₦airaland Forum

Nchara:
the Second Republic Political Adviser faulted those “pushing them to resign their positions on account of the principled and patriotic stand they have taken on the issue of deregulation on Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol.

, .these two patriots have offered unassailable arguments in support of the stand of the government on the issue.
“Undoubtedly, there are many other Nigerians who are similarly impressed. It, therefore, behoves those who disagreed with them [b]to offer a superior argument to dislodge the one advanced by the two individuals,”

Well said!

Rad1cal:
At least we get to maintain our Lagos Jamboree . Let's go there

Yes oh. BTW, which acts are performing on Monday?

Why shd the President attend a meeting with some yeye labour officials when he has the welfare of over 150million Nigerians to take care of?

IVORY2009:
you leave in the United Kingdom, come down to 9ja, and see your blood! #occupynigeria

We know those who talk and those who take action. Wait and see!

The same people who pleaded with the Niger Delta by giving them a ministry, the NDDC, Amnesty and VP/Presidency and the ones now making noise. Well, action speak louder than words. Let those Mgbati Mgbati Pengassan people shut down and they would know how far?

aurenflani:
@muami - so your own democracy & freedom of speech suggests dat bakare must only write to his party members in d national assembly to air his views to be heard just because he is in d opposition? what a preposterous view on democracy at all.

He must have done that first before making noise outside. Thats how democracy works. Nobody investigates allegations made on the street in a democracy. You must channel it to the right quarters if you are sure of what you are saying. By the way, if you want some lessons on democracy, follow the happenings in the Uk and Us and see how opposition party members challenge illegaility/wastage in the govt. THEY DO IT IN PARLIAMENT! If you have any contrary iinstance where it was done merely on the street, I CHALLENGE you to point to it. Until then, keep you jaundiced view of democracy to yourself

Ufeolorun:
Sw not happy with their governors?Soggytalk!when we chucked pdp into a  political non recyclable bin,where were you and these politically naïve oil-hugs.

Actually, that goes to support my point that you are not happy with your govt. You don't change what is good. You voted in AD in 1999, got disappointed, voted in PDP in 2003, got disappoiinted again and voted in ACN in 2011. You are now getting disappointed and by the next elections you would likely vote in CPC.
Look at the ss, apart from Edo state, we have voted PDP since 1999. You know why? because we are very satisfied.

Raxxye:
I am not a fan of Tunde Bakare, I am a supporter of whatever is good and noble, irrespective of who it is coming from. Government(every arm) should be transparent and responsible to the people. The outrageous wages and allowances of our politicians raises my blood pressure each time I think of it! SMH!

If you, Bakare and his cohorts apply this your approach, then there would be no need for protest. Why? Most of them agree that removal of fuel subsidy is good but they don't trust 'who it is coming from' i.e govt. Even your mention about the 'outrageous wages and allowances' of the politicians shows that you are mindful of who the policy is coming from i.e corrupt politicians.

Was'nt that the same thing they said before the initial strike commenced. Well, maybe, this one is the GRANDmother

How can you threathen to shut down what does not belong to you and expect the owners to be happy?
Make dem try am and see pepper!

Civil servants can afford to sit at home for 1 year and ultimately, they would collect their salaries. It is the private sector workers, artisans, petty traders etc who join them to do so that I pity.

When you finish making noise like your people are used to, tell Pengassan to go and shut down and you would know whether we know what we are talking about or not. Action, they say, speaks louder than words.

toba:
FYI southwestern states under this present ACN regime is by far the best. Fashola taught other govs that with little, u can do a lot.

Yeah right, yet they are the ones that the angriest in the protests while Rivers indigenes are going about their normal business apart from govt offices and some banks that are closed . Ever heard of the saying that A HUNGRY man is an ANGRY man?

toba:
Once again let me remind u that in Rivers, Edo and Delta states, there were protests, reason why Rotimi Amechi and Oduaghan ordered transporters to bring down their fares.

Rivers, Edo, Delta states govs met with transporters to try and bring prices down because they care about their citizens. As a friend of mine from Ekiti state told me, the distrust and lack of belief in govt by westerners is largely because of the deficiency in governance by their govs not neccessarily the FG.

You can't go to another man's house and threathen to shut down his facilities and expect him to be happy with you. For me I am actually praying that Pengassan carries out its threats so that after the strike is over, the Niger Delta youths would occupy all oil companies and facilities to ensure that nobody from the West/North would ever works again there. Enough is Enough!

Even the labour leaders know that 'emergency comrades' like El Rufai are just merely pursuiing their own agenda.

According to the Vice-President of the NLC, Comrade Issa Aremu:"

"There are also some forces who are not in government, who have different professions and they want to have a different agenda. I don't want to mention names because now we have emergency comrades. Don't you know what we call emergency comrades? Those who used to be in government and even oppressed workers. They are now identifying with us. I don't want to mention names but you know them".

Anyone dismissing the threats must have a short memory. I would say no more other than reminding people that the Niger Delta youths do not make unnecessary noise, they just take action.

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=845147.msg9958861#msg9958861 date=1326487696]When did he say that those things shouldn't be done?

Kindly provide us with a quote from El Rufai where he advocated for IMMEDIATE tariff increase, with no conditions or strings attached.

I challenge anyone reading here to provide such a quote.[/quote]It does'nt really matter if you don't understand the clear and categorical statement he made. What matters is that the NERC boss understood that El Rufai was saying that he shd 'be bold' and 'immediately' increase the tariff which was why the report noted as follows:

"However, Amadi appeared to differ from el-Rufai’s approach to tariff increase as he explained that there was need to build legitimacy for the process through enlightenment"

Rad1cal:
Appears you are the one not getting the whole drift.

Did Elrufai provide certain conditions and benchmarks to be put in place when he suggested a whooping 400% increase in electricity tariff to attract the necessary investors ?

I just gave you similarities both sectors share.

To enable us have a clear view of what he said then, and what he is currently saying now under similar conditions, bedeviled by the same reasons of corruption and wastage in governance

Do you understand this point or not ?

If you do understand this point, then clearly he is being hypocritical  

Thank you Rad1cal cos I don't know how else to explain this seemingly simple point

Remii:
^^bro, main problem is that people don't listen, once you are not their guy, they switched off as soon as you start talking, even is the guy was telling them there is danger in on their way.
the guy made very good point and he is in support of deregulation that is in planned and implemented in structured and transparent manner.

, Afterall supporting an unstructured and rushed deregulation of the electricty sector, which is the crux of the hypocritical accusation here

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=845147.msg9958716#msg9958716 date=1326486334]El Rufai is not saying subsidies must stay forever and ever, until Christ returns.

He is saying that he wants certain conditions and benchmarks attached to them being removed.[/quote]Certain conditions including the fixing of refineries and buildiing of trust before prices can be hiked but argues that electricity tarriffs shd be hiked even without building trust or enlightening the people so that investors can come in to build the (refineries) power plants. How else are people going to break it down for you?

Akainzo:
By your reasoning, if you had read a piece by Obama 3 years ago, you would have dismissed it because he belonged to an opposition party (Bush is a republican, in case you forgot!). You did not bother to read a piece, yet you bothered to put down such diatribe. Your confusion is really within you.

Yes, i did not bother to read because the opening line already reveals the context and date of the statement. so whats your point? For your info, every accusation, David Cameron had against the Labour Party before he became PM, he brought to the Parliament and now that he is in power, Labour does the same. Anything outside that is a mere political speech

[quote author=Yeske! link=topic=845420.msg9958561#msg9958561 date=1326484936]FYI, the struggle is beyound labour or subsidy and it now hinges on what Nigerians want which among other things have been stated above, so deal with it.[/quote]Really? Then go out and protest after labour calls off and see if you would not be accidentally discharged

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=845147.msg9958670#msg9958670 date=1326485841]It is not necessary to build a refinery in your own country to be able to get refined fuel at market prices (or slightly above.)

It is likely that refining locally will be slightly less expensive, but not massively so.

However, while I can import refined PMS at affordable prices, I cannot import electricity at affordable prices (well you actually can, but we don't have any neighboring countries who produce excess.)[/quote]Glad you realise that your argument is only valid due to the particular location of Nigeria. In other words, the diff is not in the products/sectors.

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=845147.msg9958574#msg9958574 date=1326485053]The investment required to generate electricity is enormous. The investment required to supply refined oil is not. . . you just pay somebody to ship you a tanker of fuel from a refinery.[/quote]It is interesting that you conveniently discounted the cost of building the refinery that would refine the fuel.

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=845147.msg9958560#msg9958560 date=1326484902]They are different products, though.

If bad subsidies have ruined the market for PMS, I have alternatives. I can buy from the black market for slightly higher than I'd like (say 20% or 30%), or use diesel.

At worst my cost of fuel is going up by some manageable percentage. . . sucks, but not a deal breaker.

If bad subsidies ruin the market for electricity, you are screwed. Your alternative is basically buying your own generator. . . which is basically paying 3X or 4X what your competitors in other countries will pay.

Nobody will sell you black market electricity in a bottle or can.[/quote]You also succeeded in arguing for and against your self. Whats the diff whether the alternative is in a can/bottle or in a generator?

Unfortunately, no matter how sound/valid his points may be (which I must confess, I did not bother to read), it remains coloured and textured by political considerations. Bakare belongs to an opposition party with elected representatives at the National Assembly. If he is sure of what he iv saying, he shd pass the info to his party's MPs to bring it up properly for it to be debated. Otherwise, it remains a rumour and political talk which shd and ought to be dismissed with a wav of hand!

logi:
BLUF
Building Leverage and Unity on Fuel Subsidy Struggle

Text of Press Conference, Abuja, 13th January 2012


We therefore make the following demands:

1. Immediate reversal to N65 per litre for a 6 months period during which we work out a framework for dismantling the cabal and its corrupt subsidy regime by investigating, prosecuting and punishing those found to be involved.
2. The Goodluck Jonathan administration must accepts that Nigerians have a right to benefit from their God given resources. After all the government has an agreement with OPEC to allocate 445,000 barrels a day for local refining and consumption.
3. That we develop a time bound program for re-establishing the capacity to process and sell these allocations to Nigerians at a cheap rate. Nigerians have entitlements which cannot be ignored or disregarded.
4. We insist that the 1.47 trillion Naira proposed for Security in the 2012 Budget must be reviewed downwards to provide for the cost of maintaining the real subsidy (300 Billion Naira) and providing for other vital services which have been cut in the budget especially in the health and education sectors.
5. That the Goodluck Jonathan Administration must accept basic democratic principles. The views of citizens must not only be accepted but must be the basis for all policy development and implementation.

since when did civil society start running govt. In every country, govt is not under any obligation to listen to the so-called civil society, so they shd be careful when they are makiing silly demands. Anyway, if they want to test their strenght(which only exists on paper), they shd continue with their protests when NLC calls off their strike.

Akainzo:
The Unions have NOT suspended the strike action, they have only suspended the mass rallies and occupation of strategic places!

The unions have clarified this more than four times, when would you apologists stop spreading falsehood?

Which part of the press statement do you not understand?

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Action Front (JAF) commend the Nigerian people for turning out in their millions since Monday January 9, 2012, to protest the astronomical increase in the price of PMS (Petrol). We commend them for their resolute stand and insistence in struggling for a better country.

The Labour Movement and its civil society allies after nationwide consultations has decided that this weekend, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th January, 2012, will be observed as strike, protest and rally-free days.

We ask Nigerians to utilize these days to rest, restock and get re-energized for the continuation of the strikes, rallies and protests from Monday 16th January, 2012.

Discussions with Government
The NLC, TUC and their allies in the Civil Society Movement on Thursday 12th January 2012 met with the Senate leadership, Nigeria Governors Forum and the Executive Arm.

At the meeting, Labour asked the Presidency to suspend the new petrol (PMS) price increases announced on January 1, 2012. In return, we offered to suspend forthwith, the strikes, mass rallies and street protests. We also suggested that an expanded committee be set up which would discuss the fuel subsidy issue and pricing for petrol.

The Government side presented a counter proposal asking Labour to negotiate new fuel prices. Since we had no such mandate, Labour declined and decided to return to its National Executive Council meetings, which will be held on Saturday 14th January 2012 for a possible expanded mandate.

Labour commends the National Assembly for its intervention and further urges the Presidency to be more reconciliatory towards the people and show more understanding and sensitivity to their feelings and collective interests.

Owei Lakemfa John Kolawole
NLC Acting General Secretary TUC Secretary General

We know the organizations that speak for Niger Delta youths and its definitely not the National Youth Council.

kizito96:
Are you sure he said this?

Of course he did. I have reproduced another link to the report (Thisday).
Ironically, the NERC boss disagreed with him then and adviced him that you need to enlighteb people before increasing price.

Former Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has said for the country to be able to attract investors into the power sector, electricity tariffs need to go up by between 300 and 400 per cent.

El-Rufai said for the country to move forward in the provision of electricity to its populace, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) must do that which was needful by having the courage to increase the tariff irrespective of how politically incorrect it might be.

According to him, this was imperative because even if all of the oil revenues in the country were ploughed into the power sector alone, it would not be sufficient to provide its needs of that sector.

He said the only alternative was to attract foreign direct investment, which would not come unless the tariff was eye-catching enough to entice them.

El-Rufai, who spoke at the first Distinguished Visitors’ Programme organised by NERC in Abuja Thursday, also said the power sector was capable of fetching 10 times the $200 billion realised so far from the telecommunications sector and the $2 billion it realised from licensing.

The first Distinguished Visitors’ Programme had as its theme, “Electricity on Demand.”
“Your success will lay the foundation for electricity in this country,” el-Rufai told NERC. “If you get it right, electricity will be the next big thing in Nigeria.”

He lamented that the electricity situation in Nigeria was worse now than it was in 1999, and noted that the way the Chairman of the regulatory body, Dr. Sam Amadi, handled it would determine the future of the country.
The former minister of the FCT, however, stated that no foreign investor would come to the country unless the issue of insecurity in the country was addressed.

“Right now, nobody will come because the perception outside is that Nigeria is a land of killings, a land of kidnappings,” he said. “Security must be provided. We must make this country safer.”

Cautioning that the Nigerian public service had a way of trying to make the officials not to perform, el-Rufai counselled the NERC helmsman to see that the work got done as doing so was far more important than any other consideration.

He advised him to identify directors within his organisation that were not ready for change and fire them, even if it meant getting the law amended, and reward those that were ready to move with the tide of change.

He asked Amadi to draw inspiration from his unilateral abolition of the Ministry of the FCT by convincing then-President Olusegun Obasanjo that it was an encumbrance, adding that what was essential was for the principal to believe in him.

El-Rufai noted that to have the needed courage to do that which is right, the chief executives of public institutions like NERC should have something to fall back on, pointing out that he was able to have his way with Obasanjo because the former president knew that he could quit the job at any moment.

He said the former leader knew that it would have been more dangerous for him to leave in controversial circumstances as he would then have gone public with much unsavoury information.

“Those in charge knew we didn’t need the job, hence the leaders couldn’t dispose of us easily,” he said. “They treat people badly when they know you have nowhere else to go. I didn’t care who I hurt in the process of enforcing the Abuja master plan. You must be in a position where you can say I will walk away.”

However, Amadi appeared to differ from el-Rufai’s approach to tariff increase as he explained that there was need to build legitimacy for the process through enlightenment.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/el-rufai-electricity-tariff-needs-to-go-up-400-/88421/

PHIPEX:
And Bakare is asking for Uncle Jona to be impeached so that El rufai will take over. I can bet that if Buhari were to be in power with Elrufai and people are misbehaving on the street as we are seeing, Libya would'v been a joke cos he would'v viewed it as a disrespect and indisciplin, remember his WAI; Femi Falana would'v recieved 39 strokes of cain while NLC president would be on a regular Official visit to Kirikiri.
If El rufai did not ask the govt to improve power supply before introducing this his policy why is he insisting that the refinaries most work before fuel deregulation? Is that not gross hypocricy? Soon, I mean very soon God will also expose Bakare's real motive. WOLVES IN SHEEP CLOTHING!

GBAM!!!