NuhuRibadu:

removal of subsidies is long overdue in the coz of the following
-importers become richer at the expense of nigerians  --- so rather than fight the importers where they ought to, removing subsidy itself is the ONLY way to go?
-smugglers become richer at the expense of the country -- so rather than attacking this problem, removing subsidy, whichyou admit our economy benefits from is the ONLY way to go?
-neighboring countries profit at the expense of nigeria -- so rather than dealing with the leak, removing subsidy is the ONLY WAY?
-no sensible corporation will invest in building a refinery in a nigeria if nigeria continues subsidizing oil, and we all know, govt can neither build or manage refineries, and this leaves us in the never-ending cycle of importing
-subsidizing encourages corruption and laziness, and provides an easy means to loot the country dry without anyone noticing -- subsidizing encourages corruption, and laziness? Seriously? :-/ Laziness?? You mean having to pay less for a good translates to laziness? Or are my missing something here?
-foreign companies (from which we import ) and their host countrries benefit at the expense of nigeria -- Foreign countries do? Do you have any proof of these claims you continue to make on this issue?
-economy built on "imported fuel subsidies" is very likely to crash like a pack of cards coz it is built on lies -- imported fuel subsidies?? Huh??
- etc

truth is however,
- that this subsidizing is about the only thing govt is doing for nigerian and removing it will cause untold hardships
- benefits of subsidy removal is not going to be seen in a day - it is a long term thing
- the money saved by subsidizing will most likely be looted again by these corrupt politicians

we just need to weigh these pros and cons and decide on which way we want to go

How much more different are these suggestions on removal of subsidy from that suggested by one of our nairalander this morning to have the police force disbanded because the force has over and over shown it can only give us what we inject into it?

At the end of it all, I hate to be the one to tell you that the fuel subsidy program is NOT BEING REMOVED, it is simply being REBRANDED.

Kobojunkie:

At the end of it all, I hate to be the one to tell you that the fuel subsidy program is NOT BEING REMOVED, it is simply being REBRANDED.

gbammmmm pls explain to them o

jason123:

Not until the government can tell us what they are using the other revenue for, they have no say. Subsidy is the only thing they use our money for except for the obvious, their fat pockets.
Subsidy is the only thing we collect from our government.

Secondly, we haven't started talking the after effect of this removal which multiply our pains by a factor of 10.

Look guys, removal of subsidy does not guarantee that those "oil thieves" will not find another avenue to rob us blind. It does not guarantee that the money derived, will be use on Nigeria rather than their pockets. In fact, it does not guarantee any of the listed advantages theoretical economics and intuition teaches in us. Remember, Nigerian is not the "classic economy" as you were taught in school. It is a rich (money-wise) and complex country in which everything is entangled around Oil. Think about the hyper-inflation and its effect, when already, 70% of Nigerians live under the poverty line.

To finish off, "Poverty does not know ethnicity or religion. It will affect everyone".

What an intelligent statement! This is the only thing the common man enjoy from the government, some Governors was recently arrested for embezzling billions of Naira, if subsidy is removed, who will suffer the more? The person making 18.000 or those who have access to line their pockets with billions. Please leave subsidy alone, this is the only common man's share of the national cake otherwise what would result will make what we called Nigeria to be history.

Bye bye to oil subsidy.

Una too complain Nigerians i hate nairaland bc of all these complain here and there

''I have read with acatalectic disgust, governments asinine and puerile ratiocinations attempting to justiceate the proposed removal of subsidies from petroleum products.
It has asseverated that it's intentions is guided by the need to checkmate the odoriferous excesses of a machiavellian and mephistophelean cabal
and I have said to myself, , What a shame? What a self indicting admittal of the failure of governance?
What an hocus-pocus? What an anathematous disdain for it's citizenry?
Must the people now bear the brunt for governments ineptitude, inefficiency and pusillanimity in squaring up with these economic philistines and fat cows?
I feel even more nauseated and vexed that the Governors Forum has posthaste conferred an apocalyptic imprimatur on this genie.
Let's not forget that majority of these same Governors had earlier called for this state of affairs as a condition sinequanon for paying the minimum wage.
What an opprobrium? What a deprecable descent from the sublime to the ridiculous!"

Its undesirable at this time.

Who ever that says removal of subsidy is good has a shallow mind. What does an average nigerian benefits from the govt? Nothing. No good roads, dilapitated infrastructures, grinding and unfathomable poverty and no social security system. unemployed youths and graduates are roaming the streets looking for non existing jobs. while this happen our leaders are enjoying and feeding fat on the collective resources. Govt shld first prune down its recurrent expenses and make the refineries work. We shld not be quick to compare naija to developed nations in fuel subsidy removal as they enjoy many things we take as luxury in nigeria for granted. My family and i say no to fuel subsidy removal.

I foresee inflation and abject poverty. . . Subsistence on a shilling per day. . .
The best thing that will still happen to the subsidy money is either its usage to counter the false inflation or better still. . . . LOOTED!

Let them remove it; maybe the hardship will force us to take the bulls by the horn or we can suffer and smile.

GEJ REMOVE THE SUBSIDY AND FACE REVOLUTION
BY ANGRY UNEMPLOWED GRADUATE. EXPERT EGYPT
STYLE OF REVOLUTION.

some of the unemployed graduates are religious cowards, nothing will happen.

Subsidies incite to waste and corruption. let it be free, Nigeria will be a better country, less scarcity, more money for roads and refineries and an more equal distributed wealth.
I am always surprised how good one can leave with ignorance.

So instead of tightening border security or levying proper taxes on those carrying fuel to other countries the answer is to raise the price of fuel for the average nigerian from 65N to 250N And that's aside from the price hike of every consumable good in the country as well. I really still don't see how this is anything else than the greedy interests of fg to circumvent more money to steal at the demise of the average citizen. They are playing with fire though because this isn't just another policy that will blow over. When the average man is hungry and/or homeless due to increases they will make sure they are heard one way or another. Prevention is better than intervention but some like to learn the hard way.

I have posted this in other threads but I think more people ought to see or hear this.

Starting from 18th century britain through to late 19th century US, germany and sweden down to late 20th century france, finland, japan and south-korea, virtually all of today's rich countries became rich through the use of trade protection, government subsidies and regulation rather than free trade, free market policies.

Professor Ha-Joon Chang. Professor of development Economics, University of Cambridge.

Removal of subsidies only paves the way for absolute capitalism which will increase the already gaping inequality in the nigerian economy!
If the government says a cabal is getting most of the benefits of the subsidy then they should deal with the cabal directly, that's why Jonathan is the Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces!
We cannot afford to throw away the baby with the bath water!

Absolute deregulation and unfettered capitalism will destroy any country! Look at what is happening in america and in many parts of Europe! Unfettered capitalism and totally deregulated markets have plunged the world into one financial crisis after another. The real problem is that Global corporations supported by the IMF are in charge of the economies of most nations and are pushing policies that favor less than 1% of the world's population over the 99%.

This is the basis for the Occupy Wall Street protests going on in the US currently. If the US with all its laws can still be overrun by unfettered capitalism, Nigeria stands NO CHANCE.

Removal of the fuel subsidy will just increase the already gaping inequality we have in Nigeria.

All the paper economists who have learnt in school that deregulation is the key to economic development should realise that they have been lied to as there is NO developing economy that has experienced up to 10 years continuous economic development through deregulation.

Ask Malaysia, indonesia and the other so called Asian Miracle of the late 90s, they have been totally destroyed and will likely not be able to recover for a very long time.

It is pertinent to note that the policies of Okonjo Iweala and her other paper economists are directly responsible for the current global financial crisis!

For more suggestions on how to improve the economy check out the thread at https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-764430.0.html

Is it true Nigerian Government has announced Oil Subsidy removal effectively from Jan 1st 2012?