I bet Jonathan is right

This is not the first,second,third time jonathan will be making this point.Its just a pity that those that will contribute to the development of this nation will never be allowed to take positions.Upon all the lilitless opportunities we have in this country,he is still dwelling on oil subsidy removal.He kept on talking about REVIVAL OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR,what has he done to improve this sector.Just imagine, minister for agriculture sittting down in the office with AC,how did u want him to think about the next line of action in this sector.Also,apart from the likes of Prof BAlogun,Vice chancellor,UNAB,(also a prof of Agriculural science)that has a poultry which serves as another medium in absorbing the unemployed youths,how many profs have that saame vision.It will really take us a long time b4 the country can come to its normal shape.

this beaf slowpoke should watch is back course am coming for u already get ur contact details.back off this useless propaganda or u wanona make ur kids orphan and ur wife a widiow.

[size=15pt]Fight CORRUPTION[/size], that is the only SUBSIDY you will remove. Since 1999 till date, No Budget Pass was implemented. Where went the money- inside different individuals account.

all are rubbish, simple question why must subsidy be removed?u refuse to answer

Mr GEJ. Nigerians are solidly behind you. Go on and exhaust that GIANT stride and Your generation yet unborn will be thankful you did.
Let every bit of subsidy Go!!

Beaf:

You do not seem to grab the import of what I am saying. If the states and LG's do not pull up their bootstraps, is that the FG's fault? They are the ones meant to be the primary generators of wealth, not the FG. Therefore, your whole argument about deficits is belly up.

It does not matter what your state produces as much as that its entire income is from the FG. That is a fundamentalstructural problem that has direct impact on budget deficits. Think about if your state and LG were not getting collosal sums from the FG, but instead remitted such funds to Abuja. How big do you think that would make the deficit?

All I'm saying is, if we must tackle a problem, it must be from the viewpoint of bettering the country and moving away from the status quo. We cannot continue promoting the wrong ways forward and expecting to develop by miracle.

and what about the 9bn naira unaccounted for by NNPC daily? is that not triple the subsidy amount? yeye

Beaf:


The elephant in the room is smuggling, and it is the one your argument has neatly left out. The fuel importers, knowing that they are guaranteed to be paid by the FG; import fuel, get it recorded at our ports, then move it all to our neighbouring countries where they get paid at close at market price. Most of these importers have fuel stations and refineries in those neighbouring countries. After nearly all of the fuel has been distributed in neighbouring countries and the importers paid there, the Nigerian govt is presented with the bill. It is an exponential swindle that see's Nigeria effectively subsidising the energy needs of Benin Republic, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso etc. Basically, we are subsidising W. Africa.

Why should Nigeria feed other countries when the money can be used on Nigerians? It must end.

To fix that loop, govt will have to fix the following in one swoop without bloodshed; port authorities, NNPC, customs, police, large swathes of elite. we already have boko haram and intense fires of ethnic bigotry. The only option is to toss the the entire fuel import ecosystem into the trash can and sanitise it without govt payments; then we can split the task of taking on those groups one by one.

The scandal must end today, there is no sane reason to call for govt to wait, while the whole country has been sold into the slavery of a few hundred with the poison fruit of N65.00 per litre. The man on the street has enough pride and self-worth to stand for that.

I hope you are not suggesting that the people should arrest those taking it to other countries are you. For you to know this means it is public knowledge meaning somebody somewhere failed to do his job and someone somewhere knows that and rather than punish the person has chosen to punish others instead.

I dont see why some of us here decide to cloud ourselves in deceit by a motivational speech!

We sure dont see the true picture why certain decisions are made at the helms, does not mean we are that dumb not to see how a Captain steers a ship with a broken compass.

He may have the best intentions, but! Fuel has been increased over the years, has there been any change in the economy? quality of fuel purchased? Its not time for this and he knows it, he just feels(thanks to his advisers) that this act will remedy the problem. Nonsense! Deal with the people that are looting and creating unrest and change will take its course.

Whats this talk about our generations? na story ooo. The cartels have enrich their born/unborn, friends/family and well wishers.

My opinion!

I laugh in my language:
A government that can not tackle the CABAL, Secure the borders to prevent smuggling of the product, Explain how 250 billion jumped to 1+ trillion,

by now has no detailed road map on how subsidy money will be spent, even after all the heated debate still is too incompetent to present a winning case,

is suppose to be trusted to secure the future of me and over 160 million Nigerians?

NIGGER PLEASE!

Very unfortunate, as of today with all the educational institutions we have in this country we can not still build a refinery without the direct involvement of the superior guys, then let's invite these guys to build more refineries  and operate it themselves after which we can remove the fuel welfare.

To the shallow thinker, the Kaduna refinery was not a mistake, think of it very well.

Online Online


Re: Why Fuel Subsidy Must Go Now, By Jonathan
« #7 on: December 16, 2011, 01:04 PM »

Removal of subsidy is like administering an injection. The insertion of the needle is painful but the work of the drug it contains is needful. Besides, it is expected that any child taking an injection will scream, protest, writhe in pain and what have you but that doesn't stop the doctor from doing the needful.

Let's take the pains to correct this now and save future generations from unnecessary headache.

Nice one from GEJ the giant killer!

YES FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL IS LIKE AN INJECTION THAT IS PAINFUL, BUT THE MEDICINE WILL CURE THE SICKNESS, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT THERE ARE DRUGS U DONT TAKE ON EMPTY STOMACH? IF YOU ARE INJECTED AND THERE IS NO FOOD IN YOUR STOMACH YOU COULD DIE ?

LET EFCC RECOVER OUR STOLEN MONEY, LET GOVT USE IT TO SUBSIDIZE , THEN USE THE MONEY THEY SAVE ON SUBSIDY TO SHOW NIGERIANS WHAT THEY WILL BENEFIT IN THE SUBSIDY IS REMOVED, THEN WE WILL SUPPORT. THIS INJECTION GO KILL THE CITIZENS OO

Everytime some people come to use smuggling as part of their argument to defend subsidy removal, I say to myself, " Here comes another big fool!".
One of the fundamental funtions of any government is to secure the boarders, if they have failed at that, they have no bussiness being in government.

For those that are in support these evil-minded politicians that are bent on destroying Nigeria,what do u have to say about this?
On December 10, 2011, if you stopped at the Mobil filling station on Old Aba Road in Port Harcourt , you would be able to buy a litre of petrol for 65 naira or $1.66 per gallon at an exchange rate of $1/N157 and 4 litres per gallon. This is the official price. The government claims that this price would have been subsidized at N73/litre and that the true price of a litre of petrol in Port Harcourt is N138/litre or $3.52 per gallon.

They are therefore determined to remove their subsidy and sell the gallon at $3.52. But, On December 10, 2011, if you stopped at the Mobil Gas station on E83rd St and Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, USA, you would be a able to buy a gallon of petrol for $3.52/gallon. Both gallons of petrol would have been refined from Nigerian crude oil. The only difference would be that the gallon in New York was refined in a US North East refinery from Nigerian crude exported from the Qua Iboe Crude Terminal in Nigeria while the Port Harcourt gallon was either refined in Port Harcourt or imported. The idea that a gallon of petrol from Nigerian crude oil cost the same in New York as in Port Harcourt runs against basic economic logic. Hence, Nigerians suspect that there is something irrational and fishy about such pricing. What they would like to know is the exact cost of 1 litre of petrol in Nigeria .

We will answer this question in the simplest economic terms despite the attempts of the Nigerian government to muddle up the issue. What is the true cost of a litre of petrol in Nigeria ? The Nigerian government has earmarked 445000 barrel per day throughput for meeting domestic refinery products demands. These volumes are not for export. They are public goods reserved for internal consumption. We will limit our analysis to this volume of crude oil. At the refinery gate in Port Harcourt, the cost of a barrel of Qua Iboe crude oil is made up of the finding /development cost ($3.5/bbl) and a production/storage /transportation cost of $1.50 per barrel.

Thus, at $5 per barrel, we can get Nigerian Qua Iboe crude to the refining gates at Port Harcourt and Warri. One barrel is 42 gallons or 168 litres. The price of 1 barrel of petrol at the Depot gate is the sum of the cost of crude oil, the refining cost and the pipeline transportation cost. Refining costs are at $12.6 per barrel and pipeline distribution cost are $1.50 per barrel. The Distribution Margins (Retailers, Transporters, Dealers, Bridging Funds, Administrative charges etc) are N15.49/litre or $16.58 per barrel. The true cost of 1 litre of petrol at the Mobil filling station in Port Harcourt or anywhere else in Nigeria is therefore ($5 +$12.6+$1.5+$16.6) or $35.7 per barrel . This is equal to N33.36 per litre compared to the official price of N65 per litre. Prof. Tam David West is right. There is no petrol subsidy in Nigeria . Rather the current official prices are too high. Let us continue with some basic energy economics.

The government claims we are currently operating our refineries at 38.2% efficiency. When we refine a barrel of crude oil, we get more than just petrol. If we refine 1 barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil, we will get 45 gallons of petroleum products. The 45 gallons of petroleum products consist of 4 gallons of LPG, 19.5 gallons of Gasoline, 10 gallons of Diesel, 4 gallons of Jet Fuel/Kerosene, 2.5 gallons of Fuel Oil and 5 gallons of Bottoms. Thus, at 38.2% of refining capacity, we have about 170000 bbls of throughput refined for about 13.26 million litres of petrol, 6.8 million litres of diesel and 2.72 million litres of kerosene/jet fuel. This is not enough to meet internal national demand. So, we send the remaining of our non-export crude oil volume (275000 barrels per day) to be refined abroad and import the petroleum product back into the country. We will just pay for shipping and refining. The Nigerian government exchanges the 275000 barrels per day with commodity traders (90000 barrels per day to Duke Oil, 60000 barrels per day to Trafigura (Puma Energy), 60000 barrels per day to Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and 65000 barrels per days to unknown sources) in a swap deal. The landing cost of a litre of petrol is N123.32 and the distribution margins are N15.49 according to the government. The cost of a litre is therefore (N123.32+N15.49) or N138.81 . This is equivalent to $3.54 per gallon or $148.54 per barrel. In technical terms, one barrel of Nigerian crude oil has a volume yield of 6.6% of AGO, 20.7% of Gasoline, 9.5% of Kerosene/Jet fuel, 30.6% of Diesel, 32.6% of Fuel oil / Bottoms when it is refined.

Using a netback calculation method, we can easily calculate the true cost of a litre of imported petrol from swapped oil. The gross product revenue of a refined barrel of crude oil is the sum of the volume of each refined product multiplied by its price. Domestic prices are $174.48/barrel for AGO, $69.55/barrel for Gasoline (PMS or petrol), $172.22/barrel for Diesel Oil, $53.5/barrel for Kerosene and $129.68/barrel for Fuel Oil. Let us substitute the government imported PMS price of $148.54 per barrel for the domestic price of petrol/gasoline. Our gross product revenue per swapped barrel would be (174.48*0.066 +148.54*0.207+172.22*0.306+ 53.5*0.095+129.68*0.326) or $142.32 per barrel. We have to remove the international cost of a barrel of Nigerian crude oil ($107 per barrel) from this to get the net cost of imported swapped petroleum products to Nigerian consumers. The net cost of swapped petroleum products would therefore be $142.32 -$107 or $35.32 per barrel of swapped crude oil. This comes out to be a net of $36.86 per barrel of petrol or N34.45 per litre.

This is the true cost of a litre of imported swapped petrol and not the landing cost of N138 per litre claimed by the government. The pro-subsidy Nigerian government pretends the price of swapped crude oil is $0 per barrel (N0 per litre) while the resulting petroleum products is $148.54 per barrel (N138 per litre). The government therefore argues that the “subsidy” is N138.81-N65 or N73.81 per litre. But, if landing cost of the petroleum products is at international price ($148.54 per barrel), then the take-off price of the swapped crude oil should be at international price ($107 per barrel). This is basic economic logic outside the ideological prisms of the World Bank. The traders/petroleum products importers and the Nigerian government are charging Nigerians for the crude oil while they are getting it free.

So let us conclude this basic economic exercise. If the true price of 38.2% of our petrol supply from our local refinery is N33.36/litre and the remaining 61.8% has a true price of N34.45 per litre, then the average true price is (0.382*33.36+0.618*34.45) or N34.03 per litre. The official price is N65 per litre and the true price with government figures is about N34 per litre (even with our moribund refineries).

There is therefore no petrol subsidy. Rather, there is a high sales tax of 91.2% at current prices of N65 per litre. The labor leaders meeting the President should go with their economists. They should send economists and political scientists as representatives to the Senate Committee investigating the petroleum subsidy issue. There are many expert economists and political scientists in ASUU who will gladly represent the view of the majority. The labor leaders should not let anyone get away with the economic fallacy that the swapped oil is free while its refined products must be sold at international prices in the Nigerian domestic market.

The government should explain at what price the swapped crude oil was sold and where the money accruing from these sales have been kept. We have done this simple economic analysis of the Nigerian petroleum products market to show that there is no petrol subsidy what so ever. In the end, this debate on petrol subsidy and the attempt of the government to transfer wealth from the Nigerian masses to a petrol cabal will be decided in the streets. Nigerian workers, farmers, students, market women, youths, unemployed, NGO and civil society as a whole should prepare for a long harmattan season of protracted struggle. They should not just embark on 3 days strike/protests after which the government reduces the hiked petroleum prices by a few Nairas. They must embark upon in a sustainable struggle that will lead to fundamental changes. Let us remove our entire political subsidy from the government and end this petroleum products subsidy debate once and for all. It is time to bring the Arab Spring south.

Izielen Agbon Izielen Agbon writes from Dallas, Texas. izielenagbon@yahoo.com

There is therefore no petrol subsidy. Rather, there is a high sales tax of 91.2% at current prices of N65 per litre. The labor leaders meeting the President should go with their economists. They should send economists and political scientists as representatives to the Senate Committee investigating the petroleum subsidy issue. There are many expert economists and political scientists in ASUU who will gladly represent the view of the majority. The labor leaders should not let anyone get away with the economic fallacy that the swapped oil is free while its refined products must be sold at international prices in the Nigerian domestic market.

The government should explain at what price the swapped crude oil was sold and where the money accruing from these sales have been kept. We have done this simple economic analysis of the Nigerian petroleum products market to show that there is no petrol subsidy what so ever. In the end, this debate on petrol subsidy and the attempt of the government to transfer wealth from the Nigerian masses to a petrol cabal will be decided in the streets. Nigerian workers, farmers, students, market women, youths, unemployed, NGO and civil society as a whole should prepare for a long harmattan season of protracted struggle. They should not just embark on 3 days strike/protests after which the government reduces the hiked petroleum prices by a few Nairas. They must embark upon in a sustainable struggle that will lead to fundamental changes. Let us remove our entire political subsidy from the government and end this petroleum products subsidy debate once and for all. It is time to bring the Arab Spring south.

Emmado if there is anything this GEJ and his cronies are averse to its detailed transparent analysis of their clandestine operations,that said i hope organized labour can get their acts together and present their case with cold facts and figures.
Also i still wonder what amount of abuse we as a people will have to go through in the hands of those we elected into office before we actual start fighting for whats ours and stop smiling and suffering!

This is so funny.
And where has all the "so-called" best trained economists taken the world economy to?
There are many routes to a place, if there isn't then you create one.

Reference:

I don't know why we don't just get it. Government has given up on refining. It has acknowledged it can't do it and I appreciate the honesty. Look through the records. at the wanton mismanagement of maintenance since they were built in the seventies and eighties. They cannot do it, why force them. Why not leave the creation and running of industries in the hand of those with vested interest and proven competencies. With the exception of vandalism related stoppages SPDC churns out crude day and night like clockwork. You can imagine if NAPIMS was exploiting all our oil, we will be in a mess. GSM tarriffs are more expensive than NITEL was but who can honestly wish to return to those days. Deregulation is needed. Niger republic that buys bootleg kero is poorer than Nigeria and I can't think of any social umbrella they have. Let's reconsider and support deregulation.

We can demand anti-corruption, border control and job creation but what we should not do is to throw our money away and mortgage our lives and our valuable natural resources.  

[b][/b]
BuLL'S EYE!!
You've said it all!
We cant move forward without radical economic policies.
As it was done in the telecoms sector, so shall it be in the power and downstream sectors!
As 4 me, i don buy bicycle keep first, No time!

me i dey ask sey why foolish goons (fg) no dey remove those 419 allowances wey dem dey collect and cut down their big big salary. Ds go also helep dem save plenty big money. Why oil-fuel all d time from one government to d other. And why must it always be d masses dat must bear d pains and suffering of any transformation agenda by the government. All their transformation agenda no dey affect dem and their people.

Nigerians surviving on fuel subsidy kinda reminds of surviving with a plug in the hospital, that is supposed to be for something, u know, but trust naija, they hv so adjusted that pullg the plug is like committg murder, but it ain't so.

Prez Joe has tried so much to enlighten even the dullest of men, in the simplest manner, that we can't continue wastg our very scarce resources, such that does not even benefit the common man so much.

We can't continue to live in retrospect, we hv got to live wt better vision, and ready to pay some price now for tomorrow!

Nigeria is so backward because it's averse to making sacrifices! Joe has played a gentleman enof; Oga Joe, u're hereby enocuraged to go ahead wt fuel subsidy removal - let's face this unknown fear, so called, once and for all!

@Emando

God will bless you.

The question I wanted an answer to is ; How did we get to this mess? The subsidy is actually big business to some people and does not in anyway contribute to the Nation's economy. I travelled by road recently and couldn't help but notice that there are more fuel-tankers on the road than cars. The subsidy is actually in the movement and distribution of the fuel products and a lot of very influential people made sure the NNPC relay stations and depots don't work. A former Governor from the NW owns most of these Trucks. The rails have been rendered useless in order to promote their personal transport business.
Am afraid this country of ours can't work anymore. We are so corrupt and greedy to the point that we have no more conscience.
Removing the subsidy may not necessarily ensure that these same characters find another way to milk the government purse.

It is sad that many here just choose to go the partisan way. Saying there is nothing like fuel subsidy is living in denial. Fuel subsidy was not started by PDP or GEJ. In fact, anyone who uses the term "for 12 years now" or "since 1999" is being partisan. Nigeria's problems did not start in 1999 or since PDP took over. Every problem in Nigeria today started in the 60s.

Some of you talk of securing the borders and its very funny. I will like to ask you. How come America with all its sophistication and drones have not been able to secure their bothers against immigrants? You think it is that easy to secure the border of a country. You think it is possible to secure 1000s of kilometres of border? Some of you are not realistic at all. You just want to deceive yourself and try to convince yourself you care about Nigeria or the masses. You definitely do not because only a man who really cares takes the hard decisions that need to be taking.

What GEJ is saying is so very simple that even a toddler can understand it. You cannot live above your means. Nigeria is living above her means and living  dangerously. Europe and America are currently in a crisis. If we dont make these basic decisions now, most of you will be so hard hit, you wont even know what hit you. Just saying the federal government should build refineries will not produce the money to do it. We have a country where the whole population of  around 200 million is living off oil. The fact that Fashola is increasing school fees astronomically and insisting on toll gate for Lekki are major signs that even lagos state economy is not as bouyant as they may want you to believe.

But the biggest problem of it all is that instead of proffesionals and politicians to come together and forge a way forward, they have turned it into a partisan thing and many of you here are drumming that partisan stance. It is sad

Well said @dmainboss.

say no to subsidy there is no justifiable rights for removal of subsidy no good roads massive unemployement no lite
and refineries working at 10 percent capacity. all these should be seriously address before issue of subsidy comes up.
if corruptuion is properly tackled and looting of government tresury is tackled there is no reason why we should not be one of most advanced nations in de world wit all de resources we have both human and natural.
enough is enough we should stop suffering in silence every one should speak up and agaist it.

dmainboss:

It is sad that many here just choose to go the partisan way. Saying there is nothing like fuel subsidy is living in denial. Fuel subsidy was not started by PDP or GEJ. In fact, anyone who uses the term "for 12 years now" or "since 1999" is being partisan. Nigeria's problems did not start in 1999 or since PDP took over. Every problem in Nigeria today started in the 60s.

Some of you talk of securing the borders and its very funny. I will like to ask you. How come America with all its sophistication and drones have not been able to secure their bothers against immigrants? You think it is that easy to secure the border of a country. You think it is possible to secure 1000s of kilometres of border? Some of you are not realistic at all. You just want to deceive yourself and try to convince yourself you care about Nigeria or the masses. You definitely do not because only a man who really cares takes the hard decisions that need to be taking.

What GEJ is saying is so very simple that even a toddler can understand it. You cannot live above your means. Nigeria is living above her means and living  dangerously. Europe and America are currently in a crisis. If we dont make these basic decisions now, most of you will be so hard hit, you wont even know what hit you. Just saying the federal government should build refineries will not produce the money to do it. We have a country where the whole population of  around 200 million is living off oil. The fact that Fashola is increasing school fees astronomically and insisting on toll gate for Lekki are major signs that even lagos state economy is not as bouyant as they may want you to believe.

But the biggest problem of it all is that instead of proffesionals and politicians to come together and forge a way forward, they have turned it into a partisan thing and many of you here are drumming that partisan stance. It is sad

Quite a sensible post but I refuse to agree with you these are my reasons  

Why must the masses be the only one to make sacrifices?

Why haven't Ebele thought it wise to meet with the political class to negotiate a reduction in their extremely large salaries and allowances? Isn't that another way of saving money for government? The sacrifice should be from both sides.

Where are the safety nets that the government have put in place to cushion the effects of this wicked policy? Where are they? I mean they can't just wake up one day and remove subsidy on petrol knowing fully well that it will affect the prices of everything?

What  polical will have this admistration shown in the fight against corruption to convience us that monies saved from deregulation of the oil sector will be used for the benefit of the masses? A government who can compensate a convicted criminal (Bode George) by offering his wife an appoitnmet on a federal board?

My brother do not let them decieve you.

GEJ should please tell us his economic advisers. I hope this socalled prophets are not the ones who talked him into pushing this. THERE ARE BASIC INFRASTRUCTURES THAT WE NEED TO SEE IN PLACE BEFORE accepting your proposal. please provide things that will ease our nerves a bit while we are experiences that effects of the subsidy removal. Please start by given us light, better our schools, hospital so by the time the price hike tries to cause a breakdown in our system, we should afford the hospital bills.

kokoA:

Quite a sensible post but I refuse to agree with you these are my reasons  

Why must the masses be the only one to make sacrifices?

Why haven't Ebele thought it wise to meet with the political class to negotiate a reduction in their extremely large salaries and allowances? Isn't that another way of saving money for government? The sacrifice should be from both sides.

Where are the safety nets that the government have put in place to cushion the effects of this wicked policy? Where are they? I mean they can't just wake up one day and remove subsidy on petrol knowing fully well that it will affect the prices of everything?

What  polical will have this admistration shown in the fight against corruption to convience us that monies saved from deregulation of the oil sector will be used for the benefit of the masses? A government who can compensate a convicted criminal (Bode George) by offering his wife an appoitnmet on a federal board?

My brother do not let them decieve you.

My brother, they cannot deceive me. I am a business man and I know the basic of business. A good business man or manager must not spend more than he earns. Social security is supposed to be a good thing but in reality it doesnt ever work. Europe and America are paying the hefty price today. The economies of Europe is in shambles. One of the main factors that mitigates against the success of social security is population explosion. That is why countries like Saudi will be ok today but as their population grows, they will begin to face serious crisis too.

Like GEJ said, nobody just wakes up in the morning and says i want to punish the whole Nigeria. Nobody thinks like that except they are mentally unstable. Even when a president performs badly, it doesnt mean he actually wanted to perform badly. It might just be that he didnt get the policies right. So before we say yes or no to fuel subsidy, we must sit down and properly analyse tyhe pros and cons and not make it a "PDP want to kill us" thing. Our children will not forgive us if they have to suffer because we didnt take the right stand today

Dmainboss, it looks like we are spending more than we earn becos of corruption. In addition to what other has said about this issue on this thread especially kokoa and ola, he retardeen should simply go inside nnpc, nddc, nass, fct, etc and their stinking corrupt likes to free up more funds for infrastructures. If this is well done, he will free up funds that will probably surpass what is needed for subsidy.
Till then, the retardeen should simply stop lamenting. It's disgusting.

First let me say dmainboss is the same old Beaf. You can tell from his manner of writing and style & points of arguements just by reading this thread from the beginning

But I marvel when I still see posts SIMILAR that of the "dmainboss" aka Beaf (Beaf's post is not a marvel). Is it that u guys close your brain to every other arguement of public & informed personalities made available on this thread and several others and just choose you must swallow line hook and sinker whatever comes out of the mouth of the President and his officials?
Do they possess some monopoly of knowledge which is inacessible to any other person?

Do goverment officials (economist, bankers etc) once appointed to their portfolios suddenly develop exra brain-cells which empowers them to understand phenomenon which their entire rest of expert colleagues cannot comprehend

How come their presentaions, submissions, persuations, arguements on the subsidy-removal matter is not acceptable to almost all other professionals who should be in the know, have intergrity and can be trusted?

Or are we saying Ngozi-Iweala, Madieson, etc. are the only people who and can understand and comprehend?

Did you guys read the post above: The real Price of fuel. Are u saying its all stupid talk?

The Presdient and his officials will like us to believe every other person, no matter their inergrity, technical and professional know-how hate Nigerians and are talking nonsense. They just want Nigerians to deactivate their brains, (including National Assembly) jump on board and give them full support.

For instance here is Pat-Utomi on an Inerview with Newswatch Magazine:

Pat Utomi, professor of political economy
and founding director of the Lagos
Business School, speaks with Dike
Onwuamaeze, principal staff writer, on
the contentious issue of the removal of
fuel subsidy. Excerpts:

Newswatch: What is your opinion on the debate raging in the country on whether
to remove or retain fuel subsidy? Utomi: Well, the problem with this discussion is that it is very easy to miss
the critical issues and reduce it to a
simple argument of who wants or does
not want the subsidy removed. But it is
not as simple as that. First of all, when
you are discussing subsidy, what you are essentially discussing is fiscal transfers.
The big argument of those against what
is called subsidy is that you take from the
common pool and you give it to a small
group of people who, therefore, develop
a consumption pattern that is not appropriate because they do not pay the
appropriate price for it while the rest of
the society suffers from being denied the
greater good that could have come from
the use of the revenue. That is the classic
argument. I would have been making this argument 10-15 years ago. But one
of the things education and observation
does for you is that you grow out of
narrow stylistic orthodoxy in discussion
of issues. So, the orthodoxy of efficiency
of allocation of resources which is lost in the provision of subsidy becomes a
banner that covers all kinds of
inappropriate behaviour that is taking
place. What is the real situation with the
financing of petroleum products in
Nigeria? First and foremost, there is no statistics. What is claimed to be
imported into the country on which basis
“subsidies” are paid is twice the quantity
Nigeria is consuming. If we can claim to
be spending X as subsidy, it is still an
assumption. Now, about 50 percent of that sum is not on something Nigerians
are consuming. So, the reality is that the
N1.3 trillion they are talking about is not
a true reflection of what Nigerians are
consuming. That is one statement. The
second statement is that, and that is the biggest learning for me from experience,
is that every government makes the
same promise to spend the subsidy on
building of roads and providing essential
services to the citizens, yet the FRSC
rated Nigerian roads as the second worst in the world. If you look at the all
Millennium Development Goals, Nigeria is
worse today in reality than before. The
question to ask should be: “what did the
last removal do for railways, roads? The
point I’m making is that we have come to the point where you can say that it is
not sensible to allow government that do
not know how to use public resources to
take more of it away from the citizens. I
would rather agree that the Nigerian
individual spends his money the way he or she likes rather than the government
of Nigeria waste it for him. Newswatch: Some Nigerians still claim that there is no fuel subsidy. Utomi: People who said that there is no subsidy, essentially, argue that if we had
an efficient system and can refine petrol
locally, the actual cost of what we are
selling petrol cannot be called a subsidy.
But the logic of the government is that
we do not have the refined product locally and we are importing it and
paying international price to get it. But
these are not even my argument. My
argument is that the process involves
taking money from citizens and putting it
in the pocket of the government that has used money not particularly wisely. In
fact, the way the Nigerian government
has used money has impoverished the
Nigerian people rather than making their
quality of life better. Years ago, I’ve
begun to be gradually won over by the position taken by two remarkable
economists who were consultants to the
IMF. They argued that there are countries
in the world, and Nigeria being the best
or worst examples, where the
governments are so incapable of advancing the good of the people that it
is not in the best interest of the people
for the rent from that mineral wealth to
be given to the governments. They
proposed that it should be shared to the
citizens of that country. Some national government like Norway have actually
done that. The state of Alaska in the
United States of America, at a particular
month in the year, write out cheques to
Alaskans and give them their repay funds
from oil rents. Alberta in Canada does the same thing. Newswatch: How appropriate is the quest to remove the subsidy when local
refineries are not functioning optimally? Utomi: Why do we have to go back to be talking of these refineries every year.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the
trouble with Nigeria is that we have lost
the sense of shame. We do not feel
ashamed any more. If we do, I think that
we should be embarrassed that in the arena of public discussion, we are still
talking about our refineries not working
optimally. That shows that something is
fundamentally wrong. And for me as a
citizen, that is not the way to go. Newswatch: Where will the subsidy be invested if it is eventually removed? Utomi: I’m not in government to be in a position to do this. But I still stand on the
comment I gave when the last removal
was done. Let us build standard railways
from Lagos to Calabar and within our
cities and create lasting infrastructures
that can ensure that people are more efficiently moved around. Look at the
history of contract administration in
Nigeria. How do you think that the use of
that “N1.3 trillion” will be? It cannot be
different from the way it was yesterday.
The previous removal of fuel subsidy did not provide roads that are motorable. Newswatch: The government has given 18 licences to private firms to build
refineries, yet none has commenced
building a refinery. Why is it so? Utomi: Because they are intelligent people. And if you are an intelligent
person, you won’t do something as stupid
as building refineries while others who
are going to be importing it are getting
sweet deals to go with. You will never be
able to survive. Machiavelli said 500 years ago, that nothing is more difficult
to bring around than a new order of
things because those who profit from the
old order will do every thing to prevent
the new order from coming about. And
that is why we are running around in circles. There is a class that profits from
the misery of the Nigerian people and
they do not want to give up. Newswatch: You are used to remarking that Nigeria is on the high way to
Somalia. Some people also perceive
Nigeria as a country on the brink. So, as a
political economist, what do you foresee
as the socio- economic implications of the
removal of fuel subsidy? Utomi: We are not heading to Somalia any more. We’ve arrived Somalia. What
do you think Jos is? What do you think
Bauchi and Borno are? They are Somalia
already. Thank God that people can go
back a few years and see my warning in
the things that are happening. The average Nigerian now seems
disconnected from the Nigerian state. He
doesn’t feel that he is worth much. If his
life means nothing, the life of others
mean nothing to him also. So, we are all
in the danger. The problem is not that Nigeria would not want to pay for what
they are consuming, it is just that
Nigerians do not trust their government
that the money will be used in the
interest of the Nigerian people. And if the
government is wise, it would have taken proven steps to cut the wastages that are
going on in order to regain public
confidence. More importantly, the
government needs to do a number of
things quickly enough to provide jobs and
raise the income of Nigerians to enable them to pay the new price that will come
because there is the need to compare
how much a Nigerian pays to buy petrol
relative to his income and how much a
Ghanaian pays to buy petrol relative to
his income and then we can justify our positions.
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