Good evening equitable judges, hardworking coordinators, fellow debaters and all knowledge seeking Nairalanders, I also want to send my unreserved appreciation to the creator of this forum, Mr. Seun Osewa, whose ingenuity has provided us with this platform to debate on pertinent issues surrounding our country’s development.

My Name is ObiZEAL and I am representing the noble students of UNIVERSITY OF JOS, my colleague and I will be answering the question; Is (the removal of fuel) subsidy justified in Nigeria?
Before I make known my answer, I will like to bother intellectuals following this debate with a few definitions as it concerns this debate and the Nigerian situation;
Fuel Subsidy: in the simplest terms, means the government is paying part of the cost of you purchasing a liter of petrol so that it will be affordable for you and other average Nigerians.
Secondly, justice (adjective: Justified) can be defined as the state of being fair.
With perfect understanding of the defined terms, I think it will be safe to rephrase the debate topic as thus: Is the act of government halting the reduction of fuel pump price so as to make it affordable for average Nigerians fair?
Well, my answer is No; the removal fuel subsidy is not justified in Nigeria. I will be rationalizing my position with the following points:


Firstly and simply too, the problem that led to the introduction of fuel subsidy have not been addressed, so it unjustifiable to halt the payment of fuel subsidy without addressing the problem that led to it’s inception in the first place. Fuel subsidy was introduced to Nigerians in the year 1986 and the reason was because our refineries where in a state of unrepair and could no longer produce enough fuel for our domestic consumption, the fuel subsidy was designed to last 6 months so as to give time to fix our refineries, but it have lasted for over 29 years and the refineries have still not been fixed. As at September 2015, our faulty refineries were producing a total of 6.76 million liters of petrol per day for a country which needs over 40 million liters of petrol per day, leaving the country with a deficit of about 33.34 million liters of petrol to be imported. Following the sanctity of this fact, one can authoritatively conclude that the removal of fuel subsidy will be justifiable only when Nigeria’s refineries start producing enough fuel for the daily consumption of Nigerians. I know my opponents might want to say that the money saved from the removal of fuel subsidy will be used to repair the refineries, well, I want to state succinctly that the reason why our refineries have been in a comatose state for over 27 years is because of the lack of political will and not the lack of funds.


To further fortify my position, which is to prove the unjustifiability of fuel subsidy removal, I will like to have us all look at the prospects of this action, it’s obvious to the informed that the reason why the discomfort caused by the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria is still latent is because of the global fall of oil price. With oil selling for about $27.67 per barrel (as at 18th of January 2016), the average Nigerian can, after much struggle, manage to squeeze out 87 Naira to buy a liter of petrol. But by the other half of this year, when the price of oil increases (as predicted by BP's CEO, Mr. Bob Dudley) the pump price of petrol will consequently increase and it will become impossible for average Nigerians to survive, this will be made so because the government have removed fuel subsidy without putting in place any palliative measures, neither have they increased the minimum wage! The second half the year, which will come with an increased fuel price, will see the cost of transportation sky rocket and the cost foodstuff increase, consequently having a multiplier effect on every aspect of our daily lives which will eventually throw the citizenry into unimaginable hardship. Surely from the above point, it is not justifiable for a government to take away the only social benefit its people gets from it (which is petrol subsidy) without providing any welfare package, palliative measures or any form of increase in salaries.

Finally, for those who may have not yet been convinced that the removal of fuel subsidy is not justified in Nigeria, I will crave your indulgence to join me in looking at this fuel subsidy issue in retrospect. The immediate past government of Nigeria in January of 2012 took an action of totally removing fuel subsidy, this actions was met with a defiant reaction by the people who demanded, and rightfully so, that the payment of fuel subsidy be continued. After a historical drag between the government and the people, a compromise was reached, which consequently saw fuel subsidy partially removed. The government promised immediate provision of palliative measures to cushion the effect of the partial removal of fuel subsidy and also promised to reinvest the funds into the economy which will provide immediate and remote benefits for the country. I'm certain that 90% of the followers of this debate will agree with me that those palliative measures never went beyond our television screens, also if those funds where ever reinvested into our economy is an issue that have been widely debated. Considering this fact; that the money gotten from the partial removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria was unaccounted for, how does one intend to justify the total removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria? I hope my opponent will not make the error of saying that we are in a new political dispensation, because governance as we all know, is a continuous process.
However, if the government can fix our refineries, provide welfare packages and restore the lost trust, only then can the removal of fuel subsidy be justified in Nigeria.


References
http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/Editorial_10/The-Full-Story-of-Fuel-Subsidy-Crisis.shtml
http://www.nnpcgroup.com/PublicRelations/NNPCinthenews/tabid/92/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/618/Refineries-Producing-676-Million-Litres-of-Petrol-per-Day-NNPC.aspx
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2016/01/crude-oil-price-plunges-to-27-67-per-barrel
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35363066
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fue,-subsidies-should-go/215710

Thank you guys.

@ 7:30pm, the rebuttals begins, and its going to last for an hour - 7:30pm - 8:30pm.


Menzo4u, Betacitizen, noskyboy, obiZEAL

You can drop your counterarguments now if ready.


Menzo4u, Betacitizen, noskyboy, obiZEAL

According to you @noskyboy

"Economically; the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria cannot be justified, because such decision would have an adverse multiplier effect on the economy on a long run, it will lead to the increase in prices of everything, from transportation to cost of running businesses especially small businesses which would increase prices of food and other services and goods."

One can directly say the above statement of yours is mere propaganda and not in line with the current in the oil world. It is well known that there is global fall in the price of oil, so how can a the removal of fuel subsidy bring those adversities you mentioned above?

Secondly, for your information Sir, your statement has already been tackled in my submission, all we need as a nation is "sacrifice". Since the price of oil is still low globally, don't you think that by reinvesting money generated from subsidy removal, we can also bring our refinery back to life and start producing oil locally which will even translate into more benefits for us as a nation? Where is the austerity Sir?

Do also bear in mind that, the rebuttal stage carries 5 marks. So do well to attend to all questions raised by your opponent.

Thank you.

Menzo4u, Betacitizen, noskyboy, obiZEAL

menzo4u
the last adminstration spent about 4 trillion naira on budget while this adminstration is spending about 6 trillion. so I don't understand your logic when you say money spent on fuel subsidy in 2015 (1 trillion ) is more than 2 budgets.
secondly, how long can we bear the sacrifice with no palliative measures in place, no free transport, no free food and a minimum wage of 18500. are Nigerians magicians? .
thirdly, the corruption fight is still slow and highly partial, so how long are we going to wait?

Betacitizen, you made mention in your debate that : The removal of fuel subsidy will make room for diversification of the economy, I put it to you that your argument is flawed. Payment of fuel subsidy and diversification of the economy are not mutually exclusive.
Our government can keep paying fuel subsidy and still diversify our economy if the political will is present.
Fuel subsidy is not the only item in our previous national budget, there have been provisions for other revenue producing sectors like agriculture and solid minerals, but the problem have been implementation, Nigeria is not the only country subsidizing petrol, but we are the only country that have been unable to diversify our economy, the passiveness of our government should be blamed for not diversifying our economy and not payment of fuel subsidy.

obiZEAL:

Finally, for those who may have not yet been convinced that the removal of fuel subsidy is not justified in Nigeria, I will crave your indulgence to join me in looking at this fuel subsidy issue in retrospect. The immediate past government of Nigeria in January of 2012 took an action of totally removing fuel subsidy, this actions was met with a defiant reaction by the people who demanded, and rightfully so, that the payment of fuel subsidy be continued. After a historical drag between the government and the people, a compromise was reached, which consequently saw fuel subsidy partially removed. The government promised immediate provision of palliative measures to cushion the effect of the partial removal of fuel subsidy and also promised to reinvest the funds into the economy which will provide immediate and remote benefits for the country. I'm certain that 90% of the followers of this debate will agree with me that those palliative measures never went beyond our television screens, also if those funds where ever reinvested into our economy is an issue that have been widely debated. Considering this fact; that the money gotten from the partial removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria was unaccounted for, how does one intend to justify the total removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria? I hope my opponent will not make the error of saying that we are in a new political dispensation, because governance as we all know, is a continuous process.

A proper understanding of your assertion above shows that you are refererring to nothing but corruption and the mismanagement of fund witnessed in the former administration. But if you will be sincere with me Sir, with the rate at which corruption is tackled now with various politcal "thieves" dancing in the net of the EFCC now, don't you think the point above is not relevant in the current political space?

You can both now respond to each other counterarguments.

Noskyboy, Menzo4u

obiZEAL:
Menzo4u, you made mention in your debate that : The removal of fuel subsidy will make room for diversification of the economy, I put it to you that your argument is flawed. Payment of fuel subsidy and diversification of the economy are not mutually exclusive.
Our government can keep paying fuel subsidy and still diversify our economy if the political will is present.
Fuel subsidy is not the only item in our previous national budget, there have been provisions for other revenue producing sectors like agriculture and solid minerals, but the problem have been implementation, Nigeria is not the only country subsidizing petrol, but we are the only country that have been unable to diversify our economy, the passiveness of our government should be blamed for not diversifying our economy and not payment of fuel subsidy.

Diversification of the economy is not something that can be done with a peanut Sir. It requires high level of financial commitment and planning. Or how on earth do you expect a country currently nursing to pay a number of debt and still spending such huge amount of fuel subsidy to embark on diversification? You made mention of solid minerals and agriculture, does the government not need to ensure some kind of blockage in financial waste to be able achieve this?

menzo4u:
According to you @noskyboy

"Economically; the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria cannot be justified, because such decision would have an adverse multiplier effect on the economy on a long run, it will lead to the increase in prices of everything, from transportation to cost of running businesses especially small businesses which would increase prices of food and other services and goods."

One can directly say the above statement of yours is mere propaganda and not in line with the current in the oil world. It is well known that there is global fall in the price of oil, so how can a the removal of fuel subsidy bring those adversities you mentioned above?

Secondly, for your information Sir, your statement has already been tackled in my submission, all we need as a nation is "sacrifice". Since the price of oil is still low globally, don't you think that by reinvesting money generated from subsidy removal, we can also bring our refinery back to life and start producing oil locally which will even translate into more benefits for us as a nation? Where is the austerity Sir?

first of all, because the oil price has fallen doesn't mean it would remain that way for ever, my analysis is based on the long run, the CEO of BP predicted a rise in oil price in the second half of this year, so how much can the government save within this short period to fix all that has been destroyed due to mismanagement?. as I also said, there is no measure put in place to enable soft landing when prises go up. I assure you, once prices go up again, even you would beg that fuel subsidy be replaced.

noskyboy:
menzo4u
the last adminstration spent about 4 trillion naira on budget while this adminstration is spending about 6 trillion. so I don't understand your logic when you say money spent on fuel subsidy in 2015 (1 trillion ) is more than 2 budgets.
secondly, how long can we bear the sacrifice with no palliative measures in place, no free transport, no free food and a minimum wage of 18500. are Nigerians magicians? .
thirdly, the corruption fight is still slow and highly partial, so how long are we going to wait?

Please try to comprehend my statement. I said the money was enough to fund two budgets in some sectors of the economy, not the total budget. What you mentioned above is the total budget, not for some (two) sectors.

On your question on palliative measure, is it not money that will be used to set those palliative measures? Now, the money is about to be generated by removing subsidy, but you said "NO". Again: the government has also introduced the Treasury Single Account policy to block some leakages in order to put up the palliative measures: so subsidy is one of the leakages.

When you said corruption fight is still low, I laughed because, that thing called "corruption" is not kid's play so it requires slow but steady action.

Mr Menzo4u , you made mention of Nigeria having erudite leaders like Buhari, Adesoun and Ibe Kachikwu at the helm of affairs who would make sure the money gotten from subsidy will not be diverted as has been the case in previous occasions, well, why don't this erudite leader sanitize the process Of payments of fuel subsidy instead. Halting fuel subsidy because of the corruption in the process can be liken to throwing the baby away with the bath water. We all all know you can't cut off the head because you have a headache, so also, the payment of subsidy cannot be stopped because some unscrupulous elements are being dishonest. The 'corruption intolerant' government should sanitize the oil industry and not torture the masses.

betacitizen

you mentioned that the last administration started a good job by reinvesting the fuel subsidy using the sureP programme. its either you are not in Nigeria, or you watched too much television during the last administration. we in Jos, never saw a single sureP bus neither did we feel the direct effect of Sure P. it was a scam programme. and that confirmed the fears Nigerians had about removing subsidy.

noskyboy:
betacitizen

you mentioned that the last administration started a good job by reinvesting the fuel subsidy using the sureP programme. its either you are not in Nigeria, or you watched too much television during the last administration. we in Jos, never saw a single sureP bus neither did we feel the direct effect of Sure P. it was a scam programme. and that confirmed the fears Nigerians had about removing subsidy.

I hope you noted the word "but" in my statement? The whole idea behind SURE-P was a good intention which would have been of immense benefit to Nigerians, but corruption was the problem then. And that corruption is seriously being tackled by the present administration which means we have hope as a nation.

Yabatech..

menzo4u:
Diversification of the economy is not something that can be done with a peanut Sir. It requires high level of financial commitment and planning. Or how on earth do you expect a country currently nursing to pay a number of debt and still spending such huge amount of fuel subsidy to embark on diversification? You made mention of solid minerals and agriculture, does the government not need to ensure some kind of blockage in financial waste to be able achieve this?

If you have gone through the proposed 2016 Budget, you will discover that fuel subsidy is comfortably missing, but if you look harder you will also discover that the 'high level financial commitment' as you said, have not been awarded to the sector which you said will be diversified with the removal of fuel subsidy. This is to further stress that the reason why our economy have not been diversified is not financial, its is rather political. What will you say about countries that pay fuel subsidy and still have been able to diversify their economy?
Lets not blame payment of fuel subsidy for not diversifying our economy, the reason is squarely political!

menzo4u:

Please try to comprehend my statement. I said the money was enough to fund two budgets in some sectors of the economy, not the total budget. What you mentioned above is the total budget, not for some (two) sectors.

On your question on palliative measure, is it not money that will be used to set those palliative measures? Now, the money is about to be generated by removing subsidy, but you said "NO". Again: the government has also introduced the Treasury Single Account policy to block some leakages in order to put up the palliative measures: so subsidy is one of the leakages.

When you said corruption fight is still low, I laughed because, that thing called "corruption" is not kid's play so it requires slow but steady action.

don't you think that rather than removing fuel subsidy, state government should be made to look in wards and generate revenue rather than wait for federal allocations. removal of fuel subsidy is not blocking any leakage, rather its an anti welfare move

obiZEAL:
Mr Menzo4u , you made mention of Nigeria having erudite leaders like Buhari, Adesoun and Ibe Kachikwu at the helm of affairs who would make sure the money gotten from subsidy will not be diverted as has been the case in previous occasions, well, why don't this erudite leader sanitize the process Of payments of fuel subsidy instead. Halting fuel subsidy because of the corruption in the process can be liken to throwing the baby away with the bath water. We all all know you can't cut off the head because you have a headache, so also, the payment of subsidy cannot be stopped because some unscrupulous elements are being dishonest. The 'corruption intolerant' government should sanitize the oil industry and not torture the masses.

The best way to ensure "sanity" is to remove the fuel subsidy Sir. It was insanity when very few people who call themselves "oil marketers" have to hold Nigerians for ransom when the Federal Government is not able to meet their payment conditions on Subsidy. So sanity will be ensured when we do not have to depend on this cabal anymore, and ensure we look inwards to invest in other sectors of the economy.

There is nothing like torturing here, what we have is "sacrifice" which will temporary in order to free us from the bondage called oil subsidy. In fact, by removing subsidy, there will also be room for competition among all these oil marketers if you think about it very well

In the next 5 minutes, judges can drop their questions.



Jarus, Freemanan, Isacolukay

@catlova,

Comments like what you just posted won't be tolerated. You got questions, feel free to ask and stop being derogatory

Thank you.

obiZEAL:

If you have gone through the proposed 2016 Budget, you will discover that fuel subsidy is comfortably missing, but if you look harder you will also discover that the 'high level financial commitment' as you said, have not been awarded to the sector which you said will be diversified with the removal of fuel subsidy. This is to further stress that the reason why our economy have not been diversified is not financial, its is rather political. What will you say about countries that pay fuel subsidy and still have been able to diversify their economy?
Lets not blame payment of fuel subsidy for not diversifying our economy, the reason is squarely political!

At this point, I will like to educate you. 2016 budget started its planning process since 2015, and the implementation of subsidy removal started in 2016, so it is technically impossible to make up for the areas where the re-investment of subsidy will be targeted for now. But by taking such steps, the coming year will definitely will be a joyful one for us as a nation. The process of transition from one stage to another is not a day job. So subsidy removal is still in that process for now.

betacitizen:




A proper understanding of your assertion above shows that you are refererring to nothing but corruption and the mismanagement of fund witnessed in the former administration. But if you will be sincere with me Sir, with the rate at which corruption is tackled now with various politcal "thieves" dancing in the net of the EFCC now, don't you think the point above is not relevant in the current political space?

Why don't the government flex this zeal to fight corruption in the oil sector?
Let them sanitize the oil sector and eliminate the so called cabal of the rich that have made the process of payment of subsidy opaque instead of removing fuel subsidy which will put the masses through unimaginable peril.

Big ups to all debaters. Its been a "Wowing" brawl of intellect...

My questions have all been answered one way or the other...

Goodluck Mates.

Nice one to all debaters.....

betacitizen:

I hope you noted the word "but" in my statement? The whole idea behind SURE-P was a good intention which would have been of immense benefit to Nigerians, but corruption was the problem then. And that corruption is seriously being tackled by the present administration which means we have hope as a nation.

when you say corruption is being tackled, I ask, how much have we recovered from corrupt people, we don't know. some people have returned stollen money as revealed by Buhari, who are they and how much, we don't know. is that not corruption in it self? shielding some corrupt people and punishing some. so who should me be scared of, corrupt people or a partial corruption fighter?

menzo4u:

The best way to ensure "sanity" is to remove the fuel subsidy Sir. It was insanity when very few people who call themselves "oil marketers" have to hold Nigerians for ransom when the Federal Government is not able to meet their payment conditions on Subsidy. So sanity will be ensured when we do not have to depend on this cabal anymore, and ensure we look inwards to invest in other sectors of the economy.

There is nothing like torturing here, what we have is "sacrifice" which will temporary in order to free us from the bondage called oil subsidy. In fact, by removing subsidy, there will also be room for competition among all these oil marketers if you think about it very well

When ASUU Goes on their periodic strikes as a result of government not being able to reach their demands, holding the Government to ransom, do the Government resort to shouting down the public Universities so that there can be competition between the private Universities?
No, They don't! They dialogue, that's a characteristic of a good government.
Fuel subsidy removal cannot be justified.

obiZEAL:

Why don't the government flex this zeal to fight corruption in the oil sector?
Let them sanitize the oil sector and eliminate the so called cabal of the rich that have made the process of payment of subsidy opaque instead of removing fuel subsidy which will put the masses through unimaginable peril.

The government? Did you forget that people like us are also the ones in government, they aren't machines. So, I hope you are aware of the current ongoing corruption war as regards the issue of arms deal? Don't you think combining such to facing oil sector will be a disaster? So, the governement is taking the step one after the other.

Mind you, there is no economic hardship for now, because the price of oil has fallen globally already, removing fuel subsidy pose no threat for now.