₦airaland Forum

Hair stylists wanted for a posh new salon in Akoka, Yaba, interested candidates should please call 0703 540 2177

A statement by Sanusi made in a yahoo group



''I am not complaining about insults I am used to that. I just believe that an insult is not an argument and when people resort to personal abuse they have run out of logic.
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> But to then go beyond me and extend it to my dead grandfather and his "descendants" ie my late father his siblings etc I think goes beyond the pale. As a Nigerian-and as an economist-i can take a position on economic matters and this position is one I have had for years even before coming in to the central bank. I have also explained the position on several occasions and criticised government for not doing this before. In 2010 at a public hearing in the House of Reps on the 25pct saga I alerted the nation of what I considered a potential big scam around subsidies and urged for its removal. No one paid attention. The economics is very clear to me. That it is unpopular is also understandable. The British public is unhappy with Tory budget cuts. The Greeks went on riot over austerity. Italian parliamentarians came to blows before Berlusconi was thrown out of office. The US congress is yet to approve Obamas tax increases.
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> Economic decisions-by definition-ALWAYS must involve a cost or an opportunity cost since for them to qualify as economic they must involve a choice in resource allocation among competing uses. An enlightened debate is one that weighs the pros and cons of removing subsidy and continuing with it.
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> Removing it has costs in terms of nigerians paying more for PMS-which by the way is not the fuel for genrators, power plants, production facilities, heavy duty goods transportation trucks and even luxury buses. It is fuel used by the middle class and car owners to drove around town and from city to city not to employ workers and produce goods and services. Diesel which is critical to manufacturing and employment creation is not subsidized as the subsidy was removed years ago by obasanjo. Nigerians said nothing then because it was blue collar workers that got retrenched by factories. Those speaking now on the internet and facebook and twitter and newspapers are not workers but middle class elite who use PMS in their smart cars so let's stop all the ideological pretence. This is not about elite and masses but an intra-elite discourse.
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> I will summarise the issues and I write as a Nigerrian economist and public intellectual not as a public servant:
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> 1. I am a strong advocate for subsidies if they are for production and not consumption, and if they benefit the poor and not middle men and rent seekers. The US government subsidizes cotton and wheat farmers and nigeria spends its reserves importing wheat from america and keeping american farmers employed. The OECD countried pay subsidies to cattle farmers. Today Promasidor imports powdered milk from New Zealand and packages in nigeria using our foreign exchange while we have cattle. WAMCO imports milk from the UK and adds water and tins it and calls it "production" of Peak milk. We use our forex to import petroleum products and keep refineries and jobs open in europe. Meanwhile precisely because of market distortions there can be no private sector investment in refineries since no one can make profit seling at the regulated price unless we are going to provide private refineries with crude for next to nothing. Certainly no one can purchase crude at market price, refine it and sell at N65 without huge losses so this explains why there are no private refineries.
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> 2 what I mention above is the heart of the problem with government economic policy which needs to be changed. The economy since SAP is one that supports imported consumption and not local production, perpetuating dependency, non inclusive growth and insecurity. Why is it that the economy is growing at 7pct annually but the people are getting poorer. Because growth gains are not evenly distributed. Personal income is skewed towards people in the oil industry, telecomms, high finance, stock market, real estate and yes civil servants and politicians who feed on corruption. We produce crude oil but import petroleum products (today the UKs highest exports to nigeria are petroleum products). We have a large cotton belt but import textiles from china (thus keeping their subsidized factories open and jobs in china). We are the world's number 1 producer of cassava but import cassava starch from europe. We have a huge tomato belt in kadawa, jigawa and chad basin but are the world's largest importer of tomato paste-from China and Italy. We can produce rice but we import rice from Thailand and India-most of it from grain reserves that have been in stock for over 5 years, I can go on and on
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> 3. If above is clear then it is evident that this trajectory can only lead to disaster. We will continue to spend our resources promoting growth and employment in our trading partners. Terms of trade shift against us, we can only have foreign reserves because by the good grace of God we have Oil which will be exhausted soon and with new discoveries may become so cheap it loses value. We don't create any value added jobs as the only real production is peasant farming. Oill, telecomms, finance and real estate are not employment intensive. So everyone becomes a civil servant as the economy cannot create jobs. Result? In 2012 budget out of a total N1.8tr recurrent expenditure for the executive arm N1.6tr is on personnel costs not overheads. To reduce this you have to cut salaries or pensions or retrench civil servants. This is the classic trajectory of underdevelopment, de-development and de-industrialisation.
> 4. For the above reasons I am a strong proponent of structural reform and this begins from the fiscal framework. The limited resources of government should be allocated to supporting production-especially if we are running a budget deficit. We cannot keep borrowing to support conspicuous consumption. To support a job creating economy we need to fund power, transportation infrastructure, market infrastructure and access, technical and vocational education etc. We need to build rice processing plants, produce starch and cassava flour and ethanol, process our tomato and milk locally, regenerate our textiles firms (which used to employ 600,000 workers but now employ 30,000!), refine our own crude etc. We cannot even begin to do this if 30pct of govt expenditure is on fuel subsidy, if out of the balance 70pct is recurrent spending, 10pct is debt service, 10pct goes to the niger delta and only 10pct is capital expenditure. So it is about a choice-what do we spend money on and how do we allocate resources?
> 5. We often compare ourselves to other oil producing countries like saudi arabia. What are the facts? With a population of over 160m we produce 2mbpd ie 1 barrel for every 80+ citizens daily. Govt share of revenues if like 50pct of every barrel so it is effectively a barrel for 160 citizens. Saudi Arabia with a 24m population produces over 8mbpd or one barrel for every 3 citizens. In fact in 2010 the nearest OPEC country to nigeria in production per capita was Algeria with a barrel for 30 and algeria is more gas than oil.
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> With one barrel for 3 citizens dailt saudi arabia is able to provide infrastructure, education, healthcare and social safety nets and have huge savings. It can provide subsidised fuel at a total cost that is a fraction of its savings and even export refined products. It is paying for subsidies ouy od its fiscal savings and not borrowing to pay. We are like a poor man with a rich neighbour. The neighbour buids a good house, buys several cars, eat expensive food, travel abroad every year and still have huge balances in sevral current accounts. Then you choose to live that lifestyle and mortgage your house, take an overdraft from the bank to finance it. Next year it is time to repay the bank, u don't have the money so u go to another bank, borrow enough to pay the first bank principal plus interest and also fund the continuation of the lifestyle. It continues till u can't borrow anymore and the bank throws u and your family out of your house and you lose everything. A responsible father would have long since faced reality and told his family he doesn't earn as much as his neighbour and expectations need to be moderated if they to keep their roof. Of course the children won't be happy at not going to Hawaii for summer and having to take public transport rather than own cars like their neighbour's children. Maybe they will even abuse the father behind his back and call him a miser. That is the cost of leadership.
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> Finally: removing subsidy is not a silver bullet that solves our economic problems. And there is a huge trust deficit that government has to address. Government needs to investigate subsidy payments and punish any violations of extant guidelines. It needs to cut on unnecessary and waste ful expenditure. It needs to fight corruption and show seriousness in that. It needs to deliver on capital projects, power and infrastructure including irrigation, farm-level storage and agri-processing. These are all valid issues that are to be taken IN ADDITION to and not in place of subsidy removal.

Most poor people are poor because they failed to plan for their future. Nigeria is poor today because our elders failed to plan.

WE NEED TO STOP THIS CYCLE!!!!!!!!

Let's show the government that there is some support for deregulation

Does anybody know the data limit on etisalat's night and weekend plan? Is it an unlimited bundle plan? What time does the night plan start and when does it end?

Been quite busy with my offline life but Ikeja hotel has more than doubled in price while the market has crashed completely. This puts me in the enviable position of being very liquid while sitting in the middle of a depressed market. I can feel my self getting richer.

If anybody had bought ikeja hotel when i was promoting it, they'll have doubled their money by now. I guess fortune favors the brave.

mine started working o! Thank God

Mine no work o

i'll see how mine goes tonight and update

Thank God o! I thought it was only me that was experiencing this.

My crush na vivaladiva

This man was a big thief and should be remembered as such. May he rot in hell for the pain he caused

You know say person no dey value police until dem see thief.

so we're saying that na police like money pass, I think its girls sha, cause you can roger police small thing but give babe like 1k for taxi and I guarantee you go see nagging.

Naija police and girls who like money pass?

www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51760:legislators-pay-as-burden-on-economy&catid=1:national&Itemid=559#comments




Why Legislators’ Pay Turns Jumbo • 469 Federal Lawmakers Gulp N339bn In 4 Years • Actual Salary (On Pay Slip) Only N18.245bn • N45m Per Senator Per Quarter (N720m In 4 Years) • N42m Per House Member Per Quarter (N672m In 4 Years) • N4,881,394,960 To Maintain 109 Senators • N13,364,450,550 To Maintain 360 House Members WHY do the people worry really, when it will cost oil-rich nation, Nigeria, a paltry
N338.6 billion to maintain the 469 members of the federal legislature
constitutionally domiciled in the nation’s capital, Abuja. The actual figure is N338,645,845,510 of Nigeria’s (taxpayers’) money) to maintain the 469 parliamentarians in Abuja. This is how the legislators, who will assist President Goodluck Jonathan in his
‘transformation agenda’, will spend what is controversially referred to as “25 per cent of the national budget” in four years. This figure, which covers salaries and some allowances, does not include
differential pays and other perquisites of office. Nor does the figure that the CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, once
complained about ahead of the 7th Assembly, include expenditure on duty tours,
estacode and other oversight functions that affect attendance all the time, even
as the media draw attention to alleged absenteeism in the bi-cameral legislature
in Abuja. But only a trained eye, with some ability to read financial information on paper,
can see these figures. The ordinary citizen’s unquantitative analytical eye can only see N18.245 billion, which is the actual salary projected to be paid to the
federal lawmakers in four years. This is so because the rest of what is normally marked as, “jumbo pay” will surface really in form of quarterly allowances the two chambers approved for
themselves and called “running cost quarterly allowances. ” The breakdown is: N42 million for every member of the (lower) House,
amounting to N168 million per annum, or N672 million in four years. Similarly, the very “distinguished senator” will go home with N720 million in four years (N45m per quarter, or N180m per annum). However, what will reflect on the pay slips of the lawmakers would be the
statutory salary, which will come to a meagre N18.245 billion for the two
chambers in four years. Of these statutory figures, N4,881,394,960 will be spent on the 109 senators
while the remaining N13,364,450,550 will be spent to maintain the 360
members of the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC)
— the legal body that has responsibility to fix this salary — has since July 2009, worked it out the salary thus: According to the law the legislators have endorsed, a senator earns an annual
emolument of N8,206,920 while a member of the House of Representatives takes
home N6,352, 680. Therefore, the cumulative emolument of a senator for four years amounts to
N32,827,680. In addition, each of the 109 senators will pocket another
N11,145,200 in allowances described by the RMAFC as non-regular and can be
collected one-off at the beginning of the tenure. The total emolument for a year includes the basic salary, which stands at
N2,026,400 for a senator and N1,985,212 for a House member and some regular
allowances for vehicle maintenance, fuelling, house maintenance, domestic staff,
entertainment, utilities, constituency, newspapers and periodicals. The non-regular allowances for each senator include accommodation
(N3,039,600), furniture allowance (N3,039,600) and vehicle loan (N5,066,000). In addition, each senator is entitled to an annual leave allowance of N202,640 or
N810,560 in four years. In this connection, it will be N44,783,440 to take care of a senator in the next
four good years or just N4,881,394,960 to take care of Nigeria’s 109 senators. In the House of Representatives, a member will earn N25,410,720 in four years,
in addition to non-regular allowances totaling N10,918,668.75 plus four years ’ leave grant of N794,085. This translates into each House member earning N37,123,473.75 in the next four
years, as each is entitled to N6,352,680 in yearly emolument. Non-regular allowances of the House members include accommodation
N2,977,818.75; furniture (N2,977, 818.75) and vehicle allowance of
N4,693,031.25. At the rate of N198,521.25 per annum, the leave allowance for
each member in four years will be N794,085. Taken together, a member of the House is expected to earn N37,123,473.75. So,
the 360 members will earn N13,364,450,550 from the national treasury in the
next four years. In the interim, after a successful four years, there awaits the “hard-working” 469 lawmakers what they call “severance allowance ”. In this regard, each ‘distinguished senator’ will go back home with 300 per cent of his annual basic salary. severance benefit. The same applies to each House
member. Consequently, the President of the Senate will take away N7,452,727.50; the
Deputy Senate President N6,927,500.25 and other senators N6,079,200 each,
respectively. In the House, the RMAFC approves N7,431,330 for the Speaker; N6,861,102.75 for
the Deputy Speaker and N5,955,637,50 each for other members. As a result, both members of the federal legislature and the RMAFC always quote
these statutory figures to inquirers, who approach them for information on the
legislators’ take home pay. Thus, what the House allegedly took N50 billion loans from the UBA and First
Bank to finance are not statutory earnings from the RMAFC.

Www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/police-hqtrs-bombing-police-arrest-58-suspects/


Indications that the bombers of the
Police Force headquarters in Abuja last
Thursday, may have bitten more than
they can chew, emerged Sunday, when
the Crack Investigating team, stormed
Maiduguri, the Boko Haram headquarters and arrested 58 sect
members including some Somali
nationals. Vanguard gathered that the 58 Boko
Haram members were moved to Abuja,
Sunday, aboard a military aircraft and
are currently being detained at the
headquarters of the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad, SARS, amid heavy security provided by both members of
the Mobile Police and the Anti-terrorist
Squad. The arrest of the 58 Boko Haram
members with Somali nationals found in
their midst, according to security
sources, confirms the belief by the
investigating team that Somali and
Sudanese nationals with sympathy to the Boko Haram cause, are working in
tandem with the Islamic sect to
perpetrate havoc in the country.

@markos I assume you're a well educated middle aged male Nigerian, I'll also assume that you're a professional and while I agree that the standard of living is better in the UK I'll also let you know that if you were in Nigeria as a middle aged professional you'll definately be richer than you are in the uk, this might be due to the fact that Nigeria is the land of the ignorant/blind or it might be due to corruption, I dont really know why but its true (not advocating that you move but just saying).

I'm not an ignorant Nigerian, I went to a relatively posh boarding school in the uk, lived in Neasden (nice neighbourhood in london), and I've actually been to the british museum as well as a couple art galleries and virtually all the places viva mentioned, so I know upper middle class england and I also know they dont make as much cash as middle class Nigerians, this country's a freakin gold mine all you need is the knowledge of where to dig.

Thank God we had peaceful elections cause the market is going to fly tomorrow, I expect the bulls to be very strong

Portfolio's trending sideways, a positive result from Ikeja would send it thru the roof same with aiico.

Bids for aiico @94k offers starting @95k, hopefully stock should close up, I've almost recovered my losses. Once again the world did not end

[quote author=laz_inc link=topic=630945.msg8102372#msg8102372 date=1302534190]keep the flag flying, we are with you all the way. Loaded my portfolio with AIICO last week, and I must confess that the stock is not doing badly.

Thanks.[/quote]I'm glad I could be of help, but if you have any comments or questions send me a direct message or mention on twitter.

Market's closed, index up half a percent. Aiico rose 2k at close, could manipulation or just a sudden bid.

Not one trade on ikeja hotel and its only 10mins to close of market, wahala dey o! Aiico still flat but sudden jump confirms my theory

Just as I expected, the bulls are on the rampage. Index is up 0.7%, aiico is up 2k and ikeja hotel is flat but I expect them to both rise.

Cant wait for trading to start, I expect the bulls to come back in style but I'm mindful cause the market is famous for its surprises.

I'm having some suspicion about aiico, something tells me things are being manipulated. Guess I'll find out tomorrow

Thankfully the elections were peaceful, I expect foreigners to rush back thus bringing back the bulls. Time to get paid

Been a bit busy offline so I've not been able to tweet. Portfolio's been making some gains, Aiico's gained for 2 days. Thou it looks fishy

Portfolio went up by 1% which came from aiico's rise of over 4%. I'm hoping things turn around cause I'm not very happy thou I expected it

The losses keep rising, how much more can I take. Who'll have thought ikeja hotel would get this low. This is amazing

I always knew the days ahead were going to be tough but I still get that urge to sell thou I know the bear wont last

sorry I've not been able to update the nairaland feed but twitter feed has been getting updated via mobile