ivandragon:
Deregulate fully, but do it properly...

Eliminate or drastically reduce extraneous charges.

Review the financial policy & structures. As much as crude prices are rising, a key price determinant is the exchange rate. Keep the rate low & fuel prices will also be low...

middlebelter:


Knowing how central the running of the refineries is to the nation's economy and being the Minister of Petroleum Resources, I put it to him that he has failed Nigerians. If GEJ didn't fix the Refineries, we expected him to fix them as promised so that we won't be at the mercy of the global fluctuations in the price of PMS. We were buying at N87 per litre and Naira was about N200/$1, today our money is becoming more and more worthless and ior will some e-warriors will come here to defend him?

dimeji1:
They should continue to pay it. When they increase dollar rate arbitrarily to get more cash in the economy they forgot that determinant of major goods prices is dollar exchange rate including crude oil. If they remove it inflation may hit 30%.

sosereal201:
why must there be a landing cost in the first place when we have refineries that should be working.

Neutralobserver:


GEJ could afford to keep the price of fuel below N100, first at N97, then at N87 because oil prices were at $91-130 PER barrel under his rule...meaning there was
1.Enough income to subsidise fuel that low
2.Enough dolalrs to keep the value of the naira that low.

Buhari has had oil at $224--811 per barrel since he took over. Thus not enough cash to buffer the naira, hence the fall in the value of the naira, and not as much money to fund subsidy, hence the rise in oil prices.

Either way, the way froward, is to remove subsides compeltely, or fund subsdy via tax increases, and widening the tax base.

middlebelter:



These type of Economist are the people advising GMB and that is why this Economy is where it is today
. Economics of the "blame game". I remember GMB saying he built Refineries as a minister.

Neutralobserver:


You say this because you missed my point

Nigeria's economy is dependent on oil. Instead of us to get off oil, we use oil revenues to hide the cracks when the price is high and take loans when the price is low.

And any leader who tries to break out of that cycle gets removed.

All I am saying is simple...we cannot keep on running an economy based on oil.

(FYI, Buhari is not a good leader because he had tools to get us off oil, and he did not do it....)

Tianamen1:


please what is your solution?

A. allow the naira to keep falling which is invariably a tax on all Nigerians.
B. increase taxation on businesses limiting their ability to expand.
c. Increase taxes on consumption. a sales/ annual tax such as property taxes, and other luxury taxes
d. increase the imaginary tax net. get more people to pay taxes.
e. none of the above. please explain

Short term, remove subsides, and increase the tax base (from the 30% of the populaiton it is now, to 80% or more of the populaiton).

Long term, we have to encourage industrial development to the point where we can export industrial goods and earn more forex than we already earn

That's my solution in brief.

Or we can keep taking loans to augument the low revenue from oil due to low oil prices.

InvestingExpert:
good morning

Sterope:
Cost is relative

Tianamen1:


The vast majority of Nigerians a living day by day not knowing what tomorrow holds for them. Nigeria is the world poverty capital. Most countries invest in their populations education and healthcare, so their citizens see some benefit in paying taxes. In Nigeria, the politically connected can steal as much as they want without penalty. So why should the average Nigerian pay more in taxes. It is easier for the government to devalue the currency and blame this on external factors thus creating more naira from the fewer dollars we are earning



This requires a lot on investment in basic education, healthcare and infrastructure such as power and transportation. Nigeria is currently broke. investments in broad scale basic education will take time before we can rip the benefits. Gas for electricity is priced in USD, so as the naira falls in value the unit cost for electricity rises.



Nigeria requires very specific policies to get out of this mess. first of all, an understanding that all Nigerians must sacrifice and not only the middle class and the poor. Increases in the price of fuel has little to no impact on the lives of rich Nigerians. the government must focus its tax collection on the consumption be the rich. The government must seek to reduce Nigerians demand for exported goods, be it housing materials, phones or even cars. all this items must be taxed and taxed heavily. the government must also shift its focus to improving the human capital of all its citizens. Nigerians are hardworking but we cannot make products that compete internationally.

Neutralobserver:


If Buhari had really scrapped subsidy, by now fuel would have cost over N300 per liter

What happens when government says they have scrapped subsidy is that they have partially removed/reduced the amount they spend subsidsing fuel, which manifests as an increase in the price....and this happens when the cost of subsidisng fuel rises.

BigBizzy:


Dear bmc, your response holds no water...