₦airaland Forum

AmeboFeeds:
IF ONLY NIGERIA KNOWS HOW TINUBU RESCUED US FROM THE MONUMENTAL FRAUD CALLED OIL SUBSIDY

By Hon. Rotimi Makinde - Insider's Account_





If only Nigeria knows how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rescued Nigerians from the oil subsidy regime, every Nigerian will stand and thank him every morning.



Oil subsidy was not a policy. It was a monumental fraud. A national organized crime.



I write not as a politician, but from the perspective of an insider. I served this country as a staff of NNPC for 20 solid years. I was an accountant saddled with accounting for petroleum product sales from my desk in Pipeline and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, at Ibadan Depot. For 20 years, I saw the books. I saw the lies.



I also write as a former member of the House of Representatives. I served as a member of the Downstream Petroleum Committee, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the Subsidy Probe Committee of 2012, and above all, a member of the Petroleum Industry Bill Committee of the 7th Assembly.



All these exposures and responsibilities availed me the opportunity to arrive at one painful truth: this country's oil and gas industry operated under a very corrupt environment, shrouded in a very severe manner that injured the nation deeply.



The system of the subsidy regime lied about everything. They lied about production cost. They lied about importation. They lied about landing cost and its poor cost template. There were a lot of lies in storage and consumption figures. Nigeria was consuming 30 million litres on paper, but on the ground, half of it was going across our borders to Benin, Niger, Togo, Cameroon and Ghana. We were subsidizing the consumption of petroleum products for mostly our neighbouring countries while Nigerians suffered scarcity.



We were borrowing to import what we had. We were paying debts we did not consume. The huge debt encountered during the subsidy regime almost collapsed our economy. Banks were making trillions from subsidy claims. One man would bring one ship and claim for three. Depot owners were collecting subsidy for products that never left their tanks.



That is why I say, the best thing that ever happened to this oil and gas industry is the bold step taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023 when he said "Subsidy is gone".



Only a courageous leader with full understanding of the cartel can do that. Others before him knew the truth but lacked the courage.



If there are any counter voices now calling for the return of subsidy, it can only mean one thing: the cartels are fighting back. It will not augur well for us as a nation if we listen to them. Those championing the return of subsidy either lack the knowledge or exposure to how this country was subsidizing other countries, or they are direct beneficiaries of the fraud.



Let me be clear: Nigerians were never the beneficiaries of subsidy. The cartels were. Nigerians were only benefiting from cheap smuggled product scarcity, long queues, and national debt.



Of course, the need to overhaul the administration of the post-subsidy regime cannot be over-emphasized. Government must ensure that the savings from subsidy are well managed, that refineries work, that CNG and other palliatives reach the real poor, and that the downstream is well regulated.



But to return to subsidy? Never. That will be returning to Egypt after God has already taken us through the Red Sea.



President Tinubu has taken the hard road, the right road. History will vindicate him.



*Hon. Rotimi Makinde, former PPMC Staff (20 years, Ibadan Depot) and former Member, House of Representatives, writes from the Source.*

ugonwagod:
Stop smoking weed and hard substances you refused.
See you are disgracing yourself talking rubbish about a certain tinubu who destroyed Nigeria and Nigerians economy.
Tinubu should go home and sit down

Zionmdde:
To see how selfless Tinubu reforms are, check Oando pre Tinubu and Tinubu government
Check the pockets of all the politicians with Tinubu

They took away subsidy from the masses to fatten the pockets of politicians

Ask them what exactly the common man is enjoying, they will tell you student loan and coastal roads. Schemes that drop billions into the pockets of the mighty

TopBanter:
Lol. What exactly was the common man enjoying under cheap fuel regime? You think cheap fuel alone, with poverty and stagnation everywhere constituted fitting human existence?

The problem with most of you is that you are not exposed and previous Presidents before Tinubu had used weaponised poverty, through several subsisidies to get you accustomed to your totally crap lives and even thankful/praiseful of it.

Look, majority of Nigerians will never be able to buy a car, a home, go on holiday, beat generational poverty, be finest trained human resources etc.

Is that life you have, one of the worst globally, simply not because they give you cheap petrol, subsidized electricity delivering only darkness, subsidized education delivering substandard level of graduates meaning we must import foreign expert to deliver our crititical infrastructure etc, etc ?

Can't you guys see the obvious and how we must change and sacrifice to become like Singapore etal?

AmeboFeeds:
IF ONLY NIGERIA KNOWS HOW TINUBU RESCUED US FROM THE MONUMENTAL FRAUD CALLED OIL SUBSIDY

By Hon. Rotimi Makinde - Insider's Account_





If only Nigeria knows how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rescued Nigerians from the oil subsidy regime, every Nigerian will stand and thank him every morning.



Oil subsidy was not a policy. It was a monumental fraud. A national organized crime.



I write not as a politician, but from the perspective of an insider. I served this country as a staff of NNPC for 20 solid years. I was an accountant saddled with accounting for petroleum product sales from my desk in Pipeline and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, at Ibadan Depot. For 20 years, I saw the books. I saw the lies.



I also write as a former member of the House of Representatives. I served as a member of the Downstream Petroleum Committee, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the Subsidy Probe Committee of 2012, and above all, a member of the Petroleum Industry Bill Committee of the 7th Assembly.



All these exposures and responsibilities availed me the opportunity to arrive at one painful truth: this country's oil and gas industry operated under a very corrupt environment, shrouded in a very severe manner that injured the nation deeply.



The system of the subsidy regime lied about everything. They lied about production cost. They lied about importation. They lied about landing cost and its poor cost template. There were a lot of lies in storage and consumption figures. Nigeria was consuming 30 million litres on paper, but on the ground, half of it was going across our borders to Benin, Niger, Togo, Cameroon and Ghana. We were subsidizing the consumption of petroleum products for mostly our neighbouring countries while Nigerians suffered scarcity.



We were borrowing to import what we had. We were paying debts we did not consume. The huge debt encountered during the subsidy regime almost collapsed our economy. Banks were making trillions from subsidy claims. One man would bring one ship and claim for three. Depot owners were collecting subsidy for products that never left their tanks.



That is why I say, the best thing that ever happened to this oil and gas industry is the bold step taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023 when he said "Subsidy is gone".



Only a courageous leader with full understanding of the cartel can do that. Others before him knew the truth but lacked the courage.



If there are any counter voices now calling for the return of subsidy, it can only mean one thing: the cartels are fighting back. It will not augur well for us as a nation if we listen to them. Those championing the return of subsidy either lack the knowledge or exposure to how this country was subsidizing other countries, or they are direct beneficiaries of the fraud.



Let me be clear: Nigerians were never the beneficiaries of subsidy. The cartels were. Nigerians were only benefiting from cheap smuggled product scarcity, long queues, and national debt.



Of course, the need to overhaul the administration of the post-subsidy regime cannot be over-emphasized. Government must ensure that the savings from subsidy are well managed, that refineries work, that CNG and other palliatives reach the real poor, and that the downstream is well regulated.



But to return to subsidy? Never. That will be returning to Egypt after God has already taken us through the Red Sea.



President Tinubu has taken the hard road, the right road. History will vindicate him.



*Hon. Rotimi Makinde, former PPMC Staff (20 years, Ibadan Depot) and former Member, House of Representatives, writes from the Source.*

TopBanter:
Lol. What exactly was the common man enjoying under cheap fuel regime? You think cheap fuel alone, with poverty and stagnation everywhere constituted fitting human existence?

The problem with most of you is that you are not exposed and previous Presidents before Tinubu had used weaponised poverty, through several subsisidies to get you accustomed to your totally crap lives and even thankful/praiseful of it.

Look, majority of Nigerians will never be able to buy a car, a home, go on holiday, beat generational poverty, be finest trained human resources etc.

Is that life you have, one of the worst globally, simply not because they give you cheap petrol, subsidized electricity delivering only darkness, subsidized education delivering substandard level of graduates meaning we must import foreign expert to deliver our crititical infrastructure etc, etc ?

Can't you guys see the obvious and how we must change and sacrifice to become like Singapore etal?

Zionmdde:
Who is doing the sacrifice?
The masses?
Seyi Tinubu?
Tinubu?
Akpabio?
The governors?


After sacrificing during buhari era, Nigerians are being told to sacrifice again

TopBanter:
Okay don't sacrifice na. Your problem, your misery. The privileged are sorted.

TopBanter:
Okay don't sacrifice na. Your problem, your misery. The privileged are sorted. I.e the Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso, GEJ family etc

What you guys are failing to understand is that we need a system that can allow more ordinary Nigerians to rise as high as possible to live fulfilled and productive lives beneficial to themselves and their nation.

Who, since 1999, is attempting to deliver that better than PBAT? NELFUND, for example, that allows children from the poorest homes to attend Uni, as long as they have the educational talent, has been done by which other President aside PBAT?

We are in a rebuilding stage. Be adult and responsible enough to try and understand the crucial concept which is that the damage is very severe.

We must therefore all be ready to sacrifice for a while and endure some pain of crucial reforms to get to our desired destination, as others have done globally like Singapore, after nations have been ruined over decades by cumulative misrule.

AmeboFeeds:
IF ONLY NIGERIA KNOWS HOW TINUBU RESCUED US FROM THE MONUMENTAL FRAUD CALLED OIL SUBSIDY

By Hon. Rotimi Makinde - Insider's Account_





If only Nigeria knows how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rescued Nigerians from the oil subsidy regime, every Nigerian will stand and thank him every morning.



Oil subsidy was not a policy. It was a monumental fraud. A national organized crime.



I write not as a politician, but from the perspective of an insider. I served this country as a staff of NNPC for 20 solid years. I was an accountant saddled with accounting for petroleum product sales from my desk in Pipeline and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, at Ibadan Depot. For 20 years, I saw the books. I saw the lies.



I also write as a former member of the House of Representatives. I served as a member of the Downstream Petroleum Committee, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the Subsidy Probe Committee of 2012, and above all, a member of the Petroleum Industry Bill Committee of the 7th Assembly.



All these exposures and responsibilities availed me the opportunity to arrive at one painful truth: this country's oil and gas industry operated under a very corrupt environment, shrouded in a very severe manner that injured the nation deeply.



The system of the subsidy regime lied about everything. They lied about production cost. They lied about importation. They lied about landing cost and its poor cost template. There were a lot of lies in storage and consumption figures. Nigeria was consuming 30 million litres on paper, but on the ground, half of it was going across our borders to Benin, Niger, Togo, Cameroon and Ghana. We were subsidizing the consumption of petroleum products for mostly our neighbouring countries while Nigerians suffered scarcity.



We were borrowing to import what we had. We were paying debts we did not consume. The huge debt encountered during the subsidy regime almost collapsed our economy. Banks were making trillions from subsidy claims. One man would bring one ship and claim for three. Depot owners were collecting subsidy for products that never left their tanks.



That is why I say, the best thing that ever happened to this oil and gas industry is the bold step taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023 when he said "Subsidy is gone".



Only a courageous leader with full understanding of the cartel can do that. Others before him knew the truth but lacked the courage.



If there are any counter voices now calling for the return of subsidy, it can only mean one thing: the cartels are fighting back. It will not augur well for us as a nation if we listen to them. Those championing the return of subsidy either lack the knowledge or exposure to how this country was subsidizing other countries, or they are direct beneficiaries of the fraud.



Let me be clear: Nigerians were never the beneficiaries of subsidy. The cartels were. Nigerians were only benefiting from cheap smuggled product scarcity, long queues, and national debt.



Of course, the need to overhaul the administration of the post-subsidy regime cannot be over-emphasized. Government must ensure that the savings from subsidy are well managed, that refineries work, that CNG and other palliatives reach the real poor, and that the downstream is well regulated.



But to return to subsidy? Never. That will be returning to Egypt after God has already taken us through the Red Sea.



President Tinubu has taken the hard road, the right road. History will vindicate him.



*Hon. Rotimi Makinde, former PPMC Staff (20 years, Ibadan Depot) and former Member, House of Representatives, writes from the Source.*

Predictor3:
And today Nigerians are living better than they did three years ago? Now there's chicken in every pot and money in every pocket.

I laugh at people like you. Check current poverty world clock for Nigeria, you'll realize that more Nigerians are falling into poverty. How do you explain this?
@nairalanda1

nairalanda1:
LOL...

If you want to be a rich nation, you nigerians got to be more productive. Youdo not borrow to live a rich life, you use what you have to make stuff that the world needs?

Has your tinubu made our country more productive? Is he doing that thing?

Some of you guys are so invested in proving i support APC, that you miss the actual message I am trying to give on this site.

Predictor3:
You didn't comprehend my point.
Did I sound like I support Tinubu in that post? I was replying the op who thought removing subsidy by Tinubu has helped Nigeria.
How has it helped Nigeria if Nigerians are poorer today? Isn't that a paradox?
I was hoping you could explain why even with the subsidy removal things have still gotten worse for the masses

nairalanda1:
Your question has been answered, Tinubu supporter. You just don't want to see it.

Good morning.

Bizibi:
Subsidy is gone but transparency and accountability is the same. Nothing has changed.

Predictor3:
Nothing has changed. Exactly.
Because the subsidy wasn't the problem to start with.