President Buhari further said that the increasing herdsmen attacks on communities in Nigeria had become a governmental project, with the government ready to “trace them, disarm them and if necessary try them and discipline them”

If necessary, that means it's not really necessary to try and prosecute them.

Like I roundly stated, devaluation has always been a question of when, not if.

Buhari just needlessly dragged the country to the gutters, he could have devalued a long time ago and we would have been somewhere around #220/$, but his strongheadedness has gotten us to this point.

Well let the naira find a bottom, stabilize and the country will be ready for economic activities again.

Those who are called "zombies" and self acclaimed "master economists" will soon be here to applaud him for another policy turnaround.

citizenisb:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/new-fuel-price-regime-inevitable-will-create-200000-jobs-lai-mohammed/

Walahi is Lai taking a swipe at the masses at a time like this?
A government made a pronouncement without consulting the main stakeholders and now they are trying to forcefully hand them their medicine after "death".

Well no matter how you paint things, the streets is feeling the pains.

I condemned the previous government for not doing enough sensitization on the benefits of subsidy removal, before the actual termination of subsidy payments, but this administration comes on board and repeats the same mistake of putting the cart before the horse.

The coming days will be so interesting...

ideylaff:


The FX policy is so full of holes and flaws that even my 10 year old keeps saying dad this is so exploitable for people to make money through the back door.

That is exactly what the FG is turning a blind eye to on purpose while Dangote, banks and the big sorts make money to stock up and save for re election time.

So bad even the banks use black market rate for ATM transactions broad when it's clearly iillegAl

Imagine how much has been offloaded into the hands of a few individuals since August 2015. The president himself admitted to this during the Aljazeera interview.

ideylaff:


I am and supported Buhari all through, but their tone changed soon as they got power.

Don't be deceived they used the FX issue to raise and stock up funds for reelection as they cannot steal like GEJ did so they are using the process to look after a selected few who will in return look after them.

Just look how many turn arounds and lies Kachukwu has been involved in

1 they said refineries are bn. Fixed

2. They said modular refinery is the best option

3 they said it now cheaper to import

4, All of a sudden they are saying anybody can import now. Bla bla

In the middle of all these mix ups and lies+story telling some people are making money on FX AND NNPC Issuess

I can see through them

Flesh and blood has not revealed these to you.
Whoever is expecting so much is doing so at his or her own detriment.
Nigeria will be better with time, because of the people's resilience but not because of any intentional and planned efforts put in by this administration.

[quote author=grandstar post=45551960][/quote]

Anyways some "zombies" will still be holding on to the mirage and a false hope. I am seeing their several interpretations of this article and saying to myself " The coming quarter is going to be bad interesting for Nigeria and Nigerians".

Classic depiction of "me and my brothers against the world".

pacino26:
Nice question. Another question should be was there even a plan to remove subsidy in the first place? I think the APC led govt wakes up to make policies and statements without back up plans.


Logical answer is that already the budget is taking a nose dive to deficit courtesy of NDA.

Ask what becomes of the #47 per liter from pms that govt stands to make with the removal of subsidy?

The budget is not nosediving to deficit, it has always been in deficit. Moreover the losses from the avengers will pale out in comparison to the losses from the non oil revenues, FIRS and customs are to generate.
Capital controls and wrong policies resulting from this government's ineptitude has stifled the economy far more than anything the NDA will achieve. Truth is the government in power are economic terrorists.

Not to say I am pleased with whatever the NDA is doing but truth be told, Nothing causes Nothing.

grandstar:


The market is whopping his butt and he's now throwing in the towel.

Rare to fight the market and win!

It's not even rare, it's impossible.

rolchi:


Brother Stokes, you remember our discussion with a compatriot some days ago on another thread concerning the Oil/Gas Industry and Dr. Ibe Kachukwu?

Now this...just after two days of his Price Modulation Theory at the Kaduna Town Hall Meeting?

I strongly suggest that PMB should and must to separate the office of the GMD and a Minister of the Federal Republic.

Yea bro very well, I really wish Mr President can be humble enough to do that. Kachikwu himself doesn't even believe in Nigeria. Like we stated in the last thread some things are too sensitive to put out here, I would have given an account of a meeting some time ago if I could. Kachikwu knows all the wonderful and right things to do but sadly it's all about politics first.
Many professionals with excellent credentials have gone on to this petroleum ministry plus DPR, but the politics sadly devours them all and makes a mockery of their fine careers.

The president if you will agree with me made blunders with his appointments as you have rightly pointed out, same with Fashola's power, works and housing appointment. It's enough task for several people combined Into 1.

LAGOS May 11 (Reuters) – Nigeria needs a “substantial” review of its foreign exchange policies and will see very soon a more flexible approach, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Wednesday, as it faces dollar shortages and investor complaints about a high naira rate.

Asked whether Nigeria needed to devalue the naira, Osinbajo said that “there is an ongoing debate” in government circles and among other parties but that it was too early to say whether such a move made sense. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has said he does not favour devaluing the currency.

Osinbajo told a Lagos business conference he hoped to persuade the central bank to change some policies to improve foreign exchange supply as current supply management is not working well.

“We believe there must be some substantial revaluation for the foreign exchange policy,” Osinbajo said. This would help boost foreign exchange supply and encourage capital inflows and a free flow of remittances, he said.

“There has been a sharp decline in foreign exchange earnings. The executive is not responsible for monetary policy but we have made the point clearly that demand management will not take us out of the woods,” he said.

“We need a review,” he said in response to questions from investors. “Very soon we will see a more flexible approach,” he added, but he declined to go into specifics.

The central bank has imposed hard currency curbs and frozen the naira rate to the dollar, which has hit investment as foreign firms expect Nigeria to devalue the currency anyway at some point due to a slump in oil revenues.

The naira has fallen 40 percent below the official rate on the parallel market where firms go to get hard currency to fund their imports. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL5N1886Y9

seunmsg:
With the complete removal of fuel subsidy there is no point keeping the naira at the current official rate. Devaluation will help to bridge the gap between the official and parallel market rate and hence, the pump price may still come down lower than N145. Government also must seriously consider increasing minimum wage immediately. Maintaining the current minimum wage in the face of the current development is criminal and unacceptable.

So after all said and done the so called "wailers" plus IMF and the west have a point.

So much for intransigence of our supreme leader.

Any viable fight against corruption should be one that strengthens institutions rather than attacking people.
Use of technology and best practices, inculcating work ethics into your civil service, national reorientation of the citizenry.

Rather Nigerians prefer the gladiatoral approach where some people are paraded at the colosseum and ridiculed just so they satisfy their lust to see blood and gore.

At the end of the day, we have 100 arrests but 169,999,900 other corrupt and potentially corrupt individuals patiently waiting for when "the opportunity meets the person".

.

rolchi:


My dear friend, you sound very knowledgeable about the Nigerian Oil/Gas Industry and I agree with you 200% that many Nigerians do not know what is happening. They base their very factless opinions on the narratives presented by the government with its heavy media representations but fail to ask questions.

For example, if Chevron is coming to take Warri Refinery as narrated by HMSPR (Dr. Ibe Kachukwu), do you really think that Chevron will want any other Refinery to be 'co-located' within its area of vicinity and use its same facilities?

There is so much vagueness today and the current government is not helping the situation. In fact, they are thinkless. Now, we have a budget, the truth will soon be seen. But alas, will the supporters of today govt accept the truth when they see it?

I wish you well Sir and please, try not to respond to some of these folks who do not know.

Very well sir thank You, they can keep ranting in ignorance. At the moment it's too sensitive putting up confidential info online and I even ask myself to what purpose.
Those who know and are privy to the workings of this industry care less about what those who come on nairaland to type nonsense from behind their computers, put out there.

Have a great day sir.

theV0ice:


Its obvious you know nothing about the oil industry and are only interested in rable rousing. So exploration should stop? How do you build up your reserves without exploration? How do you increase production without building up reserves?

Which stalled projects are you whining about?

You must be very naive about oil and gas, I will chose not to talk any further. You can sit behind your computer putting baseless arguments against someone you obviously do not know.

Have a great day my friend.

Eruditor:


Stop engaging that guy. You won't find a more dishonest person in the whole of NL, I tell you. This is a guy that subtly supports militancy and never saw anything wrong with GEJs govt.

Did you notice how as soon as you pointed him out to the fact that GEJs govt caused this rot and even begun the exploration for oil in the NE, he skillfully avoided that line of thought and harped on the fact that PMB should be clamoring for a cessation of that agenda since we are in tough economic times?

Don't be swayed by those words. It is not an open discussion to them. They are here to make proselytes of gullible Nigerians by making them to buy into the farce that was the previous govt.

I have stated here on nairaland many months ago that exploration at a time like this, at the expense of several stalled projects in the developmental phase is a "stupid" thing to do. You can chose to make any deductions whatsoever. Have a great day my friend and keep on with the blame trading.

theV0ice:


The govt of 1 year is already doing all it can to increase our capabilities even if you must staple your eye lids together to avoid seeing it.

Iran didn't start preparing for an increase last year. They were already doing it even under sanctions while a country selling at record prices and with no inhibitions refused to plan like a true community of prodigals and we are now rightly paying the price.

I've apportioned blames to the country. I guess we are good now?

Pretty obvious.

theV0ice:


The only magic to get the IOC's to open their vaults is the PIB and I expect you to admit this govt is giving it more serious attention than all the previous admins put together.

PMB, Osinbajo and Kachikwu are pursuing the reforms in the oil industry with speed and it even resulted in getting funds of about $1.2B to fund new JV projects recently.

http://thebusinessdispatch.com/nnpc-secures-1-2b-funding-for-36-jv-oil-wells-with-chevron/

Try and acknowledge this my friend. You won't die if you do.

Anyways i don't need to reveal too much on here, it is so out in the open that we are least prepared for the impending rise in oil prices. If that isn't cataclysmic already then I don't know what is. There is much work to be done. This is not a time for singing praises rather one of pushing the people in power to work really hard to ensure sustainable growth and development.

theV0ice:


You're always quick to jump on the blame without as much as pointing out a reason why we got into the hole in the first place. The govt doesn't do the spending. There's a joint venture and every honest child knows the IOC's who operate this industry have had enough with the Nigerian govt with respect to dishonesty, debts etc.

To think that GEJ could arm twist PDP chieftains to get 2nd term yet couldn't do same to get PIB passed for his 5 year rule is almost unforgivable. The IOC's WILL BIT COMMIT MORE RESOURCES WITHOUT THE PIB and the buhari admin is already treating it with the urgency it deserves.

Where will the money for new investments come from if not the IOC's? How will they invest without the policy document called PIB?

But have you ever being honest enough to acknowledge that this govt is at least making some progress with respect to the same PIB?

I wouldn't want to list the number of projects that had been stalled because the govt, says no money.
My question is what has the government done to address these issues since they got on board. What policies, what guidelines what actions have they taken so far?
So if the previous administration per se has a "shortcoming", then was this government planning on coming to sit foldhands and watch? Or she rolls her sleeves and gets to work.
How long has it taken Iran to ramp up production post sanctions, and with no external help?

IOCs not bringing money is not an excuse, Jonathan is not an excuse, it is PMB's watch and I don't have to look too far to know where the buck stops.

theV0ice:


Except you wish to be mischievous, exploration in the northeast didn't start last year. It was very much on during the regime of GEJ.

Buhari has a chance to stop it but pls stop making it look like that is the reason for our non preparation.

If the past regime had been faithful to its obligations with respect to JV cash calls during the time of plenty, the IOC's will be ready to fund new operations.

There lies the answer, This period is supposed to be a time of rounding up with several projects in the development phase that had been stalled, there is no action taken so far by this administration that gives an indication of preparations for tomorrow.
Oil prices will rise, the driving season is almost here upon us, and Nigeri will export 1.5million barrels a day. Keep absolving this administration oranyone before or after it.

I am pointing out a failure of our leadership and of course the average supporter will make it a battle of current vs previous administration.

LRNZH:
The preparation not done during high oil prices will reflect in low oil price period.

The IOCs are owed plenty money from the active productive period during high oil prices. Diezani's NNPC refused to.oay them. Today the FG is broke and can't even pay those debts. How do you convince the IOCs to pour more money into exploration or new field development? PIB, we cannot pass through the legislature for over years.

I hate to blame GEJ but honestly his administration f*cked Nigeria up.

And exploration in the North east at a time like this should be priority innit?

Nigeria would always do things haphazardly the period of low prices should have been one where we develop the many oil and gas projects that were stalled down south while waiting for a pick up in prices, the country has had the potential to do 4million bbls a day but what have you, a government searching for oil in the desert.

Good idea? Yes
Right timing? Hell No!

Imagine Iran, post sanction already gunning for 3.8 million bbls per day. Nigeria is still playing politics with the economy, legislations everything about this country almost sucks.

I think it's time we started teaching everyone "sustainability", the concept of living for the next generation because obviously this country has no plans for even the next year.
How can 170 million people be living in the moment.

Nigeria appears to be the least prepared among OPEC countries to take advantage of a higher oil price regime, should prospects for the global market continue to improve as has been the case in the last three weeks, analysts say.

Blighted by consistent policy failure on the part of government, and the resultant drying up of investment into the oil sector for several years, crude oil production in Nigeria is falling at a time that production is being ramped up by its peers, BusinessDay findings show.

“We are not well prepared, too many interests at microscopic levels. We also have an uphill challenge to convince the international oil companies who are owed billions of dollars in cash call, to trust us enough to invest in the midstream and downstream sectors,” says Ibilola Amao, managing director of Lonadek Consulting.

Nigeria’s crude oil production has remained stuck below budget levels yearly and at the current rate of 1.6m barrels per day, output has fallen from 1.75m in March, with the global oil consulting firm Wood Mackenzie forecasting that production by Africa’s largest producer will average 1.5m per day for the next decade on failed policies.

The forecast comes on a day the global price for Brent crude rose to $45.90 per barrel, as expanding fires in Canada, the world’s fourth largest producer, knocked out about 1m bbl/day of production, according to Goldman Sachs.

While production is being crimped in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia is making the required investment to take output close to record highs in the coming weeks to meet summer demand for power, industry sources say.

While Saudi production has remained steady at about 10.15m bbl/day, ongoing push should see that level rise to 10.5m barrels in the summer months.

The bullish kingdom is now able to lessen discount by 65c/bbl for June sales of Arab light to Asia, according to estimates by Bloomberg.

Reports from Iraq said the war ravaged country is currently exporting an average of 3.43m bbl/day, up from the level of 3.286m in April.

Industry sources say Iraq is pushing ahead with its oil production growth strategy.

In Iran, exports to South Korea have more than quadrupled to 400,000 barrels a day since the international sanctions were lifted in January.

Iran, which seeks $11bn in overseas investment to build three oil refineries, has set an oil output target of 4m barrels per day by March 2017, barely a year after returning from international sanctions which crippled its production infrastructure.

The surge in Iran’s oil sale to South Korea will severely dent the appeal of Nigeria’s oil in Asia, according to analysts.

On the back of the vast improvement in output, Iran now says it may be getting to the point where it is willing to do a deal on capping production.

According to a report by Goldman Sachs Mexico continues to pump out 2.2m bbl/day while also seeking developers to participate in its second power auction which will be held in the third quarter of this year.

In Kuwait, a fellow OPEC country, where the 2016/17 budget is based on an oil price of $25 per barrel, oil production has been ramped back up to 3m bbl/day, following disruptions by a workers strike.

Other reports say Russia oil exports surged in April to just under 5.8m bbl/day, the highest level since at least 2008, as energy customers both from the East and West crave its crude.

A review of the global oil market shows that beyond Canada, the current production disruption follows a long list of production issues globally, including pipeline attacks in Kurdistan, Nigeria, Libya, Colombia; heavy North Sea and Murban maintenance as well as the Kuwait strike.

Even before the Canada fire, these recurring disruptions have steadily displaced between 0.5 and 1.0 mb/d of production since mid-March.

With the ongoing strength in Chinese crude imports, weekly assessments of ex. US oil inventories (Europe, Japan and Singapore) also show draws of 1.6 mb so far in April vs. seasonal builds of 11 mb, which have helped the recovery in oil prices and the strengthening of crude time spreads. Importantly, the impact on the global balance has in large part been offset by the surprisingly large increase in Iran exports of 600 kb/d since early March, with Southern Iraqi exports also reaching a record high in April, up 200 kb/d from March (both heavy crude).

Further, while the disruptions are recurring and have reached their highest level since 2014, they remain transient in nature and create the risk that crude production rises sequentially, especially if OPEC production continues to surprise to the upside.

On the back of these developments, Goldman Sachs now believes that the ongoing large disruptions are helping improve crude oil fundamentals but the key to sustainable further recovery in oil prices continues to be longer lasting decline in non-OPEC production.

Source: https://businessdayonline.com/2016/05/nigeria-least-prepared-in-opec-for-higher-oil-price-regime/

We talking reality NNPC is talking virtual.

It's visible to the blind and audible to the deaf. The zombies concur but of course they are zombies, so will behave as expected.

grandstar:


The existence of subsidies can not be divorced from abuse- Alexander Hamilton

The price of both fuel and forex will continue to be ruinously subsidised until Buhari leaves. He thinks he is doing the country a massive favour. The queues speak otherwise

Spot on bro, Spot on.

With the way the government shodilly approached the subsidy issue, Buhari and Nigerians, yours truly inclusive, will have to learn the hard way that the queues are here to stay.

A big pity, the same fuel they said was diverted by diezani and co, paying for subsidies in fuel that was not delivered, is the same issue of diversion the Buhari's NNPC is today complaining about even with the subsidy paid by FG to NNPC for the product.

Protests ca take place but sadly how does protest want to provide the supply necessary to meet demand.

The government can keep deceiving herself and her naive supporters, only those who are involved in this business or know directly people who are into the business will understand all what is currently ongoing.

When people are made to pay the official price into one account and the premium into another account befire they get their products, the same thing that used to reign in our banks to obtain forex.

And at the end you want them to sell at regulated price during the day
They will rather sell at night and be closed during the day.

The president ordered the removal of roadblocks so the young gentlemen simply relocated from up north. Reason why the army is easily clearing sambisa. There is no body there, they have relocated.

The Presodent needs to tell us the rationale behind removing roadblocks, when he got into power.

richidinho:
David olofofo take ur Tymeooo

Help me tell him bruv.