The aim is to lure lawmakers to endorse plans by the federal government to remove fuel subsidy next year after stiff opposition from NLC, TUC, NUPENG, NBA, and other pro-masses organizations. Nigerian masses have come to the conclusion that the promised palliative measures cannot adequately compensate for their already feeble purchasing power that will be further weakened by the increase in the prices of goods and services that have direct and indirect link with petrol. This writer does not know of any product or service that does not have direct or indirect attachment to petrol. One basic fact need to be highlighted here. The nation’s economic advisers and fiscal policy formulators are lazy and non-
creative. They are merely “copying and pasting” foreign fiscal policies. An economic strategy that works in country A may not necessarily do well in country B. This is because population, literacy level, culture, religion, science and technology determines which policy works where and when. The IMF and World Bank have all accepted this fact. Sadly however, both the IMF and World Bank are quick in advising developing economies to devalue their currencies and abandon subsidy regimes. But unknown to many, the United States, Canada, and members of the European Union subsidize critical sectors of their economies in order to protect their citizens precipitate national security. High unemployment, poverty, and hunger pose great threats to the national security of a country. In 2010, the European Union spent €57 billion on agricultural development programme. Of this amount, €39 billion was spent on direct subsidies. Who is fooling who? The West is indeed fooling Africans. They are however using some of our willing intellectuals to do so. It is the duty of every government to identify the critical sector in its economy to intervene. Frankly, it would be wide of the mark for Nigeria to remove fuel subsidy because Britain or the United did so. It is so sad that our fiscal policy formulators and economic advisers have become so lethargic that they have relegated themselves to merely copying and pasting foreign fiscal policies that do not fit with our peculiar circumstances. ( Continues below…, ) Map of the World For months now, our nation’s “false patriots” have been fighting dirty to win the subsidy removal battle. It is extremely absurd for anyone to remind Nigerian masses of the pump price of petrol in the United States, Canada, or Europe all in a bid to buttress their campaign for the removal of fuel subsidy. Apart from the fact that unemployment figures are low in those climes, they also have cheap and efficient mass transportation systems, discounted housing and health care programs. These are just a few of the safety nets put in place by governments in developed democracies to protect the welfare of their citizens. These safety nets were not deployed in four or eight years. For instance, it would take up to a decade to build an effective national transportation infrastructure. That is one reason why those who are in a position to appreciate what it would take government to put in place safety nets to cushion the effects of withdrawal of fuel subsidy suspect government’s sincerity. For the avoidance of doubt, it would cost government more than what it spends on fuel subsidy to deploy effective safety nets to cushion the effects of increase in the price of petrol. Government should not make the mistake of tying the deployment of new and the rehabilitation of existing national public infrastructure to the removal of fuel subsidy. It is something government owes the citizenry. It will also be necessary to remind the minority clan of anti-subsidy campaigners that Nigerians would be too willing to buy a liter of petrol for even N150 if public and private sector workers earn as much as their contemporaries do in America and Europe. Instead of being creative, the nation’s fiscal policy formulators and economic experts in government have chosen to take the short-cut to national transformation by merely copying and pasting World Bank and IMF prescriptions. It is longer secret that both the World Bank and IMF are tools used by the West to pursue their hidden economic agendas against developing countries especially in Africa. Most of the fiscal prescriptions that come out of the World Bank and IMF are usually anti-people and specifically designed to pitch the masses in developing countries against their governments so as to brew economic crisis and consequent social dissent. With this, they would be able to discreetly sabotage rapid economic growth in Africa and protect the export- based economies of Western democracies. Some of such fiscal prescriptions are Structural Adjustment Program, Currency Devaluation, and Anti- Subsidy policy. The time has come for President Jonathan
to hear the truth. There are too many “false patriots” in his administration. No doubt, they are honourable in appearance
and eloquent during debates. The truth is that they do not mean well for him and Nigeria. Like it is in every developed country, the people are the centerpiece of
democracy. For this singular reason, any policy that will injure the welfare of the people must be jettisoned. Call for the removal of fuel subsidy is one of them. ( Continues below, ) Map of Nigeria Photo Above: Map of Nigeria showing some major cities, including the Federal capital (Abuja or FCT) It has been very clear right from the onset that the federal government’s fiscal
plan of withdrawing fuel subsidy next year is not the idea of President Goodluck Jonathan. Nevertheless, he will bear whatever consequences that may arise from it. This is the major reason why the president must ignore the minority clan of well-heeled elites and stand with the Nigerian masses like he promised during the campaign season. To do this, President Jonathan would have to quickly
separate reality from cheap logic as being postulated by some of his lieutenants in the corridors of power. For the avoidance doubt, it is the fundamental responsibility of government to see that the welfare of the citizens is protected through deliberate policies with human face. The planned removal of fuel subsidy would not have human face as far as the poor and hapless Nigerian masses are concerned. Government should rather look for other means of raising money to fund the nation’s socio-economic framework. In the last five decades, it has been the low and middle class that have shouldered the burden of national transformation, leaving the wealthy few to swim in their typically questionable affluence. Government can raise up to N1 trillion by imposing 2% annual tax (for 5 years from date of purchase) on every private car above N3 million, 2% tax on every private residential house costing more than N7 million, 1% on each local flight ticket, 2% on each international flight ticket, 2% tax on accommodation in luxury hotels, and 50% reduction in the
salaries and allowances of elected and appointed government officials. Furthermore, government should build more refineries and also ensure that the four existing ones operate at optimum capacities. With this, the pump price of petrol will fall in line with what is obtainable in other OPEC countries, where a liter of petrol sells between N9 and N45. The masses should not be punished for the deliberate ineptitude of some government officials that sabotaged our local refineries in order to promote the fuel import business.


Kali Gwegwe, CEO, Nigeria Democracy Watchtower writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and can be reached at kali.gwegwe@nigerianfootballpost.com ( 0806 407 4810 )

I have read so many intersting replies. In order to make my contribution, I'll simply post below after the break, a thread I started to express my thoughts on this whole Subsidy matter.



The Reason Why Oil-subsidy Cannot Be
Removed Through The Repairs Of Our
Refinries. « on: December 01, 2011, 01:51 PM »

The fanthom removal of oil-subsidy is just
a ploy to increase the price of petrol.
Reason? GEJ wants his friends - the
CABAL to continue making billions from
fuel-importation, but wants to shift the
burden from the neck of his goverment unto the neck of the poor masses already
overburdend through goverment
corruption.

Please anyone who has even a single
bone of sincerityin his/her body, please
ask yourself & answer this pertinent
question: Why can't this fuel subsidy be removed
through making(by repairs) our refiniries
to start working & functioning at full
capacity?

WHY CAN'T THIS OIL-SUBSIDY BE
REMOVED BY MAKING (BY REPAIRS) OUR
REFINIRIES TO START WORKING AND
FUNCTIONING AT FULL CAPACITY?

In my own opinion, the answer to this
pertinent question(also big puzzle) is
this: if the refinries start working as they
should, the need to make any trillions
availabe for oil-subsidy will vanish. But
that's not the only thing that will vanish. The very lucrative billions-of-dollars-
profit-making- business of fuel-
importation will automatically grind to a
halt since Nigeria will have all the fuel it
needs produced loaclly through our
refiniries, hence no need for importation. So because fuel-importation must
continue at all cost, because
"chopulation" must continue at all cost for
the BIG BOYS of PDP and PDP associates,
the option to be taken is for price of fuel
to be inceased instead of the best option (best both in short & long terms) of
repairing our refiniries.

This way, the PDP Big Boys continue making money; but instead of making it off goverment, GEJ wants them t now be making it off the poor masses.

But this is just my humble opinion. Please
can we have yours. Kindly educate us.

If the President decides to use executive fiat to abolish fuel subsidy even despite the disaproval of the House of Reps., then the National Assembly can also use parliamentary fiat (actually powers) to abolish his goverment by passing a "vote of no confidence" on him.

But do posees the moral courage or will to this.

What is the model name of the graphics card the DV7 comes with.

You are such an over-smart guy.

This clearly portrays Jonathan's claim as "having no shoes", "I am one of you", "I will never let you down" as being nothing but lies pouring out of the mouth of the President.

Firstly, Okada is not a problem in every city and town in Nigeria the way it is in Lagos and other major cities like Enugu, Portharcourt etc. For intanse, in places like Ijebu-Igbo, Ago-iwoye, Aiyepe in Ogun-state, Ikenne. Okada is not a problem at all. Why? Because the arears population desities are very low. And I'm sure you will find uncountable townships throughout the lenght and breath of the Northern, Southern and Eastern states which are same. So what kind of thoughtless goverment comes with such a policy of a nation-wide ban, when where the problem is really critical are the high-population-density cities.

Secondly, why does the goverment always want a quick-fix to problems instead of going about it the right way? If GEJ's administration is apalled by the operation of Okada, the sensible thing a leader(and also Administration) who is intelligent and responsible should do his embark on a mission of improving the transportation system so much (good motorable roads, a public or private-owner transport system with proper guidelines petaining to fair fare-rates [make policies which outlaws agbero] and other practices. Do this and the profileration of Okada will gradually automatically fade away because their patronage will decline sharply, even to the point of collaspe. But it will be gradual and people engaged in this sector gradually exit and be engaged in other means of ilvelihood. Ofcourse, Okada will still remain in townships and villages where they are really needed.

This pronoucement show that GEJ and his Administration are totally disconnect with the poor masses and have no emphaty for them at all. GEJ and his brainless advisers completely live in a world of their own.

Accoding to GEJ campeign promises, he should be the voice of emphathy and justice: speaking for people who cannot speak for themselves, fighting for cause of the poor masses who cannot fight for themselves.

But unfourtunately, all his anti-people-policies so far shows that rather than fight for the masses, he has joined forces with the evil & selfish [political & business] elites to fight against them.

People that championed and voted for GEJ ought to be truly feel ashamed of him.

What I find funny is: the President has no desire at all for the truth to come out and been unbale to provide any satisfactory answers, even to the slightest degree, the questions the House of Reps put to him when he had a meeting with few weeks ago to lobby for Subsidt Removal.

Fake Subsidy and Fuel Subsidy
(II)

Simon.Kolawole@thisdaylive.com I’ll go straight to the point: the current debate on fuel pricing is headed nowhere until we get the facts and the figures right. There is “fake subsidy”— amounting to over N1 trillion in 2011 alone; and there is “fuel subsidy”—which may not be more than N300 billion this year. I will explore further the “fake subsidy” aspect today. Last month, I narrated an encounter I had with an insider in the oil industry in 2009 who told me the dirty secrets of the subsidy business. One day, we would come to realise that the biggest fraud in the history of Nigeria is this thing called fuel subsidy, especially in the last 10 years. I have gathered so much information on this monumental fraud (since my last article on it) that I am so depressed. But I believe that with sincerity of purpose, we can overpower these gangsters who are looting Nigeria silly. Today, I have only one proposal for President Goodluck Jonathan: set out to find out the real truth, and nothing but the truth, about this subsidy regime through a proper probe. The best way is NOT to set up a panel headed by, and made up of, the same people holding us hostage. The Senate says it wants to probe fuel subsidy but why do I find this difficult to believe? The senators I know are not really bothered about anything. I would rather think they are worried that they have been left out of the subsidy action. So I have no faith in the Senate probe—even though I believe they should still go ahead for whatever it is worth. We were all here when the House of Representatives woke up one day and said they wanted to probe the expenditure in the power sector between 1999 and 2007. What was the outcome? Can someone please remind me? I am one of those who believe staunchly that the National Assembly is not to be trusted when the issue at stake is the progress of Nigeria and Nigerians. President Jonathan, I would suggest, should appoint an internationally renowned accounting firm to carry out a comprehensive audit of the fuel subsidy regime. In the alternative, he could set up
a body made up of Nigerians who still have integrity, persons who do not worship money, persons who believe— and have shown through the years—that a good name is better than silver and gold. The probe should cover all the areas we have been asking questions and not getting answers over the years. The first area is local fuel consumption. According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), we consume 32 million litres of petrol per day. This fact needs to be verified. This is because subsidy is based on the volume of consumption. We need to establish, as a matter of urgency, how many litres we actually consume daily. The major benefit of this is to determine if indeed the consumption figures are “sexed up”. That should provide us with the foundation for further analysis. The second area of the probe should cover the local refineries. What is the production level on a daily basis? How many litres of every product do they produce? How are the products distributed or sold? At what prices are these products distributed? Who are the receivers of these products? What records exist to that effect? NNPC told us recently that the refineries were working at 60 per cent capacity. What does that mean in practical terms? There are about 78 litres of petrol in every barrel of crude oil (source: Texas Oil and Gas Association). Our four refineries have a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. If, therefore, they are working at 100 per cent capacity, the petrol yield would be around 30 million litres per day. If they are working at 60 per cent, that would be
18 million litres produced locally per day. It would mean our daily import need is just 14 million litres. These figures may not be accurate—since the configurations of the refineries are different—but the onus will now be on the NNPC, and the subsidy probe panel, to provide us with the exact figures. How many litres of PMS do we get from a barrel? At what capacity is each refinery working? The third area of interest is the fuel import component. If indeed the refineries are working at 60 per cent and we import only 14 million litres daily, how do we now arrive at a uniform subsidy? What is the “landing cost” of fuel refined at Warri? Is it the same cost as fuel imported from Venezuela? The fuel from Venezuela should cost more, of course. Shipping is involved. Demurrage is involved. Throughput and storage costs are also involved. So how is the current landing cost of N144 per litre arrived at? Furthermore, does every litre of fuel we import incur demurrage? Do we import the same grade of fuel? If not, why then do they all have the same “landing cost”, no matter the quality? These questions will help us to be able to differentiate between the actual costs and how we have been paying the same “landing cost” for our consumption for many years now. Four, who are the fuel importers? We need to get a comprehensive list: when and where the companies were registered, as well as their competences and pedigrees. On the list, we need to see
actual data on quantities imported by every company and how much each company was paid for its supplies. We need to know the origin of the products (that is, where they imported the products from) and the prices at which those refineries sell their products to buyers. We must be able to trace the source of every cargo. We must then go and verify these costs from the sellers. We need a proper forensic investigation. This particular inquiry is very critical so that we can get the real figures on the costs of these products. The moment we are able to trace the origin of the fuel and
the quality, we would be able to determine the actual cost at every point in time. After all, it is an open-market business. Five, how much has NNPC spent on demurrage in the last six years? The bill, I understand, is in excess of N1 trillion. Why does NNPC pay demurrage? Because its reception facilities at Atlas Cove are inadequate for the quantity of products imported by its contractors. Now, commonsense dictates that NNPC could have spent a fraction of that amount to expand the reception facilities at Atlas Cove and save us the scarce resources. Closely related to this is: what informed NNPC’s decision to store its imported products with private tank farms when indeed it could have built its own? How much have they paid to tank farms in the last four years? Most importantly, the idea of paying demurrage is because we import products. Over the last six years, what we have incurred in demurrage would probably have given us a new 400,000-barrel a day refinery which would forever banish the idea of importing fuel. I conclude. Don’t think our rulers didn’t know what they were doing by concentrating on imports and ignoring local production over the years. The biggest source of political patronage has been fuel import contract. That is the easiest way to produce emergency billionaires in Nigeria. The refineries are not working not because there is no solution to the problems. The government has failed to build refineries not because we cannot afford the cost or because of the so-called deregulation policy. If the refineries work and we produce all the fuel we need locally, a major source of patronage will be gone. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a military head of state, built two refineries and started a third one all within three years in the 1970s. When he returned in 1999 as civilian president, he was shocked to discover that the refineries were all but dead. He blamed Gen. Sani Abacha for running down the refineries because Abacha wanted his family members to be
importing fuel. But by the time Obasanjo spent eight years and left in 2007, the refineries were still not working, neither was a new one built because of the excuse of “deregulation”. Look deep. Search deeper. Who were the people getting the fuel import contracts? Abacha’s family members? You guess is as bad as mine. The truth, if it must be told, is that the fuel subsidy fraud—perpetrated through the import regime—serves the interests of our rulers and their cronies. The “fake subsidy” needs to be removed. We need a
probe by eminent Nigerians or internationally renowned auditors to unveil the fraud so that we can begin a proper discussion on the real fuel subsidy and the way forward. Stay tuned.

“No incentive to make refineries work,
because of imported fuel, as long as we
keep subsidy, refineries will not work."


If the Minister of Youth actually said this, then it is the most s.t.u.p.i.d & d.att-est reason -'ve heard so far. I mean, doesn't the Administration of which he is part of, have available to it all the executive & coersive powers to and undo. Is he saying that some people are preventing goverment from being able to put the refiniries in place? What nonsense.

big_sean:
^^^^^

Clap for yourself
I laugh with sympathy at your "high school" wisdom.

(I'll reply u in a bit - driving to work)

My guy, what you are being told his right: nobody do "taking turns in the kitchen" to do the cooking with his wife. Forget about what u see on films or serial shows. Even in US and & Europe, I'm sure 95% of men don't do that. We are not saying they don't help but nonoe does what u are implying.

Stop trying to white more than the whites.