₦airaland Forum

While I agree with GEJ that the collateral damage through the military action on Odi and Zaki Biam was uncalled for, GEJ should also be held responsible for the growth of militancy in the ND. It is a known fact that the meteoric rise of militancy in the ND was sponsored by the then Governors of SS and its leaders so GEJ cannot be exonerated.
BTW, when did FFK start speaking on behalf of OBJ? That guy is starved of attention!

Maxymilliano: The government action is like an intervention and I want to believe a foolproof and workable PPP template will be worked out soon, like the President said during the media chat, government cannot fold its arms and allow the carnage experienced on that road to continue.

Its commendable! Is there an intervention fund where government will get funds to mobilise the contractors cos that road needs urgent attention as the festive season approaches or will they have to wait until the 2013 budget is passed as this project was never appropriated for and its also not in the Mid Term expenditure frame work of the government and its late to send a supplementary budget for 2012

Maxymilliano: Bro, non-compliance with the terms of work is enough to throw the contract out of the window, if you are conversant with this road, you'll know that there is no significance improvement from the state it was when Adeseye Ogunlewe was minister of works during OBJ's regime till now, all what we got over the years is the usual 'ember' month patching once the year is running to an end.

I will not rule out a court injunction from bi-courtney, Babalakin seems to be good at that, you know he is having similar issue with the taking over of the old secretariat in Ikoyi by his company and which is been contested by the Lagos State government, but apart from the FG, he will also have the governors of Oyo and Ogun to contend with, this governors are also concerned on the pitiable state of the road and won't mind taking over if the law permits.

So my advice for him will be to seek out a workable compensation and to also use same as a bargaining tool with the government for Other less contested projects.

I do agree that non compliance to a contractual terms is enough reason to revoke the concession. My problem is if the FG has the capacity to carry out the project. I watched an interview of Orubebe lamenting about inadequate funding from the FG to finish the East West road, if budgetary allocation will be used to embark on it that will take a long time because the allocation will be in piece meal. There are other existing capital projects still begging for funds for its completion. I'll want to propose a PPP arrangement or else government will be shooting itself in the leg if it takes over the project and work is stalled cos of inadequate funding

CFCfan: The FG can also send a supplementary budget to the NASS if this project was not included in the original executive budget estimate.

It is not about sending a supplementary budget, its about if the FG can raise the funds without having to borrow. The best FG can do is to set up a PPP arrangement or else the project will take a long time before its completed.

Nice one! Buh I hope this won't take them 8years to complete. There are other ongoing projects which aren't near completion, I wonder where the government will raise funds for this project. There is no provision for this project in the budget proposal submitted to the NA and the amount budgeted for capital project isn't much so its means government will have to borrow to carry out the project.
I have a feeling that Bi Courtney will secure an injunction to stop this move, one would have expected the government to allow them the remaining six months so that the contract would lapse.

taharqa: Is this not the kind of EXTREMELY important info about how the notorious 'dark' oil sector can be completely Reformed, that the honestly dense Mods we have on dis forums lately, should take to the frontpage? We hv had a lot of distractions and distortions on dis very important issue cos sm persons chose to play politics with it including here on NL; isnt it time we tried to steer the discuss to actuali trying to solvinp d Problem instead of playing games? ... Just imagine if d discuss was as much about the Implementatn of d extremely far-reaching Recommendations of d report as the talk of fighting past corrupt operators in d sector? Imagine if sm of d energy in d media and diff fora had also been to put pressure on d govt and NA to pass d PIB bill as quickly as possible (which already containd MOST of the Recommendatns anyways).. *smh* for the bunch of whinning, hypocritical noise making people we hv in dis country; who do not know what they want, what is important or how to get what they think they want. Real Pity...

You have my support. #TeampassthePIBnow#

taharqa: MUMU-ish peeps! PM dat recently said d Scotland Yard 'confirmd' the arrest of d wife of Oyo State governor and wrote a 'beautiful' story about she was caught and arraignd (which all turnd-out to be completely false) is now telling u dat 2 'anonymous' Presidency 'sources' said d President is a 'liar' and that they dont like working with him, and sm of u are running with dis story and even debating it!..... Anyways, not surprisd- this is NL, a forum increasely known for discussing Rumours passionately and with a group of sm Mods who are themselves FOOL-ish who put such sillly Rumours on d frontpage..... Keep wasting time though

It was culled from Premium Times and not PM News! Read carefully before commenting my friend

@ANALIST, save us all from these crap and epistles you keep posting!

Elueme: You are just ranting all over this thread like a stray dog. Cool down. You want to know why nairaland was not used?
1. Nairaland has gone to the dogs in the past years. Most comments gotten from here could be ascribed to be coming from tabula rasas. No deep only insults and criticisms( blind criticisms).
2. The moderators of this forum and some of the very known monikers have made it look to a lot of other people that the forum is created to serve a particular political interest. I as a person share in this suspicion..
From the aforementioned, NL cannot be fair to be used in a national media chat as the one we had yesterday probably until it overcomes these obvious weakness as well as jettison irrelevant and retrogressive posts like Tonto Dikeh's gossips..

So if NL cannot be fair then what will you say about NTA, FRCN and VON? Aren't they use in serving a particular political interest?Abeg your excuse is lame and unfounded!

solomonkane: As much as GEJ messes up, its difficult to blame him on this one. Did they consult with the president before releasing these statements or did they think of themselves as omniscient and went ahead to release these press statements without consulting with their principal? These are questions that need answers;

SCENARIO A:

If GEJ was aware and had approved of these statements, then GEJ is a liar who has just thrown Abati and Osinlu to the wolves to deflect attention from himself and can't be trusted so they should resign.

SCENARIO B:

If Abati & Osinlu believing themselves to be consummate all knowing professionals decided to belittle their boss by making statements on his behalf without his knowledge, then GEJ is an innocent bystander and both Abati & Osinlu over reached & should be fired.

Is it possible for Abati, Okupe and Osinlu to make pronouncement without consulting their principal? Even if the aides made those statements without his knowledge, why did he not denounce or dispel the statements immediately? Abeg their Oga na liar!

Elueme: What do we want now? When Abati and Osinlu made those diplomatic statements, Nigerians shouted they were lying. The president has comeup to clear the air and tell Nigerians the plain truth, some are crying. What exactly do you want, a pathologically lying president? Smh

Isn't Abati the mouthpiece of GEJ? Why didn't GEJ quickly dispel those statements made by Abati? It shows that GEJ himself is a liar and unreliable cos henceforth Nigerians won't give credence to anything Abati says on his behalf because we can't know which is the truth!

ANALIST: Indeed the air, the breez, the atmospheric presure and all what have been in the minds Critics of GEJ administration was let go when the president showed that he isn't just a politician but an enlightened generational President of a Divine calling and mandate.

I can't make more point to us than to remind us that what the president did last night was a pure political education and as he said " dialogue" with Nigerian people on how they feel about the administration and their responses on issues of national importance.

No doubt, fellow Nigeria, the dialogue is not over(though over on the camera) but continues on conversation between political analysts and observers, print and social media on political issue and indeed the way forward for our dearest and only country Nigera.

On all the issues discuss, the most striking and indellible moment of the chart and candid answers to me is not the answers to Boko Haram indurgency, economy, corruption, Budget, etc, but when he was asked about the Benin/ Ore road and power stability; my people the countenance, the facial reverberation, the confidence of assurance, the unquantifiable Phiz, the immeasurable mug, the elastic physiognomy that accorded his " if fixing the road and power sector is what will make me the best President then wait and see. I will fix it" makes me rejoice in anticipation that he is sure and has all the wherewithal to set us on the journey to greatness and position Nigerian to be whatever they want to be, do what ever they want to do and become whoever they want to become.

Let go more to analise the chart constructively.

. Guy it is chat not chart! Stop this silly butt kissing, you pay per post sycophant!

Joeadamu86: Your analysis is not fair at all,nobody is saying that GEJ is perfect but to be fair to him,he is the most open president we have gotten,as far as i am concern he didnt lie the Halliburton and Siemens bribe scandal took place years ago its a not a new concept,if there is anybody that needs to be blamed then OBJ and others they know much abt that,OBJ introduced monetization with the endorsement of the National Assembly, i dont think he evaded any question,he told us the truth and i reasoned with him...the fight on terror is succeeding...i believe with time he will do better.His answers during the chat were fair and honest.

So because the Halliburton and Siemens scandal happened before his administration is enough reason for him not to bring those involved to book when the host countries of the companies had done the necessary to their citizens who perpetuated the scandal! On the issue of insecurity you said with time he will get better. You just confessed that he is a trainee president! Thanks

@Op, keep on sucking GEJ's loin sincerely we've always known you for that. In your myopic mind you said GEJ tackled the issue of fuel subsidy when all he did was to tell Nigerians to keep persevering in hardship by paying for fuel above the normal pump price with endless queues and not giving a time when it will end.
On the issue of corruption, GEJ exposed himself as one who condones corruption when he was asked about the Halliburton and Siemens bribe payment. His answer was evasive as usual and he indeed tried to absolve the companies of any wrongdoing by saying “you know the history
of Halliburton and you know the history
of Siemens.” He also avoided the issue of corrupting the monetization policy by selling residential quarters to the NA leadership and why a new budgetary allocation was made to build them new ones.
Why did he avoid the question of him not visiting Borno and Yobe? So much for fighting insecurity when the president himself is hiding!

Brilliant write up. The Media Chat held yesterday was another window for Nigerians to know how bereft and uncoordinated this government is!

A graduate assistant would do better than GEJ just did. He is a product of the bad educational system in Nigeria. No coherence in his points, bad analogy to buttress his points. Infact I am disappointed

Complete waste of time!

ANALIST: You should channel these questions to the National Assembly leadership. You want to drag him into another executive/legislative crisis?
Abeg

Na pay per post them offer you wey you d reply to every post? Abeg commot here jo!

Why did GEJ avoid the issue of selling official quarters of the senate president, speaker to them and money been budgeted to build another one for them. I smell corruption

What is our business with how PDP is doing. This panel sucks!

[quote author=GARRI (x7)]{{{{{{ GBAGAUN }}}}}}
My people!!! Please ran away and took cover before this bombs will scatter u to peaces..
[/quote]The Op wants us to feel the Gaza experience! Me self take cover before Op shell me

[quote author=Atheist:-D]For future stability... maybe [/quote]What are the guarantees that global economy will not be affected if US decides to embark on a needless war? The $3trillion is the initial sum that will be expended for a war which could take months or years before its won or lost

11. Your administration has come under
criticism for setting up committees
almost every week. Why does the
government set up panels and
committees for tasks that can and
should be performed by law
enforcement and other regulatory
agencies, and when you know that the
reports of those committees won’t be
implemented? We also like to know how
many reports of government
committees in various sectors are
currently before the presidency and
what the deadlines for their
implementation are.
12. What is the reason for your reversal
of the Transmission contract awarded to
a Canadian firm, Manitoba. Was due
process not followed in the award? If
not, has anyone been sanctioned for
violating due process?
13. Why have you insisted on retaining
the petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-
Madueke, despite her indictment both
by the House, Senate and even
executive committees set up by your
administration?
14. Why did your government honour
Mike Adenuga with a GCON few weeks
after the Finance Minister and
Coordinating Minister for the Economy,
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, mentioned his
company, Conoil, as one of those guilty
of fuel subsidy scam and responsible for
fuel scarcity in the country?
15. Several reports, including one by
the EFCC, indicted three former
Presidents – Sani Abacha, Abdusalami
Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo for
sharing in the Halliburton bribery
money along with some other top
government officials. Abacha is dead
and some officials have been arraigned
in court. When is your administration
arraigning Obasanjo , Abdulsalami and
Gaius Obaseki, a former NNPC GMD,
who couriered part of the bribe money
to some beneficiaries?

premiumtimesng.com/news/107433-presidential-media-chat-15-questions-for-president-jonathan.html?wpmp_tp=1

1. Why has your government proved
incapable of addressing the fuel
scarcity problem across the country?
2. Why did you claim in your October 1
broadcast that Transparency
International had endorsed your
administration’s fight against
corruption when the contrary is the
case? Why did you also refuse to
apologise to Nigerians after you realised
you were wrong?
3. The Malabu oil deal dredges the
shame of a nation directly to the
corridors of the presidency. Why did
you as President, without the National
Assembly’s approval, authorize the
transfer of $1.1bn from a Federation
account into the account of Malabu Oil,
a company with falsified registration
details, and owned by a man convicted
in France for money laundering?
4. Why has the President not ordered
anti-corruption agencies to probe the
Malabu scandal and if found guilty
prosecute the persons that could have
duped Nigeria?
5. What do you say to those who say
your leadership of the country has been
at best inept and ineffective, and that
your administration has not been able
to tackle any of our national challenges?
(Corruption, electricity, broken
infrastructure, unemployment etc).
6. You were severely criticised by
Nigerians after you said on June 24 that
you don’t give a damn whatever anyone
thought about your refusal to publicly
declare your assets. Is that still your
position on this important matter, or
are you reconsidering your stand?
7. As the leader of the PDP, which
dominates the two chambers of
the National Assembly, why has the
party continued to allow
lawmakers earn obscene but illegal
allowances in the guise of office running
cost?
8. The National Human Rights
Commission has an important role to
play in our country. But the work of that
Commission is being hampered by the
refusal of your administration to
inaugurate the Board about a year after
it was constituted. What is responsible
for the delay in inaugurating the Board?
Why has your administration reduced
the commission to a toothless bulldog?
9. You hinted a few days ago that the
deregulation of the petroleum industry
is irreversible. It was suspended last
January to enable government put in
place the necessary conditions that
would make it succeed. Does
government think it has now done
enough to contemplate the speculated
plan to remove fuel subsidy and hike
the price of petrol?
10. The Lagos-Ibadan federal highway
has finally become one of our national
shames, and a lot of Nigerians are dying
on that road every day. The road was
concessioned to Wale Babalakin’s Bi-
Courtney three years ago but has been
unable to fix it. When will your
administration do the right thing and
save the nation the daily carnage on
that expressway?

premiumtimesng.com/news/107433-presidential-media-chat-15-questions-for-president-jonathan.html?wpmp_tp=1

Maxymilliano: Nigerians are already paying more for fuel and it can't go more than what is presently obtainable, from the above report "It was reliably gathered that government had opted for a phased deregulation of the downstream sector, this is sure the best way to go rather than a total subsidy removal, the Government only need to ensure that palliative measures are put into place to cushion the effect of the temporary burden the phased subsidy removal might placed on the citizens.

Is there anything like phased deregulation? What the government intends to do is increase in petroleum product prices so the term "partial Or phased deregulation" is wrong and meaningless. China, a largely importer of crude oil recently reduced the prices of petroleum products due to the decline in the prices of crude oil in international market but Nigeria with abundant crude oil is attempting to hike prices of fuel. The attitude of government transferring part of its burden to consumers is insensitive. Modalities for deregulation can be set in place for it to commence in the nearest future while government try to keep the prices stagnant for the time being because there is no way government will provide adequate palliative measures between now and Jan of 2013

This is one of the problems of Nigeria, while others are clamouring for fiscal federalism and resource control the north seem contented with receiving monthly allocation from the FG. Rather than heating up the polity with ludicrous demands, the PIB has made special arrangement for a National New Frontier Agency for the purpose of exploration and production of oil and gas in the Frontier of Chad Basin,
Dahomey Basin, Benue
Trough, Bauchi Basin and Sokoto Basin which will all be beneficial to the economy of Northern Nigeria
Northern governors should lobby their legislators for the expeditious passage of the PIB than throwing tantrums over what is not theirs

taharqa: How is an FDI of $8.92 billion small for a $250 billion Economy? What ratio are other countries, even developed ones?

Amazing..

We have always led other African countries when it comes to FDI so having 16% of Africa's FDI is not strange. However,contrary to what the minister said, Nigeria was not the leading investment destination for the year 2011 because the FDI inflows into Nigeria was just $2.82billion For year 2011 compared to a country like SA who made FDI inflows of $4.58billion for the same year.
Ghana with limited resources compared to Nigeria has an FDI that hit $3.22billion, so there isn't much to celebrate about Nigeria hitting FDI of $8.92billion with its enormous resources, population and all that. Again considering that most of theses FDI's into Nigeria are externally financed and profits are repatriated and its largely in the oil and gas sector of the economy, it shows that we are not there yet

Maxymilliano: Thanks for the time bro, glad to know we both have our areas of convergent and divergent, i don't really dwell much on speculations but let's wait and see how the drama unfold as the government go about subsidy removal.

Illegal bunkering is a lucrative trade in Nigeria, one of the grouse i have against the government is the amnesty progmamme for the so called Niger Delta militants, those guys are oil bunkers masquerading as militants, they only resort to resource control agitation when the noose was getting tighter for their trade to survive. Guys like Ateke Tom, Tompolo, Asari and the late Soboma George made lots of money from illegal bunkering and i was quite dishearten to know that this same people are been compensated in the name of amnesty. There is a whole lots behind this though but let's leave it at this.

thanks

Maxymilliano: Bros, let's take this thing ome at a time, I ain't the president spokeman but just a Nigerian who feel things should be looked at dispassionately before apportioning blame but nonetheless, I'll try and attempt some of your poser.

Deregulation is the same thinf as liberalization and government will have no option but to hands totally from the downstream and allow the invisible force of demand and supply to have its course.

Since Nigeria is imported depwndent, we'll be subjected to the vagaries in the international oil market. The primary objectives of the Sure-P is to minimize the hardship experience by the citizens to the barest minimum till things will be sorted out.

You talked of inflationary rates that may happened on the economy in the event of the total deregulation of the downstream, but as an economist myself, there are many factors that determines inflationary trends and exchange rates.

We are a consuming nation, we consumed what we don't produce and this is putting pressures on the naira. It is the duty of the CBN Governor to come up with proven policies to ensure the current inflationary trend did not spiral out of control, and to ensure it is contained effectively.

For the pipelin vandalization you broached, there is a limit to what the government can do if we the citizens are bent on making money at all cost, even risking our lives.

Most of the pipelines we have now were laid in the 70s and 80s when most of the areas weren't developed. Let me cast your mind back to what happened in Arepo area of Ogun State where NNPC pipelines was delibrately vandalised, this resulted into a conflagration that was later contained but do you know that since that incident happened, attempts by NNPC to fix the vandalised pipelines was rebuff?.

Illegal bunkering is another hydra headed monster that is not easy to contain, I can tell you more about this if you will be interested.

Max, I sincerely appreciate your effort and we have both agreed that commercialisation or liberalisation is the way forward but our sole disagreement is the "timing". The government does not enjoy enormous goodwill from Nigerians at the moment, it will be disastrous if they decide to withdraw subsidies when the effects of the SURE-P palliatives have not been felt by Nigerians. The government should set for itself a time limit, put the necessary infrastructures on ground, set up a workable template and show Nigerians how it has judiciously utilised the price differential of N32 and eventually can phase out subsidy in bits before commencement of deregulation
I am surely interested in further discussions especially the illegal bunkering

Saraki with all his flaws, made up for it with his generosity. Thousands of people will attest to this fact. May Allah forgive all his sins and mine! Perfection belongs to Him Alone

Maxymilliano: If I may ask bro, when will the country be ripe for deregulation? It is this same mindset that the country is not ready for total liberalization of the downstream sector that forced Obasanjo and Yar'adua to jettison the idea but will it do us any good if we keep postponing the doomsday?

There is gross infrastructural deficit and that's why some of the problems you enumerated above are been looked into to ensure a conducive business environment for potential investors.

And that is why the Sure-P of a thing was instituted to offer palliatives to cushion the effect of any burden on the citizen that may arise as a result of government actions. But the problem is that most of us don't channel our question to the right quarters and that's why you see some people coming to nairaland and be asking what government is doing with the money saved from subsidy instead of directing same to the appropriate quarters for possible answers.

I read a report on page 58 of the Thursday edtion of The Nation newspaper where the governor of Niger State came out to say that Niger State Sure-P funds has hit N2.5B since the disbursement, I'm quite sure other States will have similar figure in their kitty but how many of the governors have come out openly to declare what they've gotten so far from the disbursement? And instead of us to direct our questions to the right quarters, we all got our attention fixated on the FG while the governors are making a mincedmeal of what was suppose to be our share of the subsidy.

If we fully deregulate now it will take a minimum of two years before investors are able to put up functional refineries so we will continue depending on importation for some time. Total deregulation means government will hands off totally and its will be almost impossible for government to legislate price or control price so leaving us at the mercy of importers. Prices of Petroleum products is largely determined by International prices of crude oil, value of the dollar and local politics of developed nations. So no matter what, prices will be high when we take into consideration that an importer will want to maximise profits in the short run, the effect of all these will be negative on Nigerians.
Is government willing to increase minimum wage of workers? Has government really tackled unemployment rate? What measures are on ground to control inflationary rate? Is Naira appreciating against the dollar? So many questions and no answers on ground and you expect Nigerians to simply fold their hands because government cannot rehabilitate the existing refineries, build new ones, and set in the right templates to verify products imported and stopping pipeline vandalisation and illegal bunkering? Then our government is a joke

Sincere 9gerian: He should remove the subsidy over a 2yr period. Increase to N125 in 2013, then completely remove all subsidy by 2014 which will push the price up to N145 or thereabout

This projection of yours shows you are a novice. Price of petroleum products is largely determined by the demand and supply of crude oil in international markets, value of the dollar and some other factors and so it cannot be fixed or projected. If our downstream is fully deregulated now and price of crude oil is $85pb, fuel may be sold forN145 a litre but immediately there is a slight increase in the price of crude oil to let's say $100pb, a litre of fuel will sell for say N160 and vice versa.
The best government can do now is to rehabilitate the existing refineries, build new ones and sell to itself crude oil at a cheaper rate and work towards bringing a stop to pipeline vandalisation, crude oil theft, Naira should appreciate against the dollar, increase minimum wage, solve power/energy issues etc before total deregulation