₦airaland Forum

Nigerians don't get it yet

#CleansweepBuhari

Re: Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election, by Kayode Fayemi ON JANUARY 27, 2015
6:53 PM


We commend Professor Chukwuma Soludo for his insightful and incisive article published in the Vanguard Newspaper of January 26th under the above title. We agree with Professor Soludo that if the political parties, including ours, must justify the overwhelming enthusiasm of Nigerians about the 2015 elections we must remain focused on the issues that matter most to them, which is the progress of our country and the well being of our people. Indeed, this has been the driving sentiment of our party and our campaign all along.

While we accept his critical comments on our party, more for the intentions than for the letters, we believe some clarifications would be quite necessary. We wish to emphasise that our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), presents a real option to Nigerians. Professor Soludo expressed the sentiments of most Nigerians when he spoke about the incalculable damage that the PDP under President Jonathan has done to the Nigerian economy and the unprecedented hardship that his six years of the locust has brought upon Nigerians.

However, the APC does not intend to ride into power on a mere rhetoric of ‘change’. The change that we propose is fundamental in many ways as it is critical to the very survival of our country. This in itself presents a major distinction between our party and the PDP. Perhaps, the most compelling argument against the People’s Democratic Party today is that its government and leadership does not even see that Nigeria is in trouble. While majority of our people wallow in abject poverty, and the gap in inequality gets ever wider by the day, PDP has wallowed in self-celebration of imagined accomplishments. How can a party or a government even begin to solve a problem that it does not believe exist. Like in all things, PDP is stuck in denial.

APC does not promise Eldorado. Neither our candidate nor our manifesto has made such promise. Our programs are based on the critical awareness of the difficult task ahead, while holding out a ray of hope to our people. The promises that we make reflect our conviction that the people must be at the centre of development. And that any economic growth that leaves the majority of the people behind and does not protect the weakest and the vulnerable among us is merely delusionary.

Professor Soludo has drawn our attention to the striking but unfortunate similarity in the nation’s economy in 1982-1984 period and what we are experiencing today. Back then, a period of sustained high crude oil prices had also ironically led to unsustainable debt levels and introduction of the austerity measure. Just as it happened more than three decades ago, it is difficult to explain how a sustained period of oil boom should ultimately lead to austerity measure except to say that huge opportunities that the period of boom presented were frittered away by mindless profligacy, wanton corruption and bad economic choices made by the PDP government, which has rewarded a protracted period of boom with uncertainty and austerity and is still asking for another mandate to do more damage.

If we sound upbeat in our manifesto, it is because we recognise that this crisis period also presents us a great opportunity to restructure the economy in a way that improves the quality of lives of our people by ensuring that our economic growth is job led. Our party has identified job creation as a critical priority of government. We have noted with concerns that Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 23.9% should be seen as a national crisis. And if this government was more sensitive to the enormity of the challenge that this presents, it would be reluctant to jump all over the place in self celebration while so many of our youths are wasting away. In the immediate future, our priority is to tackle unemployment and provide good jobs by embarking on a massive programme of public works, building houses, roads, railways, ports and energy plants. Over the long term, we believe we must wean Nigeria off its dangerous addiction to oil which currently provides 80% of our spending leaving us at the mercy of volatile international oil prices. Even as a Federalist party, we believe that an economy that is dependent on a commodity that is so dangerously exposed to price volatility must always prepare for eventuality through savings and investments once the agreed thresholds are met. What we disagree with is the unilateral and arbitrary deductions in accruable revenues in a way that hampers the development of the Federating States.

Going by the government’s own statistics, is it mere coincidence that the three States with the lowest unemployment rate – Osun, Lagos and Kwara – are all APC States? This is evidence of our Party’s ability to tackle this problem head-on. APC’s policy thrust will create an enabling environment and incentives for the formal and informal sectors to lead the quest for job creation. This will be done in addition to skills acquisition and enterprise- training to ensure our youths are equipped with the appropriate skills to take these jobs. Merely introducing a National Qualification Standards would power a whole new world of opportunities for our artisans by launching them into the international job markets. We note the issue that Professor Soludo picked with our figure of 720,000 jobs. We need to clarify that this is limited to immediate direct employment opportunities from public projects and maintenance works only. Our manifesto actually promises a lot more jobs but we see that as the product of the enabling environment we seek to create for private sector job creation, especially in high opportunity sectors like agriculture, construction, entertainment, tourism, ICT and Sports. APC economic policy is driven by an overwhelming concern for the level of inequality in our country today. Specifically, to quote from our manifesto, we intend to achieve our job-creation agenda through:

· Massive public works programme especially the building of a national railway system, interstate roads, and ports. These projects must commence early in the life of the new administration.

· Establishing a new Federal Coordinating Agency – Build Nigeria – to fast track and manage these public works programmes with emphasis on Nigerian labour.

· Embarking vigorously on industrialization, public works and agricultural expansion.

· Diversifying the economy through a national industrial policy and innovative private-sector incentives that will move us away from over reliance on oil – into value-added production especially manufacturing.

· Reviving textile and other industries that have been rendered dormant because of inappropriate economic policies. · Reinvigorating the solid mineral sector by revamping our aged mining legislation and attracting new investment.

· Developing a new generation of domestic oil refineries to lower import costs, enhance our energy independence and create jobs.

· Working with state governments to turn the country into Africa’s food basket through a new system of grants and interest free loans, and the mechanization of agriculture.

· Encouraging and promoting the use of sports as a source of job creation.

· Creating a knowledge economy by making Nigeria an IT /professional/Telecom services outsourcing destination hub to create millions of jobs. · Filling the huge gap in middle level technical manpower with massive investment in technical and tradesmen’s skills education.

· Ensuring that all foreign contractors to include a plan of developing local capacity (Technology transfer).

· Creation of six Regional Development Agencies covering the country with representatives from the Federal government, States and the private sector to manage a new N300billion growth fund.

Our obsession with job creation stems from the fact that we believe we must focus on actions that would serve the twin purpose of closing the gap in inequality and creating opportunities for our people, especially the youths. Our current situation is dangerous for the stability of the country. The Human Development Index position ranks Nigeria 152 of 169 countries surveyed. This is incompatible with the present administration’s insistence on celebrating GDP growth and our absolute economic size hinged on a routine rebasing exercise. As many commentators have pointed out, rebasing the GDP is not an achievement. Rather, it is a mere statistical adjustment that does not impact on the real or imagined standards of living of the people. So, we also wonder what this PDP government is celebrating. And maybe it is not that difficult to explain when one discovers that a small elite has captured the state and converted our commonwealth into private gain, becoming disproportionately rich from massive corruption while poverty has deepened. The income gap and illicit capital flight are growing alarmingly. Instead of investing in modernizing our economy, massive theft has starved the country of desperately needed resources for infrastructure and public services and left us dangerously dependent on fluctuating global oil prices for our economic survival. For the ordinary Nigerian, the much-touted economic growth cited by the present administration has not translated into employment or development. Over 100 million Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet on a regular basis.

We understand Professor Soludo’s concern on the cost of implementing our various programmes, especially those relating to social welfare. The enormity of this challenge is not lost on us. We also know that sometimes, going into government is like buying a “no testing” electronic equipment. You may never know the true state of what you are buying until you get in. We want to assure Professor Soludo and other likeminded Nigerians that our policy team is looking at all the options – including the worst-case scenario of a completely empty treasury. We are however confident that by blocking avenues of wastage and corruption alone, savings could run into trillions of Naira that could be deployed for productive use. Even so, we agree with Professor Soludo that savings from corruption alone will not tackle the enormous challenges we are likely to confront in government. We are however comforted by the fact that a four-year period provides opportunity for phased implementation while growing the resource base as well as changing the culture of graft while reducing the cost of governance.

Quite significantly, we know that periods of economic downturn also potentially provide opportunity to lay the foundation for real economic restructuring and development; and we can reflect on how Singapore under Premier Lee Kuan Yew and the United States of America under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used historic moments of economic downturn in their countries to launch a period of sustained development and a new deal for their people. General Buhari has never claimed to have the magic wand nor the answers to all of the country’s problems. His greatest assets would be his moral authority borne out of his self-sacrificing integrity, his sincerity of purpose and his patriotic zeal to return Nigeria to the path of progress and genuine development. He is committed to utilize competent and committed people of integrity wherever he may find them. This is precisely why he promised when flagging off his campaign in Port Harcourt on January 5, 2015 that if voted into power, it would be an opportunity to, in his words, “finally assemble a competent team of Nigerians to efficiently manage this country”. This is a clear sign that a meritocratic process will govern the appointment of those that would be entrusted with managing our economy and country. His stint as Head of State shows a track record of using self-sacrificing professionals in his governance team. His previous cabinet included the likes of Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, Professor Tam David-West and Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is determined to lead Nigeria in the direction of change that is so urgently required. And even as we prepare for the immediate rescue mission in 2015, our minds are also set on building the necessary democratic institutions that would entrench our ideological conviction as a progressive and people-centred party. A National Progressives Policy Institute is part of this plan in the near future but we are very clear about the enormity of the task ahead. We would not seek to underplay it. We are supremely confident that we are equal to the task and we appreciate the commitment of majority of Nigerians to this quest for change.

Dr. Kayode Fayemi heads the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/re-buhari-vs-jonathan-beyond-election-kayode-fayemi/

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/re-buhari-vs-jonathan-beyond-election-kayode-fayemi/

Fashola

EFCC just dey play ringa-ringa-roses wit corruption.

After all who dey carry fire fight fire.

D usual December Mop-up.

All unutilised funds are dissappeared.

Him wey dey d centre na wetin?

When they were doing secret placement of children of the high and mighty did they advertise it?

Anyway dia pikin wit most Nigerians sef follow join on top say dem no get voters card and dem no dey vote. Na who get person dey get jab.

No vote, you hear!

This criteria for determining who is middle class is suspect.

Remember

Remember this

This is not even the problem right now

Sensational headline but salient message.

Nigerians are left to vote only after leaders have been selected at party primaries.

#PARTICP8

Join a party

Sad....

Indeed

Conscientious Misfits

As shared on Twitter

If only Baba Buhari had.....

This guy with all this background on him can still become a Governor in today's Nigeria.

Case in point, his career mimic that is currently Governor of Imo.

People know who these people are, how they get into power and then people feign surprise is bewildering.

BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
DECEMBER 08, 2017

The Lagos State Government yesterday filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Lagos seeking to set aside the ruling of an Ikeja High Court in Lagos, which held that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011 is applicable to the state even without its domestication.

Justice Oke-Lawal had in the ruling dismissed a preliminary objection raised by the state government and the ministry to Media Rights Agendas suit and held that the FOI Act was validly made by the National Assembly and applicable to the government of the federation as well as state governments.

The government and the ministry are asking the Appeal Court to set aside the lower courts ruling and dismiss the suit filed against them by MRA to compel compliance with a Freedom of Information request made by the organization in November 2016 to the ministry asking, among other things, for details and copies of plans put in place by the ministry to provide the Araromi Zion Estate located in Akiode Area of Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) with health care services; the timeframe for the implementation of the plans, as well as details of the budgets and costs estimates for the implementation of the plans, if any.

Independent Newspapers Limited

https://independent.ng/lagos-appeals-court-verdict-foi-act/

By Terhemba Daka, Collins Olayinka, Kingsley Jeremiah (Abuja), Ann Godwin (Port Harcourt), Sulaimon Salau and Tayo Oredola (Lagos) and Emmanuel Ande (Yola) | 07 December 2017 | 4:30 am

Fuel queue at a filling station at Central Business District Area, Garki, Abuja. PHOTO: NAN

• Orders Kachikwu, Baru to remedy situation
• Insists no plan to increase pump price
•Confusion in PPPRA over pricing template

The Federal Government has blamed the ongoing fuel scarcity on increased demand by nations in temperate regions.Addressing State House correspondents after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said: “This is winter period. There is always more demand for refined products from petroleum ‎during winter in the colder countries. This is what we are experiencing now.”

Notwithstanding, he said the Council directed the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachukwu and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, to end the situation before the end of the week.Mohammed also insisted: “The government has no intention at all to increase the pump price of petrol.”

Marketers meanwhile are blaming the NNPC for alleged favouritism in distribution of petrol.The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) monitoring team visited five depots: Obat, Sahara, Nipco, Dee Jones and Aiteo yesterday and discovered an uneven allocation of products.

Consequently, the Assistant Director, Retail Outlets Monitoring, Downstream Division, DPR, Mrs. Ijeoma Otti-Onyeri, who led the team, compelled private depots with products to give priority to Lagos State in order to end scarcity.She ordered that 80 per cent of what was being loaded should be delivered to Lagos.

It was revealed during the visit, a total of 51,702,000 litres of petrol was in stock at Nipco, Sahara, Aiteo and Obat depots.

The DPR delegation urged Nigerians not to panic, saying there was enough stock for the next seven days. This was after disclosure that the PPMC was expecting two vessels in the next 48 hours.

Also, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said the inability of the NNPC to pump petrol to the Ejigbo satellite depot was aggravating the scarcity in Lagos.She said: “There is panic buying because there is speculation that there will be increase in the pump price of petrol. That is why we have to monitor depots, to find out if there is fuel.

“From what we have seen in Obat, Dee Jones, Sahara, Nipco and Aiteo, we have observed that all these depots have stock that can last for five to seven days.” She called on marketers who complained they were buying petrol at N141 per litre to show evidence, so that the DPR could act.

The chairman of IPMAN Lagos zone, Balogun Alanamu, said the NNPC management should be blamed for fuel queues across the country.
Alanamu, who is also the chairman of Ejigbo satellite branch of IPMAN, said the management of NNPC only allocated 20 trucks to marketers on daily basis out of 150 trucks that were being loaded.

He said: “We really do not know why they are deliberately giving us inadequate supplies and supplying the private depot owners. These people are selling to us above the recommended ex-depot price of N133.38 kobo per litre. NNPC officials are collaborating with the private depot owners to create artificial scarcity. They give the products to them. The private depot owners in turn sell to middlemen in bulk, who will later sell to independent marketers at N143 per litre.”

He added: “They are hiding behind these marketers to defraud us. They said they gave the product to private depot owners at N117 per litre ex-depot price. We expect they will sell to us at N133.38 per litre but they are not. And NNPC is not doing anything about it. We raised this issue at a recent seminar two weeks ago where Baru was represented. We implored him to investigate if we were lying. We also presented him with evidence, yet, nothing happened.”

In Abuja, motorists have turned to bribery and the black market to fuel their vehicles as most petrol stations are either under lock or are attended by long queues.Those who spoke with The Guardian yesterday expressed worry that the situation was getting out of hand.While most stations sold at official rate, the price hovered between N250 and N300 per litre at the black market in the Garki area.

A motorist, Kingsley Aruma, said he tipped petrol attendants before he was allowed into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) retail station along Kubwa expressway.He said: “I went to three fuel stations before I decided to go to NNPC along Kubwa expressway. The queue was so long. This is not the first time we are seeing long queues in Nigeria and nothing is being done. People are already hawking and hoarding fuel.”

Another, Ngozi Amenike, said she had been on a queue for about 30 minutes, decrying loss of productive hours. “This is not the place where I buy fuel. But the queues in other places are longer. This has deprived me of my work for today. I have been out of the office to try my luck,” she said.

Mathew Musa, who was on queue in Garki, Area 11, said he spent about two hours trying to gain access into the station. He urged the government to address the situation, saying it was already getting out of hand.But Baru insisted the country had enough petroleum products to meet demands even beyond the festive period, urging people to avoid panic buying or storing products in their cars or homes.

He said the corporation had addressed the issue of marketers who were selling at higher prices. “We were able to go with regulators who clamped down on depot owners that are selling at a price above N133 per litre. There is sufficient product and there are trucks in most of the filling stations. It is just this panic.

“I have more than 30 days’ supply of fuel, even if I don’t import a drop. We have sufficient product to take us to January. Everybody should go and rest. As I am talking to you, I have six ships that are discharging over 200 million litres, in addition to the 30-days supply.

“Nigerians should feel comfortable and go about their businesses. Please, do not put fuel in jerry cans and keep them in cars as you drive. It is very dangerous. I am guaranteeing you that there is fuel in every station.”

Black marketers have resurfaced in Port Harcourt and Lagos, wishing the scarcity would linger. They expressed joy over the situation, saying it could not have come at a better time. They openly displayed their plastic containers near filling stations along Ada George road, Ikwere, Aba road axis in Port Harcourt, and along Airport Road, Lagos.

A litre of fuel was sold between N180 and N200, amid fear the price could rise to N250.One of the marketers, Mrs. Chizitere Amadi, said: “We are happy that fuel scarcity has hit the country again. We usually make good money from this. Christmas will be colourful this year, if the trend continues.”

Another marketer, Kingsley Friday, said: “As a graduate, I have applied for jobs without success. So, the fuel business makes me smile to the bank. I make good money. I pray it continues, since government has failed to provide us with jobs.”

The few independent marketers that sold fuel in Port Harcourt did so at N160. Major marketers still sold at N145 per litre but had very long queues.Yesterday, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) that is responsible for regulating petroleum products remained silent as policy somersaults by the Ministry of Petroleum threw the agency into confusion. The Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) and PPPRA also failed to commence on-the-spot monitoring of petrol stations outside of Abuja to ensure compliance with regulated prices.

The ‘price template’ link of the PPPRA website was left empty with no figures indicating the various aspects of the pricing template. The present fuel scarcity, according to some analysts, is partly caused by the confusion created by the introduction of price modulation regime by Kachikwu in 2016.

The Executive Secretary of the agency, Abdulkadir Umar has remained silent while high-ranking officers of the agency did not pick up their phone calls to explain the possible reasons for fuel queues in some parts of the country.


http://guardian.ng/news/fg-blames-fuel-scarcity-on-external-demand/amp/?F=&__twitter_impression=true

Says the organisation that consistently provides loans to Nigeria's Opaque governments.

Beht...

BASHIR said he also commissioned dis na