alj_harem:

we read and understood it brother

is she not meant to be concern with budgets of refineries first and how to get half of the fuel imported first before talking about removal of fuel subsidies which must still go through indigenous refineries  first before any other thing

what is the cost of building this Our refineries and how much would take Nigeria government to run it. now which is cheaper

then, we can look forward to build more refineriers and laying off the importation before talking of removing subsidies

I will try and explain to you from my own working hands-on experience / the norms within the finance field. Yes she is meant to be concerned with budget; but her position as the Chief Financial Officer for Nigeria econpasses more than Budget Forecast and Analysis. It is not within her scope of office to oversee that actual operation of fuel, although, it is within her office to perform monetary functions and analysis within these operation. In every planning stage of a long term financial cycle, it is the standard norm that officers announce long term goals (such as expense reduction, layoffs, deficits, expansion, mergers, growth strategies, developments, etc) however, they don't announce how they wish to get there. I hope you can see that she used western mentality here (announcing long term goals and objectives, but the details on getting there will emerge as time moves ahead).

If you read the article, she did mention two key points

a. building infrastructures that enable and improve growth in the economy (govt projects such as road, power, probably rail etc)
b. Encouraging and diversification of investments by removing barriers to entry.

As you can see, she has highlighted on how to get there; bottom line is details will emerge as projects are on its course. No one is saying GOVT has to build and run refineries, if those are in place, individual investors can own theirs as well. Have these two items by 2013 (before the next budget in which she will be part of fully), and things will turn around.

felix4real:

@Beaf: I'm with you. I agree that due to the events being witnessed in all spheres of Nigerian politics, there is little hope expressed by the average Nigerian that anything good can come out of Aso Rock. Although it is easy to forgive the pessimism about such moves, considering that when Obasanjo promised better life at the end of the tunnel called Deregulation of the downstream sector, we all thought a magic wand would be waved and we would walk up to a fuel station and purchase a litre of petrol at twenty-one naira from the pre-Abacha days. But we were disappointed.

All that notwithstanding, it is not a necessary outcome to destroy any idea that comes out of the presidency (i don't really care which party is ruling) jusyt because it sounds scary at first and because we have a bad history with tings like this. It's better to live a dream than re-live a nightmare.

True bruv. It is sometimes embarrassing to witness the purely instinctive reactions of some of us. IMHO, the govt really needs to look into ways of educating and mobilising the minds of the masses in positive ways, so that we avoid these knee-jerk reactions that would be interpreted as abject foolishness by say, a foreigner without any idea of Nigeria's rather unmentionable past.

There is absolutely nothing in the article that says the end of the fuel subsidy is near, yet some have somehow conjured up that message out of thin air. Its hard to imagine why a rational, logical being would do that; but we can only realise that the horrors of the past have imbued many minds with a total lack of faith. To make matters worse, there are many who have lost out in the scheme of things that wish to seize on the masses fears and insecurities of the population, to amplify them out of proportion and breed chaos.

The more logical ones among us must resist such and continue hammering at the truths that will lead us forward. Your words have been an illuminating island in a sea of despair.

asha 80:

beaf and dem people

i decided to lay off nairaland for a while.

Lol! Sometimes, it can be a healthy step to take.

I know Nairalanders are quite well connected so somebody please tell her. . . .

The reason Nigerians pay a high price for refined petroleum products is because the crude is refined outside Nigeria. Meaning that when we build enough refineries IN NIGERIA, the production / landing cost of refined petroleum will also come down and sibsidies will become irrelevant . . . VOILA!!!

Its not rocket science, so someone please tell Madam finance minister Primus Interppares (First Among Equals) to harp on building enough refining capacity in Nigeria and leave the issue of subsidies ALONE. . . subsidies go vamuse if we do the right thing . . . chikena!!!

They should 'test run' the removal and passionately assess the overal impact on the masses. As a realist, though a grass-root fellow and my fears is that the hungry politicians can use this opportunity to steal more.

I though SLS is 'test running' cash withdrawal limit?. . .

I see the infamous Nigerian logic at work again in some of the comments here. We want to have better roads, hospitals, schools, and refineries but we don't want to reduce our huge spending on recurrent expenditure like the fuel subsidy which goes up every year. We want our country to be better but we are not willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Good luck with that one.

I see u are already talking tough, huh?

And madam, we have agreed to start a revolution.

Less than 2 weeks into her tenure and she's told us so much: create jobs, reduce fuel subsidy, cut civil service wage, reduce budget deficit and so on

Minister Okonjo-Iweala, this is not the time to state making policy statements; rather sit down with your economic team and put together a LONG TERM plan for our economy.  And then you tell us what you want to do and exactly how.

Have you even reviewed govt budget and spending for this year? Do you know true numbers of unemployed and underemployed? So many variables to consider and understand; don't spend energy talking to the press. Also, put aside the World Bank manual of prescriptions.    

Even a good plan will fail without tackling the big gorilla: CORRUPTION. So tell GEJ to man up and do something about this "beast"

You really have a tough job and I know all Nigerians want you to succeed.

Last year, Govt was marketing the removing of what is so called fuel subsidizing despite the fact that fuel price is the highest amongst OPEC countries. But when the Arab countries started their uprising mainly because of economic difficulties beside the political situation, everybody here swallowed his tongue and shut mouth.
Better she talks about the allowances of Senate, House Reps and Govt

please forgive my ignorance but i really dont understand wat is meant by "removal of ubsidies"

^^petrol will cost $3.50 at the pump per 4liters. i.e. 542 /4 = 135naira per liter. It could cost more.

Less than 2 weeks into her tenure and she's told us so much: create jobs, reduce fuel subsidy, cut civil service wage, reduce budget deficit and so on

Minister Okonjo-Iweala, this is not the time to state making policy statements; rather sit down with your economic team and put together a LONG TERM plan for our economy.  And then you tell us what you want to do and exactly how.

Have you even reviewed govt budget and spending for this year? Do you know true numbers of unemployed and underemployed? So many variables to consider and understand; don't spend energy talking to the press. Also, put aside the World Bank manual of prescriptions.   

Even a good plan will fail without tackling the big gorilla: CORRUPTION. So tell GEJ to man up and do something about this "beast"

You really have a tough job and I know all Nigerians want you to succeed.

Thank you so much @ occam. Best post on this issue by a mile,

Don't mind her and the people having a go 4 reacting to her alarming statement this early into her tenure,

What do you expect the people to do, Sit down and watch her make threatening statement that "hard times are coming soon even if its not immediately",

People are suffering so much so this kind of reaction to a statement is expected, educated or not,

Okonjo has kicked off her tenure on the wrong note, from what she is saying you can see that she is reading a script 4rm the PDP government using her as d face/fall person to implement what they do not have the balls to do

4rm doing some work for her back in her 1st tenure, I see she has resumed her daily powerpoint/spreadsheet presentations, with loads of consultants all doing the same work and also bn out of touch with reality,

Where are the statistics and demographics needed to make this ill informed decisions, Hmmm

Good luck to them using Okonjo as a shield to inflick hardship on people,

Fuel subsidy cut with Senate Leader and members of NASS all riding 4 to 5 cars in a convoy and also bn fueled by the same money Okonjo is planning to save.

Subsidy when Presidential Fleet is growing 4rm 7 to 10 is it?

Every odd Director in every Ministry/Government have cars allocated to them,  come on, what were they driving b4 they became Directors, heeeeen

Charity begins at home, if they do not show us how to eat and manage how do they expect the poor man to eat.


We are not a serious country,

Go to the UK. US you will see their house/parliament members walking the streets or even using public transport

where did we copy our own system 4rm sef, 
LET THEM TRY IT, AND EXPECT PEOPLE TO SIT DOWN AND WATCH, AWARENESS IS ON THE HIGH AND PEOPLE YES THE SO CALLED /LABELLED DOCILE NIGERIANS WILL RISE AND TELL ABUJA THAT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,  .

BUNCH OF WICKED NO GOOD PEN PUSHERS,

Tsvchewwwwwww

Basic issue micro have not bn addressed and she is telling us that heaven will fall soon or later

WRONG MOVE,

PLEASE LET PEOPLE REACT ANYHOW THEY SEEM FIT TO THIS WAR IS ON ITS WAY CRY OKONJO HAS KICKED OFF

SHE IS THE FACE OF ALL THE PDP SUFFERING AND SMELLY AIR PLANS,  WE ARE WAITING, 4 THEM,


TRIPOLI WILL BE CHILDS PLAY SOON, AT THIS RATE

But wait small naah!

Since like 1985, when fuel was like #1:80K per litre, l have been hearing that FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL is the reason for EVERY FUEL PRICE INCREASE!

*IBB removed fuel subsidy during SAP

*OBASANJO removed fuel subsidy about five times in 8yrs!

Each time, we hear that devilish term: DEREGULATION!

1.) How much is the fuel now? #80:00
2.) How much is the subsidy?

If you add (1.) and (2.) together, we should get the "real market value" of fuel, right?

Now, let them pronounce that VALUE in Naira and l can bet you that a few years down the line, we will buy Fuel at that "value" and the likes of Iweala and OBJ will still come and tell us "The Govt needs to remove fuel subsidy"![/b]

[b]Bunch of heartless criminals, ruling a bunch of spineless citizens!


Point is, its just an excuse to create more money so they can still bigger amounts!

Haaba, these people's wickedness knows no bounds!
Why not reduce the jumbo pay of elected officials like Sin-nators, Governors or Ministers, e.t.c, instead of squeezing poor Nigerians to death?

1000000000% supported. If we as a nation are ready for development, then this is the way to go.

We can help the masses in more efficient ways than this. Many schemes are there that can be used to help the low income earners in more economically viable ways.

Nor mind them jare, b4 u hia when,,,,, they are all on a Plane outside the country doing nothing but spending peoples money

we need Holy Ghost Fire to come down on them in our life time mehn,

Even her Finance Ministry is full of Pen Pushers all working on the same spreadsheet with them out of touch of what obtains on the street

Nigeria does not need to much english and all d seminars we have done over the years to solve one small problem is enough

is it that hard to fix 1 thing in a country,

Fuel Subsidy Scandal and the Impending Fuel Subsidy Removal

The annual ritual of fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria is now as familiar as the usual normal annual government budget pronouncement. However, the similarity of the two events begins and ends with the timing of the announcement of the two events; normally in the month of January of each year (also, due to some unforeseen necessities or needs, Supplementary Budget appropriations may be announced within the year just as additional adjustment in pump-head prices for fuels can also be made within the year as the need arises).

However, what makes the two events different is that the federal (and State Governments) budget pronouncement is done with fanfare and almost with the least acrimony from the general public compared with the street level protests; including general strike actions resulting in deaths and destruction of private and public properties etc that usually trails fuel subsidies removal or reduction announcements in Nigeria.

For example, with the exception of the fuel price hike of 1982 done under the austerity measures put in place by the then administration of former president Alhaji Shehu Shagari, all fuel price hikes since then, were visited with violent street level protests and contestations by organized civil society organizations (CSOs) under the indefatigable leaderships of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Students and other professional associations nationwide.

From June 2000 to May 2007 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), there were about eight fuel price hikes; with the last one on the twilight of his days in office on May 23, 2007 (just six daysto his handing over to the new administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua – UMYA) on May 29, 2007.

All the price hikes done by the then President Obasanjo were visited with violent street protests with significant losses of lives, public and private properties and huge uncalculated man-hours of loss productivity in the economy.

Fundamentally, the main drivers of the deregulation of the Nigerian domestic fuel prices are the two Bretton Woods institutions namely: The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The policies emanating from these two colossal institutions have been collectively dubbed as the ‘Washington Consensus.’ These policies argue that deregulation of domestic prices will depoliticize petroleum products pricing and eliminate speculation, rent-seeking and other unhealthy practices usually associated with Government administered and or controlled prices.

Thus, over the years since 1986, successive Nigerian governments have been implementing ‘Washington Consensus’ policies across the sectors of the national economy; including the downstream petroleum products sector.

Correct timing of the implementation of ‘Washington Consensus’ policy is considered as very vital to ensuring successful outcomes (this is in addition to other prerequisites such as strengthening governance, institutions and transparency).

This write-up is about correct timing of domestic fuel subsidy reform in Nigeria. To put the issue into proper context, the ‘Washington Consensus’ framers and advocates place more emphasis on the fact that the correct timing and sequencing of events leading to the reform of fuel subsidies is important in ensuring successful subsidy reforms.

They therefore impress that governments must assess if it is feasible to let prices increase abruptly (i.e. the ‘Shock therapy’ approach) or to allow a ‘gradual’ price increase as subsidies are slowly reduced and finally eliminated.

While abrupt subsidy withdrawals may be too big a shock to consumers, a slow and gradual phasing out of subsidies may lead to higher fiscal costs, particularly amid rapidly rising global prices. Both of these approaches have their pros and cons. I do not intend to discuss them here.

Nevertheless, on the timing issue, the ‘Washington Consensus’ School favors the post-election period as a golden opportunity that usually provides a window of opportunity for outgoing governments to push through tough and unpopular policy measures. This could possibly explain the reason why President Obasanjo decided to announce the unpopular fuel price and Value Added Tax rate hikes on the twilight of his days in office with effect from May 23, 2007.

Another ‘Washington Consensus’ favored timing and sequencing of neo-liberal economic policy reform implementation; particularly, any price-sensitive policy changes are best pushed through when the economy is in a position of strength or deep in crises.

It would be seen that the federal government’s impending adjustment or removal of domestic fuel subsidies in the next coming months (most likely in the new year 2009) do not necessarily satisfy these most favored ‘Washington Consensus’ timing and sequencing prerequisites.

For instance, first, Nigeria is not in a post-election period; having passed that period since May 29, 2007. Second, Nigeria, just like the rest of the world, faces an uncertain economic stability following the existing global financial turmoil that is creating nervousness in all countries across the globe.

Third, recent plunging of the price of crude oil in the international crude oil markets is a serious issue of concern to the Nigerian economic wellbeing and other oil exporting countries. As a matter of serous concern, the federal government is scaling down its 2009 budget benchmark proposal in line with the falling price of crude oil in the international crude oil markets.

In addition to all these mentioned areas of serious concern that may work against getting the timing and sequencing of domestic fuel price subsidy removal right, one very important factor that is going to work seriously against the government resolve to hike fuel prices next year is the current fuel subsidy scandal unravelled at the very agency statutory vested with the responsibility and duty of regulating and managing petroleum products supply, pricing/subsidization in Nigeria – i.e. Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

For instance, the breaking news that heralded the announcement of the immediate indefinite suspension of the erstwhile Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Dr. Oluwole Oluleye, (who by the way, is a gentleman and level-headed technocrat/bureaucrat), and the subsequent unearthing by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of yet to be explained discrepancies in the management and or disbursement of the Petroleum Support Funds (PSF) being managed by the agency is going to be a major set back to the government’s planned removal of fuel subsidies next year.

The EFCC uncovered fraud at the PPPRA involving the illegal payment of N64.07 billion ($550 million) in subsidies to some unqualified fuel importers. The N64.07 billion was part of funds diverted from the money the government allocated to the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF).
For instance, five unqualified oil firms that ought not to benefit from the intervention fund in 2006 were found to have benefited to the tune of N64.07 billion ($550 million). The PPPRA disbursed over N800 billion ($7 billion) as subsidies on imported petroleum products during the period 2006-2008. This is enough to build a brand new medium capacity high tech refinery from the scratch.
The PSF is one of the instruments in the mechanism of administration and management of fuel pricing in Nigeria. It was established in 2006 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to modulate the impact of the volatility of oil prices at the international market and align them with domestic pump-head prices to a certain government approved level in the product market with the government paying the differential.

In addition to the issue of the alleged discrepancies in the disbursement of the PSF between 2006 and 2008, another disturbing development in this ‘cursed’ sector is the alleged unethical behaviour of some of the private sector operators in the sector who engage in all sots of sharp-practices and unwholesome behaviour of ‘products round tripping’ in order to short-change their competitors in the market and ultimately the final consumers.

As the public is being made to understand by the industry operators, ‘Products tripping’ is a roundabout way of cheating the system and competitors respectively by those firms that partake in the despicable practice and behaviour. It takes place at two different levels:

First, a system is devised whereby private products marketing companies registered with the PPPRA/PSF connive with some unscrupulous government agents to recycle petroleum products obtained at lower-cost official government determined prices from the Nigerian National Petroleum Companies (NNPC) and re-present same as imported products. This then will allow the company to benefit from drawing from the PSF, thereby swindling the nation billions of unearned supernormal profits (i.e. racketeering).

Secondly, private petroleum marketing companies registered with the PPPRA/PSF get allocation from the NNPC at reduced ex-depot prices and then returns them offshore with the possible convince of public officials. Thereafter, the products are returned to Nigeria as imported products.

The returned products will then be sold by the firms at prices lower than those that were actually imported. The firms can then subsequently apply for the PSF for the differences in landing cost and sales price at the pump. This unethical practice places other competing law abiding straight marketers at a major disadvantage.

Some commercial banks must have been conniving with these unscrupulous oil marketing firms by serving as cover ups regarding the utilization of foreign exchange provided by the government to fund importation of petroleum products so far this year.

Furthermore, there are other areas of general public discontents that can stand in the way of public acceptance of the federal government’s intention to remove fuel subsidies next year. For example, a sample of such other deadly arsenals from which the ‘Nigerian Civil Society Consensus’ community can hold on to in order to disarm the federal government in this battle will include the following:

1. The $16bn power sector revamp and expansion contracts scandal during the period 2005-2007;

2. The unaccounted billions of naira sunk in building new and repairing old federal highways nationwide without any tangible result for it during the period 1999-2007;

3. The startling revelations of gargantuan financial malfeasances and economic sabotage coming out of the ongoing House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and associated agencies during the period 1999-2008;

4. Ongoing large scale oil bunkering (estimated at over 250,000 barrels per day) in the oil producing Niger delta region;

5. The scandalous and yet to be accounted for $20m (missing) from the accounts of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) during the period 1999-2007;

6. The yet to be accounted for privatization proceeds from the period 1999-2007;

7. The recent discovery of misappropriation of over N500bn at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) during the period 1999-2007;

8. The railways modernization and expansion contracts scandal during the period 2006-2007;

9. The discovery and recovery of over N400bn of unspent 2007 budget from Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs);

10. The discovery of over N3 trillion of unremitted internal revenue by the revenue generating MDAs during the period 1999-2008;

11. The alleged scandal of misappropriation of about N19bn Aviation funds during the period 2006-2007;

12. The indiscriminate granting of lucrative import waivers and exemptions to local and foreign companies, friends, relations and cronies during the period 1999-2007. For instance, the $3 billion import duty waiver to WEMPCO Nigeria Limited, a Chinese company, for the establishment of a $250 million cold rolled steel plant in the country, granted under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo is an excellent example;

13. The alleged scandal of misappropriation of N800m Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC’s) funds by its suspended Chairman a couple of months ago;

14. The recent discovery of scandalous misappropriation of over N600m at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, near Jos, plateau State;

15. The cancelled N38bn illegal and scandalous nationwide rural health centres project initiated in 2006/2007;

16. The scandalous multibillion naira contract scam for the equipping of some selected teaching hospitals nationwide initiated in 2003-2007;

17. The scandalous multimillion naira financial scam involved in establishing and funding of the Galaxy Backbone Plc during the period 2006-2007;

18. The scandalous and unethical diversion of public funds into funding of a Private Presidential Library project initiated in 2006;

19. The scandalous multimillion naira funding of the design and manufacture of a Pistol at the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), Kaduna, initiated in 2006-2007;

20. Another alleged scam of defrauding the country in the region of N502 billion through production of crude oil by the NNPC/joint venture operators far in excess of the quota assigned by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

21. The unaccounted N555 billion alleged to have been fleeced by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) between December 2004 and April 2007 as reported to President Yar’Adua by the chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engineer Hamman Tukur;

22. Another allegation by the chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engineer Hamman Tukur; that the sum of N13.6 trillion, being revenue from excess crude appropriated by both the federal and state governments between 2004 and 2007 have not been accounted for to the National Assembly and the respective States Houses of Assemblies by the Executive branches of the Federal and State Governments respectively.

23. And last but by no means the least, the recent hiking up of salaries and emoluments of political office holders nationwide by the National Assembly based upon recommendation by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

The above list is not exhaustive but nevertheless provides enough examples and or pointers that are enough to illustrate the point being made regarding appropriate timing and sequencing of implementation of fuel subsidy removal.

This is very important being that, paradoxically; the federal government premised its reasons for fuels subsidy removal on the need to gain additional revenues for development purposes and the seemingly unsustainable huge amount of money diverted for the subsidization of consumption of petroleum products for the rich members of the society.

Therefore, in order to debunk these cogent reasons, the civil society organizations (CSOs); particularly the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and their other coalition partners among the other organized non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) community can arm themselves with these verifiable ‘weapons’ of mass discontents (WMDs) and can thus, easily use them to disarm the federal government arguments when it comes to the battle ground of ideas and justifications for removal of fuel subsidies.

Again, when it comes to the sensitive issue of the current global financial crisis, the Nigerian ‘Civil society Consensus’ coalition will quickly point to the excellent measures put in place by governments in other countries; using public funds to support their citizens, businesses and the economy in crisis. For example, the various bailout packages (i.e. subsidization of credits and private banks etc) put in place by nations all over the world will be a good pointer.

For instance, in the United Kingdom (UK) alone, the government plans to further inject public funds and re-direct billions of pounds into projects that will boost the economy despite increasingly tight finances for the period ahead. The UK government has already injected over £600bn of UK tax payers’ money into the troubled UK financial sector as recue plan to avoid the whole economy going into recession and face its debilitating consequences.

Therefore, most of the highly industrialized nations of the world who are hard core supporters of the ‘Washington Consensus’ School are not bothered by its prescription now but instead, their governments, economists and Central Bankers are applying the Keynesian-style prescriptions and plans especially to areas which include housing, energy and small businesses.

They are getting the timing right. That is to say, this is the time when governments must support the economy in crisis. For instance, the UK and other western governments are determined not to scrap works that their respective countries need in spite of the current financial turmoil. For example, the US government’s Treasury Department rolled out a $700 billion credit market rescue plan, plus another $250bn of tax payers’ money to be invested as equity in some ailing banks.

In the case of Nigeria, not much has been done in this direction and already, there are a lot of discontents from the society arising from the problems in all sectors of the national economy in addition to the banking sector, in the stock market, in the nation’s infrastructure, in the manufacturing industry and security of life and property and the skyrocketing rate of unemployment among youths across all age brackets.

In conclusion therefore, judging from the above avenues of revenue leakages in the system, President GOODLUCK'S administration faces a daunting burden of successfully providing convincing reasons to the discontented organized civil society groups arrayed against fuel subsidy removal to support it.

In SUMMARY: Its all about unbridled CORRUPTION!

Nigerians wake Up, before Poverty Kills you, in your sleep!

Madam Gele don wori carry go as the hed {Original president}of this government u can multiply cost of fuel by Ten no problem GEJ go dey carry ur hand bag.

STEP 1- TACKLE CORRUPTION SINCERELY
STEP 2- BUILD ADEQUATE REFINERIES
STEP 3- REMOVE FUEL SUBSIDY

Without going thru these phases,things will get even worse.There will only be more money for the politicians and jobbers to loot.
A liter of fuel sells for about =N=5 in venezuela because they have their refineries.If Nigeria has adequate refineries,a liter of fuel should go for less than 20(even with enough profit made by vendors).Then we would not mind paying fully after the subsidy is removed.
FOR NOW WE SAY NOOO

She is a strategist? Then let her use her strategy to cut the cost of governance first let,s see how much we can save from the flatulent bellies we call politicians.

I have always said it that these World bank and IMF stooges we have as finance ministers in 3rd world countries have nothing to offer.

We are watching to see what the second coming of Okonjo-Iweala is going to bring. All those who keep pointing to having Nigeria's debt being forgiven by the Paris Club are yet to point out how any of the so-called economic wonders this lady did has translated into better life for the common Nigerians.

These elitist policies she is pushing will only push us backwards. Na today? Mscheew!

cicero:

She is a strategist? Then let her use her strategy to cut the cost of governance first let,s see how much we can save from the flatulent bellies we call politicians.

Thank you !!! Sadly functional illiteracy remains pervasive in Nigeria . Instead of so called "educated" Nigerians inpecting facts, statistics, fiscal policies, economic strategies and reality to gain a true picture of the s.h.it we are in many are busy praising Iweala as the "messiah". She was no doubt competent the last time she served her nation but GEJ's regime , and its total commitment to the "owners of Nigeria" , is another cup of tea entirely.

We should ask Okonjo Iweala if she would have settled for the comparatively negligible recurrent expenditure cuts she now proposes when she was a vociferous critic of our "destructive" and "unfeasibly high" recurrent expenditure last year . It would be sad if Iweala becomes another Reuben Abati.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5739739-146/story.csp

“I hear the press talk about magic wand. I don’t have any magic wand to wave. There is no single person who can solve the country’s problems. It will be a team effort,” she declared.

She called for the maintenance of a stable macro-economic policy by managing the country’s fiscal issues in a more prudent manner, by bringing down the recurrent expenditure level from the current 74 percent to about 70 percent, at the rate of one percentage point per year over the life of the present administration.

Some people just like feeling a lot smarter than the rest of us. I read comments like she didn't say when or she didn't say soon, very true but she didn't say not soon either so why try to make us believe wat has not been clearly stated?

Removing subsidies will be a good thing EVENTUALLY! The people are in hell right now and though we all have to sacrifice for things to improve this will distroy the people and families, for a country to remove such thing you need an effective in town as well as intercity tranportstion system (trains included) so that driving a car becomes luxury and not necessity. Development can start and go very far without removing This subsidy thing, the big question is how much do countries like Niger, Benin, Senegal and Guinea pay per liter?, do governors, vice president, IG, service chiefs, ministers, traditional rulers, pdp chairman, the president etc need the convoy and man power they move around with? So many useless, pointless, wicked funds to cut, but no we want to cut subsidy, how about no more foreign trips for the next 4 yrs, how about investing half our budget on education and farming, how about we forget subsidy cut and cut 90% of running the government? (Trust me that's more than enough)
We are in for the worst time of our lives, I just pray our people will survive this.

And yes I saw the part about very small unspecific cuts in other areas, but the subsidy thing, quite specific!

(Without giving a timeline for the removal: One thing i dont get is while they are trying to reduce inflation , removing this susbsidy would just mean a whole lot of thing would be much more expensive because  the price of oil seems to determine the price of so many other things in the market  e.g agricultural products, most of which come from the north and so many other things. Like they have  done  in past (Privitise your damn refineries to make them more efficient or even is the government does have  money, give incentives to investors to build more refineries rather than paying some oil barons

@Alj_Harem: I believe that to whom much is given much is expected. I have read many debates on Nairaland over the past few months but never have i made comments more than once on a few occasions because i believe that an expression of thought by a poster may not carry the same aura in which it was conjured to the reader (and possibly responder).

It is quite clear that Nigeria needs a firm sense of direction especially in terms of economic development. But it is not enough to say Government has to develop infrastructure and create the enabling environment for external investors to come in and help our economy reach new heights. I admit that the actions of Govt. in the past has not helped to shore up confidence especially from the masses (with the do what i say but not what i do stance), but like they say, "it only takes a final straw to break a camel's back". If Nigeria has suffered a lot because of promises of good governance and better life for its citizens, but have failed to deliver on these promises, it does not mean that the future will always remain as the past.

I heard the Minister of Finance speak about Nigeria's debt profile this morning and she put it at 20% of our annual GDP. Being an experienced technocrat in world economy, she scored this profile good but declared that we still need to do more, and she gave a definite direction: cut recurrent/overhead expenditure by the government which accounts for over 65% of our annual budget. And this will be targeted at an annual rate of 1% annually. Now that is what we call definite pronouncement. On the issue of fuel subsidy therefore, the only thing she has done is admit that this is what the problem is and solutions are being considered.

For those who question her authority to pronounce that subsidy should be removed, claiming that only the minister of petroleum can say such, need i remind you that the subsidy in question is paid by the government through the ministry of finance in consultation with the budgeting and fiscal planning commission? If the minister says subsidy has to be removed, it means that it is one of the ways in which spending cuts by the government will be achieved. It doesn't mean that they don't care about its effect on the masses, that is why she ended by saying "when the time is right", that is, when it is certain that subsidy removal will not send Nigeria's economy into a free fall because of cuts in the spending power of the middle and low class in the society.

It is better to analyze not criticize. Analysis begets results while criticisms begets insults.

these woman has ben talking for sometime now. am aint a fan of such. her master has been talking before she came on board. abegiii, let ur works speak for u.

on this issue of Fuel subsidy, its welcome but a major challenge will be the Timing. infact, i for one honestly dont want to hear anything about it until we have our functioning refineries that are capable of meeting all/most of our local demands.

Demdem:

these woman has ben talking for sometime now. am aint a fan of such. her master has been talking before she came on board. abegiii, let your works speak for u.

on this issue of Fuel subsidy, its welcome but a major challenge will be the Timing. infact, i for one honestly dont want to hear anything about it[b] until we have our functioning refineries that are capable of meeting all/most of our local demands.[/b]

Indeed but what are the chances of that happening when GEJ has given the "home of corruption" NNPC 2 years to turn around our grossly pathetic refineries? What is behind that insane decision , when long awaited transparent privatisation of our refineries is the answer, if not the need to ensure that the AGIP buddies of GEJ are not 'inconvenienced'? All we will get , for the next 4 years, is a lot of motion without Nigeria moving forward. Anyone expecting different must be blind to how all the enemies of Nigeria (Anenih et al) , from one era to the next, surround GEJ.

You guys are just getting unnecessarily paranoid about the fuel subsidy thing. Read the article before professing doomsday. Fact:
She said it is a good thing to remove the subsidy on fuel; Fact: she acknowledges that the poor will be worst hit. But what she didnt
say is that they would remove it today, tomorrow, next year or even ten years. She said when the time is right, what this means
objectively is that they will find a means of easing the effect of the removal (probably by building more refinaries or increasing
production from the existing ones to drop the cost of importation) before considering the removal.
When strategists speak, politicians should not interprete. If you guys are politicians then you have no business interpreting the
comments of a strategist because all options are considered before decisions are made and all consequences are considered before
pronouncements (such as the one Dr. Ngozi made) are made.
Get your facts right and your brains straight before turning an intellectual analysis of Nigeria's economic problem become a tool for
political bickering!!!

^^ as usual dummies that like feeling like they're better than everyone else, anyways the No 1 politician in the land was the first to comment on the issue b4 she did (the president) and what works for other coutries might not work here, not everything is text book sumtyms you have to use wisdom and common sense! This is a bad idea period.

Mark my words this subsidy removal thing will be tried b4 the end of this year.