₦airaland Forum

which rubbish constitution are we amending when the whole idea upon which the constitution is based is fraudulent, and the bunch of currently elected legislators are fraudsters

when would we stop decievin ourselves

you need to see the video for this report
it is available on

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9682677.stm

i doubt if wole soyinka will ever make that statement

the report also included this ehnic maps of nigeria, which will be nice if we can objectively criticize its accuracy or otherwise

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17015873

Poverty has risen in Nigeria, with almost 100 million people living on less than a $1 (£0.63) a day, despite economic growth, statistics show.

The National Bureau of Statistics said 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in "absolute poverty" - this figure had risen from 54.7% in 2004.

The bureau predicted this rising trend was likely to continue.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but the sector has been tainted by accusations of corruption.

According to the report, absolute poverty is measured by the number of people who can afford only the bare essentials of shelter, food and clothing.

North-south divide
The NBS admitted there was a paradox at the heart of Nigeria, as the economy was going from strength to strength, mainly because of oil production, yet Nigerians were getting poorer.

"Despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year, although it declined between 1985 and 1992, and between 1996 and 2004," it said in a statement.


Oil accounts for some 80% of Nigeria's state revenues but it has hardly any capacity to refine crude oil into fuel, which has to be imported.

Last month, there was a nationwide strike when the government tried to remove the subsidy on fuel, angering many Nigerians who see it as the only benefit they received from the country's vast oil wealth.

The NBS said that relative poverty was most apparent in the north of the country, with Sokoto state's poverty rate the highest at 86.4%.

In the north-west and north-east of the country poverty rates were recorded at 77.7% and 76.3% respectively, compared to the south-west at 59.1%.

BBC Africa analyst Richard Hamilton says it is perhaps no surprise that extremist groups, such as Boko Haram, continue to have an appeal in northern parts of the country, where poverty and underdevelopment are at their most severe.

The report also revealed that Nigerians consider themselves to be getting poorer.

In 2010, 93.9% of respondents felt themselves to be poor compared to 75.5% six years earlier.

Nigeria's population in poverty

1980: 17.1 million
1985: 34.7 million
1992: 39.2 million
1996: 67.1 million
2004: 68.7 million
2010: 112.47 million
Source: Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics

if wat is written in this report is true, then, this is wrong, this is very very wrong

[size=14pt]stop peddling lies abt obasanjo devaluing the naira from 22 to 135. abacha operated a dual exchange market, one for himself and his cronies (where the exchange rate was fixed at 22 irrespective of the market price) which he used to loot the country dry. the market exchange rate was between 65- 70 naira, and it even sells for 80 naira in black markt[/size]

note - im more a fan of buhari than obj, but, i cant stomach the way u r manipulating the history to prove ur point

https://www.facebook.com/ribadu/posts/10150680976712873

When the Nation Calls

I was greeted to numerous calls and mail yesterday when the administration announced my name as Chairman of the 21-man Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force.

Given my recent political pedigree, many inquirers naturally wanted to understand what was happening, and whether it was true that I was consulted and whether I would accept the offer.

The history of my life is a history of public service, and if we cast an honest look to the recent protests in the wake of the oil subsidy removal, it will be clear to all that the biggest single victory Nigerians scored was to put the question of corruption squarely back on the top of our national policy agenda.

Regardless of our affiliations, our differences, and our engagements, it is at least safe to say that we have a national consensus on the deadly impact of corruption on our march to greatness, and on the capacity of our people, particularly the youth, to earn a decent, promising, life.

If we would effectively isolate and defeat this scourge therefore, we must all see it as a preeminent national security threat. We must see it as a war within our borders, a war that has assumed a systemic and endemic character, but to which all must now urgently enlist with our different capacities, or accept to all go down with the ship.

At this point in my life, it is also easy to answer the honest question if it is inappropriate to invest my modest talents and capabilities to my country what I have readily offered many foreign communities, from sister nations in Africa to far flung places like Afghanistan. This, if nothing, makes my decision very personal, freeing all affiliations [social and political] of complicity, but investing the decision also with the unique character that when people reach evaluations in favour of their larger communities, it doesn’t necessarily blemish their moral identity.

This therefore is a national call. In answering it, I go back to the template of my own parents who taught me that honest public service is the greatest asset a person can offer his community. It was the same lesson I learnt from his biographical example when my own father returned home as a federal legislator in Lagos to take job as a local council official in Yola—it is all about the community, and it is sometimes bigger than our personal egos.

someone should please confirm the authenticity of this story to me, please.

http://omojuwa.com/2012/nddc-to-spend-n1-3-billion-on-fumigation/


The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) budgeted a whopping sum of N1.3 billion on fumigation of its premises and another N2.2bn to organise seminars in the 2011 fiscal year, according to details of the commission’s budget approved by the National Assembly.

President Goodluck Jonathan presented the commission’s N250 billion budget for 2011 fiscal year to the legislature late in December, blaming the delay on leadership tussle in the NDDC.

The National Assembly speedily passed the budget after increasing it to N261 billion.

Details of the budget obtained by Daily Trust in Abuja showed that N1.3 billion was provided for the fumigation of offices in the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt and other offices elsewhere.

The NDDC headquarters is a nine-floor storey building, but Daily Trust could not confirm the number of offices in the structure.

Also, the budget provided N1.2 billion for “presidential project monitoring,” which an insider said is meant to be spent on hosting government officials who come visiting the NDDC offices and project sites.

The commission also got N1.8 billion to spend on traveling; N603 million for staff training; N550 million for international conferences; and N759 million for project consultancy.

Vehicle running cost got N794 million and N174 million was provided for vehicle maintenance.

Payment of insurance by the commission gulped N550 million; N550 million is for donations; N638 million for security; and N682 million for hotel bills.

Other expenditure are N308 million for publicity, N160 million for legal expenses, N44 million for entertainment and N394 million for community relations.

Telephone bills got N402 million, N70 million voted for project monitoring and N361 million for corporate affairs.

Also, N2.865 billion is set aside for the headquarters of the agency without specifying the expenditure items.

NDDC was set up in 2001 as an interventionist agency to help address the alleged underdeveloped of the oil rich Niger Delta region.

But it has not met up expectations of people in the region despite receiving hundreds of billions of naira annually.

The agency has also been dogged by in-fighting, boardroom squabble and unproven allegations of corruption.

NDDC was under the Presidency until the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta in 2009, when the commission was transferred to the ministry.

how stoopid? why must they punish nigerians because of shell

wish the fanatics are watching this

CuteTj:
@Peedavinci, before the Government gets to buy the confidence of these people you mentioned hundreds of people will have been killed more.

asking abt how to buy their trust of these pple

1) common man in the north trust the alfas, imams, islamic scholars etc. start with those , meet with those ones (not in aso rock, though), get those ones on ur side, and make them preach against bh, make them renounce killing of innocent, promise them some leverages (which he should fulfil) wrt their influence and freedom. use the media extensively to preach peace, bring their pple-trusted community leaders on air to preach peace
2) still apply force with maximum restriction, give pple the benefit of doubt
3) intelligience , intelligience , intelligience gathering is important

i may be wrong, but from what i have observed, boko haram is not a group anymore, but an ideology. it is not like an organised association with a leadership structure that tells them wat to do, bh consists of random group of pple who just delight in killing just for the sake of religion (and maybe, politics). that is why u find different pple claiming to be members of bh issuing different/contrasting statements. leaders of various splinter groups of bh exploit the (psychological ) vulnerability of their sympathizers for their own selfish gains (religion and politics)

u can't negotiate with them coz they ve got no leadership. what jonathan needs to do in the short run is to discredit bh in the communities they are operating by buying (no with money) the allegiance and confidence of the community leaders, the talakawas, the street urchins, the jobless, the almajiris, alfas
in the long run education and economic empowerment may be the key

why cast spirit of insanity on already insane pple, or do u think pple in the right frame of mind will go hacking down innocent pple in order to enforce their belief upon all

buzor:
@logica which planet re u from? u mean yaya toure should come back from man city and play for barca. u must be an imbe.
incase u dont know, imbe is short form for imbe.ci.le

no kill logica oooo, i think he was referring to Seydou Keita

this game shows mourinho is not a good manager as pple think he is, why has he not been playing this team against barca, why must he wait for the press and fans to tell him what to do b4 he knows

He also informed the committee that only N6 billion was left in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF), which had N673 billion in 2001

NOI and acountant general of the federation claimed tha PSF is a virtual account (it is not existing, it is just a record of payments), and yet cbn is claiming the above(in quote), funny, isnt it

although, i dont agree with his actions sometimes, i cant hate him, only a few pple have his kind of love and passion for this country

2012 - another wasted year for nigeria, only hoping that the almighty noi will be able to do something in 2013's budget, or better still, they can repeal/retract this budget and send in an entirely new one to the national assembly

nnpc is the supplier , is the contractor, is the payer , is the payee

"PSF account is a virtual account, it does not really exist"

jonathan should also be suspended for either or both of corruption and negligence. imagine!!!! 25% of your country's budget's is stolen under your nostril (by the connivance of your minister with some pple) and u want to claim ignorance? to me, it is just obvious he doenst the least idea of wat is going on in nigeria, and consequently, he is not fit to lead the country

the premise for his argument is stoopid though, but i guess the argument is valid in a sense - the people will be able to monitor more closely their fuel consumption and subsidies, there are chances that smuglin wil also be reduced

Saw this on a facebook and feel like sharing it with you guys


The Nigerian government claims that Nigerians consume 34million L of petrol per day. Most experts disagree and give a figure between 20ML and 25ML per day. For this write up, I will use the government figure. The government has also said that N141/L is the unsubsidized pump price of petrol imported into Nigeria, with N131.7 the landing price and N9.3 as profit.

Now, the government has made claims of the refineries working between 30% and 60%, depending on whom you listen to. For the sake of argument, I will assume that our refineries don’t work at all (i.e. 0% Production). Thus, my calculation is based on 100% of petrol used in Nigeria being imported, the worst case scenario. If the refineries actually work at 60% as the government claims, they should be processing 270,000 bbl/day of crude. Each barrel of crude produces 75L of petrol. So, if the government is to be believed, the refineries produce 19.5 million L of petrol a day and we should therefore only import 14.5million L a day. My analysis will ignore this completely.

So here is the arithmetic, using the government’s own figures:
Daily fuel consumption/importation: 34million L
Cost at pump: N141
No of days in a year: 365
Total cost of all petrol imported into Nigeria = 34Mx141x365 = N1.75 trillion

Now, Nigerians have been paying N 65/L for fuel, haven’t we? Therefore, cost borne by the consumers = 34Mx65x365 = N807 billion

Cost of the subsidy borne by the government is:
Subsidy = Total cost of import – cost borne by consumers
= N1.75 trillion – N807 billion
= N943 billion

So, even if we believe the claim that we consume 34million L/day and we assume that the refineries don’t work, the government should still not have spent up to N 1 trillion on the subsidy in 2011. How did they manage to spend N1.3 trillion by October? Since N1.3 trillion was spent by October, then the bill for the full year 2011 (assuming a constant rate of consumption) is: N1.56 trillion!

What accounts for the difference between N943 billion and N1.56 trillion? This is a difference of N617 billion that the government cannot explain. Did I hear a government official claim that the difference is what goes to subsidize our neighbours through smuggling? Time for more arithmetic.

Using figures from Okonjo-Iweala’s World Bank, here are the populations of West African countries:
Nigeria: 158.4 million
Benin: 8.8 million
Togo: 6 million
Cameroun: 19.6 million
Niger: 15.5 million
Chad: 11.2 million
Ghana: 24.4 million
The total population of all our neighbours: 85.5 million

Now, let us assume that fully 50% of the petrol consumed in each of these countries is illegally exported from Nigeria. Let us also assume that each of these countries consumes petrol at the same rate the Nigerian government claims petrol is consumed in Nigeria. I have deliberately ignored the ff facts which show that petrol consumption in these countries will necessarily be considerably lower than consumption in Nigeria:
1. Some of these countries have stable electricity (eg Ghana) and thus do not depend on petrol-driven generators for power.
2. Ghana, Togo and Benin are much smaller than Nigeria, thus traveling distances will be smaller.
3. Niger and Chad are mostly desert and cross-desert transportation of goods/people is mostly by diesel-consuming trucks, not petrol-consuming cars.
4. Apart from Ghana, the car density in each of these countries is much, much lower than the car density in Nigeria. In Nigeria, there are 31 cars for every 1000 citizens. In Togo and Chad, you have less than 10 cars for 1000 people.
5. Ghana has started to produce oil and will very likely rely less and less on refined products smuggled from Nigeria, once the Ghanaian local refining capacity is built up.

Rate of petrol consumption in Nigeria = Total consumed/total population
= 34ML/158.8M people
= 0.21L/person/day

Rate of petrol consumption in neighbouring countries is assumed to be same as Nigeria = 0.21L/person/day

Petrol consumption by our neighbours = Rate of consumption x total population
= 0.21x85.5M
= 18.35ML per day

Now, we have assumed that 50% of the petrol consumed in each of these countries comes from Nigeria. This value comes to: 9.18 millionL per day.

Let’s pause here. Think about it again. Is it possible for 9.18 million L of petrol to be smuggled out of our borders and the government cannot do anything about it? The biggest fuel tankers in Nigeria have a capacity of about 36,000L. How many of these trucks do you need to smuggle 9.18 ML of fuel? 254! Our government is telling us that over 250 huge tankers pass through our borders everyday and they cannot do anything about it! Wow! Talk about incompetence! This in itself is an urgent security challenge – if you cannot stop 250 tanker trailers from crossing the borders daily, how can you stop importation of weapons or even an invasion by a foreign army?

But that is not all.

Let’s believe the government and assume that about 9.18ML is actually taken to our neighbours everyday and this is all subsidized by the Nigerian government.

How much will this translate to?

Difference between pump price before and after subsidy removal = N141-N65 = N76
Total spent on subsidizing petrol to our neighbours annually = N76 x 9.18ML x 365
= N255 billion

I have assumed that:
1. There are no working refineries in Nigeria.
2. Nigeria actually consumes 34ML of petrol per day.
3. Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroun, Niger, Chad all get 50% of their petrol illegally, from Nigeria.
4. Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroun, Niger, Chad all consume petrol at the same rate as Nigeria.

Yet, the government’s figures still don’t add up! There is N362 billion missing. This is the difference between N943 billion and N1.56 trillion, assuming N255 billion is wasted through subsidizing the rest of West Africa. The government should tell us what/who eats up this N362 billion ($2.26 billion).

These figures simply show the incompetence and insincerity of our government officials. The simplest part of the arithmetic is laid down below:

• NNPC crude oil allocation for local consumption: 400,000 barrels per day
• Assuming refineries work at 30%, 280,000 barrels can be sold on the international market. (Remember that I assumed that refineries don’t work in calculating our consumption, to give an absolute worst case scenario).
• Money accruing to FGN, through NNPC on the sale, using $80/bbl: $22.4m a day. Note that the true price is higher, as oil currently sells for $100/bbl and Nigerian crude sells at a premium to the benchmark Brent crude.
• Annually, this translates to: $8.176bn or N1.3trillion.

What does this mean? The government does not subsidize our petrol imports, at least not from the Federation Account. The same crude that should have been refined by NNPC is simply sold on the international market (since our refineries barely work) and the money is used to buy petrol. The 400,000 barrels/day given to NNPC for local consumption can either be refined by NNPC or sold to pay for imports. The “subsidy” should be funded with this money, not the regular FGN budget. If the government uses its regular budget for subsidizing petrol, then what happens to the crude given to NNPC for local refining, but gets sold on the international market?

Conclusion
Now that the petrol pump price has been hiked by over 100% and resulted in 100-200% increases in the price of transportation, personal electricity generation and foodstuff, what do I advice the government to do?

1. Revise the petrol price, not to N65, but to an amount which takes inflation into consideration. Cumulative inflation from 2008 to 2011 is about 27%. A new petrol price of N88 should be a reasonable sacrifice for Nigerians, while the government tries to build trust by sorting out the real issues of the midstream/downstream oil industry and cutting down the cost of governance.
2. Partner with the International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the upstream oil sector to carry out the deregulation of the midstream/downstream oil sectors. Refineries are not very profitable compared to other areas in the oil industry; with profit margins ranging from 0-15% (this is why we don’t see companies queuing up to set up refineries). The government needs to give incentives to these companies to set up refineries in Nigeria, in the form of tax breaks, duty exemptions, crude price guarantees, etc. All agreements should be in place, with an enabling law, by September 2012.
3. The government has already shown and admitted that it cannot manage refineries. All new Greenfield refineries should use the NLNG model, where government owns enough equity to influence strategy in favour of the Nigerian people, but is not involved in the routine management of the company. This is the best way to get the best out of these refineries while protecting the national interest. The new refineries should come on stream by end of 2014.
4. Sell the existing refineries to the IOCs and stop spending taxpayers’ money trying to revamp them within the current structure. The IOCs have built and currently operate hundreds of refineries across the world, so refining is their bread and butter. ExxonMobil’s Torrance Refinery is over 80 years old, Total’s Port Arthur Refinery is about 100 years old – these companies know how to manage refineries.
5. The sale of the refineries should be carried out by September 2012. I know the refineries have been very poorly managed, so we should not expect to make tons of cash from selling them. The main advantages of the existing refineries to a buyer are the existing Brownfield facilities (roads, utilities, power), an existing pipeline distribution system and a skilled workforce. The IOCs should be mandated to revamp these new refineries to 70% nameplate production by January 2014 and 95% by January 2015.
6. Incorporate PPPRA into DPR by December 2012, with an appropriate legislation (I’m not sure whether this is already included in the PIB). Let us have one strong agency to monitor all activities, including product pricing in the downstream oil industry.
7. Balkanize PPMC and sell it off to private investors, again with the government retaining a non-controlling stake in the new entities. This should be done by September 2012, in parallel with the sale of refineries.
8. Increase the fuel price in Jan 2014, not by simply jacking up the prices, but by introducing a tax on imported products. The tax should be deducted at source when making “subsidy” payments to the importers. Jan 2014 is chosen because I expect the output from local refineries to improve to at least 70% within 1 year of operations by IOCs.
9. Introduce a law that any company that will be licensed to import petroleum products from July 2013 must either be currently running a refinery in Nigeria or be in the process of building a refinery in Nigeria (i.e. project has passed FID stage and execution contracts are signed). The total products each individual company can import must not be more than 20% of the company’s total refining capacity (existing + in construction) in Nigeria. This is the only way to break the importation “cabal”.
10. Immediately, start prosecuting all companies and individuals suspected of involvement in the royal mess that the fuel importation segment has become. Use the same vigour (or more) that was used in the 2009-2010 reform of the banking sector. Also, all companies and individuals suspected of involvement in the refinery TAM contract scams should be prosecuted.
11. Immediately, tighten the borders to minimize smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries and sack/prosecute the relevant officials if smuggling remains a major issue. Our petrol will always be cheaper than that of our neighbours, especially if/when local refining reaches/surpasses local consumption. As every economist knows, products will always be cheaper in the source location than other places.
12. Set up petroleum product trading agreements for surplus products in Nigeria to be sold to neighbouring countries in a legal and transparent manner. All agreements should be in place by July 2013, well in advance of additional capacity coming on stream. These agreements will assure companies building refineries that there is an available regional market for them to legally sell products refined in Nigeria.

With all the above, “subsidy” will disappear by Dec 2014, but in a gradual process, ensuring no price shocks (such as the 100% increase of Jan 2012) re-occur and ensuring that the industry is actually sanitized. Of course, the government also needs to keep to its several promises of improving the power sector and revamping rail lines, two critical developments which will reduce our consumption of petroleum products significantly.

Data Sources:

1. http://www.nigeriafirst.org/article_11527.shtml Para. 14
2. http://www.nigerianoilgas.com/?p=518
3. http://www.pppra-nigeria.org/index.asp
4. http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/subsidy-deductions-hit-n1-264tr-say-govs/101264/
5. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
6. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPSIA/Resources/490023-1120841262639/Angola_PSIA_vol1_English.pdf
7. http://www.livecharts.co.uk/MarketCharts/crude.php
8. http://www.cenbank.org/rates/inflrates.asp?year=2011
9. http://www.nlng.com/PageEngine.aspx?&id=43
10. http://www.totalpetrochemicalsusa.com/pdf/F_FactsPortArthur.pdf
11. http://www.exxonmobil.com/NA-English/PA/about_where_ref_torrance.aspx
12. http://www.petroleumonline.com/content/overview.asp?mod=8
13. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-refining-margins-negative-in-dec-total-2012-01-05
14. http://205.254.135.7/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=24&t=6
15. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.VEH.NVEH.P3
16. http://cdn.dailypost.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Consolidated-Detailed-Findings.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16544533

Nigeria's trade unions say they are suspending protests for two days to allow more talks with the government.

The announcement comes on the fifth day of a general strike over the removal of a fuel subsidy, which has caused fuel prices and transport fares to double.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets, while several people have died in clashes with police.

The unions said Thursday's talks with the president were "fruitful" and would continue on Saturday.

The main union organisations jointly announced there would be no mass rallies or protests over the weekend and flights would resume, enabling delegates to travel to the capital, Abuja for talks.

The oil workers unions had said they would cut oil production in Africa's biggest exporter, starting from Sunday.

KnowAll:
Lebenese or Syrian – “Oyinbo Kora” or just Kora which literally means “[color=#990000]Koranic Oyinbo[color]” (obviously ‘Oyinbo’ being a white man)

i think u got this wrong, oyinbo kora/ kora actually originates from koreans, and it is used to refer to anybody looking like chinese but is not chinese

dumb/dormant/inactive twitter accounts opened by christ embassy members coz they want to make a name for pastor chris

useless govt and ASUU
ASUU's strike over the years has never translated to improved quality of teaching and research, however, as we've seen, it's always yielded more pay for the lecturers. wat has these lecturers got to loose if they go on strike? absolutely nothing, and that is why i believe the "no work, no pay" policy should be applied to ASUU (and nigeria public service) so that they will always have to think twice before goin on strike

with the right punctuation, patience's grammar seems very correct.
however, the problem is with the sense/logic/rationality of she was saying. makes me wonder wat kind of senseless/illogical/irrational  ideas/advice she will be giving her husband when they are doing their bedroom discussion about nigeria

somebody should please tell me this is not true. . . . why appoint a woman who just lost her husband as ambassador for whatever? to me, this is an insensitive action which is insulting to the dead man, the woman and their family, and besides, is this the way to appoint pple to position? compensation-based appointment for the loss of your husband? uhh, i hail thee, mr jeg

if this information is lie (which i hope it will be), i retract all my statement

don buchi:
Gowon is very silly. He started states creation and his successors followed his footstep. What is he complaining now? He will regret more in his grave.
Give the South East its equal share of States as the other zones, then the bastardization can begin.

seriously, do u think givin south east one more state will solve the problem of southeast and nigeria? gowon started it by creating 12 states, but how many states do we have now? and how many more are we clamoring for? it is time we re-traced our steps. state creation broods ethnic distrust, it creates unnecessary overheads, and more avenues for looting, besides the fact that 60 % of the states created an not economically viable.
gowon started the bad trend, he is regretting it, it s time  the present govt do the same.