Removal of subsidies implies that the consumer, the majority poor will pay whatever amount that market forces determine the products are.
The argument put forward by Government is that subsidy removal on petrol will free as much as 700b per annum which is hitherto been paid to a few people. The realised amount will be used in developing"safety nets for the poor" by providing infrastructures and social services. That means more money for capital projects.
By allowing private hands to provide the products, competition will be enhanced and prices will gradually come down. The common example given is the difference noticed in the telecomms sector. Theoretically sounds wonderfull.

But lets look at it practically. Kerosine, Diesel and Aviation fuel have been fully deregulated, meaning no more subsidies with respect to these products are paid by government.
Kerosine is not readily available (remember the recent shortages in Lagos) and where one gets it, the person must have wasted valuable time in que and has to cough out large amount of money to get some. Ditto deisel,its at an all time high, causing the prices of goods and services to skyrocket. Its the reason why call rates in Nigeria are highest in the world. Service providers must keep their system running by power which is done by expensive diesel. The burden is subsequently passed to the consumer. Air fares, you need not ask.

What guarantee do we have that Government will transparently utuilize every kobo realised from subsidies removal considering the high level of corruption in the system? A good example is the Money that grew in the nations coffers after the Debt releif. There had been an agreement that money realised will go into providing of essential social services to the populace, Safety nets for the poor, Whats the situation a few years after that, Nil infrastructure, more borrowing, operating an all time high deficit budget and most importantly more corruption. The body language of this administration does not show that it will mean ahat its say and say what it means. As usaual, MOTION WITHOUT MOVEMENT. The excess crude proceeds that was shared amongst the teirs of government that depleted 34 billion dollars to under a billion within the span of 2 years, where is the result. The argument then was that it will be channeled into developmental projects. where are the results. Lets not be fooled as the cosequences of removal of subsidies will create a serious social problem in the country.

There is simply no political will to do the right thing by this crop of present day politicians. Am not sentimental but been factual. Just look at the hand writting on the wall.

how much for an audi A4 1998 from cotonou. to maiduguri in the north?

Feelers coming in indicate that Borno state governor, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff has lost out in his quest to return to the senate seat. Wild Jubilations in Maiduguri. Change is inevitable. the votes of the people is in action. Weed out the moles in our nations progress.

Nija GREAT PEOPLE, BAD LEADERS. God save Nija. This is called desperation.
"Let my enemies spread falsehood about me, and I will continue to tell the truth about them". (Muhammadu Buhari)

1 vote 4 2 honest men, Vote BB for the future of our children.

His intergrity and achievements during his chair at PTF. 1naira was remitted to their account for every liter of fuel sold. Wth that amount interventions which are felt Nation wide were done. I am from Yobe state but served in Bayelsa. Mbiama- kolokuma opokuma-patani-Ughelli road was rehabilitated by PTF. The instructional materials used in the secondary school I taught had ptf inscription on them (2004). OBJ scraped PTF for reasons best known to him. He raised the the pump price to 45 naira and formed FERMA by an act of parliament. #1:50k was remitted to their acct for every kitter sold. Yet the roads are poorly maintained.

#1 made significant impact on Education, Health, Roads, Water supply all over the country and poverty reduction better than the #1:50 meant for road maintainance . This really endeared me to Buhari.

I Am goodluck Jonathan, I was not born reesh, I have no shoos, if I could make it, you can make it. I never imagine that I will be where I am today.

you guys are doing a great job, Aishat2, Jarus, GenBuhari,  Pataki and all the volunteers, I salute your efforts and courage. May the Almighty show us the swearing in of BB into office. And may He give them the wisdom to do aright. God bless Nigeria.

BB will win the votes cast, GEJ/SAMBO will win the elections. DIG IT.

Who can battle with the LORD? Who can battle with JESUS?who can battle with GEJ? I say 'no dictator'.

BLASHEMY OF THE CENTURY, Watch what u write please racoome, whatever

I DEY LAUGH IN PDP.

@Genbuhari,
In as much as we want the BB ticket to succeed, the fact remains that the bulk of their campain is in the north. Its ovious to everyone that SS & SE are no go areas for BB. BB needs to campaing hard in the SW to secure at least 4million votes. that with the votes in the north will surely force a runoff. The SW will definately like to get PDP off their backs. The most important thing now is massive campaings within the few days left to be concentrated in the SW. I beleive you've contact with the Buhari4change group. please pass the message.

When is the BB train scheduled to come to Lagos, Enugu, Anambra and Delta?

People get the kind of leader they deserve, i.e the attitude of the leader is a reflection of the attitude of the mass followership. So arrange these aspirants in the order we deserve to be ruled. There names r in no particular order: Ribadu, GEJ, IBB, Buhari, Okotie, Shekarau and Utomi. Apologies to others whose names didn't appear.

A humble person who with no resources is able to win the hearts of millions of Nigerians. GREATNESS OF PURPOSE, SMALLNESS OF MEANS AND OUTSTANDING RESULTS. THE LEADER WE NEED IN NIGERIA. PEOPLES LEADER.

GEJ CANNOT ENJOY 1/100TH OF THE GENUINE SUPPORT BUHARI IS HAVING IF HE WAS NOT AN INCUMBENT,

RIBADU -TINUBU= NONENTITY

WHO IS THE PEOPLES GENUINE CHOICE? BB
VOTE FOR BB FOR REAL CHANGE!!!

Pls help me find a site where I can view and vote for the presidential candidates.

Genbuhari i respect you as a Nigerian regardless of what part of the globe u are but seriouly u guyz are running a campaign here for individuals who are fundamentalist,maybe it's time we start moving Nigeria into a secular a view!

logically, a fundamentalist is one who follows and practices the fundamentals of of something he does or beleives in.
To be a good mathemetician, one has to follow and practice the fundamentals of of mathematics. in other words one has to be a fundamentalist in mathematics to be a good mathematican

likewise to be a good christian, one has to follow and practice the fundamentals of christianity otherwise the person will not be termed as a good christian.

in the same way, a muslim has to follow the fundamentals of his/her religion to be termed as a good muslim.

Just tune to NTA and watch how scanty the attendance is. voting population is 5 million+

shehu kangiwa died before the change in govt. pls cross check your facts

@misterh that option too is difficult to get done nw cause the greater percentage of the population are illitrates who still think that pipe borne water provided by govt is seen as a favour rather than right. to organise such a population for even a peaceful demonstration is an uphill task let alone a revolt. the populace need to be politically educated, which the govt will never do because doing so will mean an end to their stranglehold to power. the change is not going to hold in this generation, not even in our childrens generation, cause the bankoles are been groomed to continue. what we need is a divine intervention. Perhaps an earthquake in an armageddonomic proportion that will wipe every nigerian so that oters will start in a clean state. Nigeria, the more you look, the less you see.

why is it that the bb apologist are not factoring the unleashing of rigging machinery by the power drunk PDP? do you think all these people that have tested power will let go just because you vote a popular candidate? Is akala popular? He won, is OGB popular? He won. Definately the BB team will get the most votes, but Gej will Win. Heads we lose, Tail they win. dont even nuture the hope of changing this govt soon, otherwise you'll be very disappointed. we have to go a long way before our votes will count in nigeria.

lets be firm and stand for change. for how long shall we continue to to be under the evil clutches of poverty, daylight robbery, unemployment, environmental degradation, abuse of human dignity? lets free ourselves from the cluthes of evil PDP. The choice is ours and it is now. These evil people will never let go of the status quo. they have tested power and it has intoxicated them absolutely. The only way to be free of this bondage is to protect our votes. its the most important sacrifice than we can do for our children and future generation.

Thank God, People are getting wiser, people vote for personalities rather than parties. That informs buhari topping in most polls, including NL. Non of the candidates can match 1/10th of bb's popularity amongst the masses. Reasons:

GEJ has the power of incumbency with unlimited state resources and access to media. Take away these and GEJ cannot even win in Ogbia, his LGA.

Ribadu without Asiwajus support will be in the ranks of Pat utomi dele momodu and chris okotie.

Buhari: smallness of means, outstanding results in moving masses.

ponder, just ponder, is there any candidate better than he? you be the judge.
.

In maiduguri okada riders convey masses to the venue for free. Ditto Minna. BB hurricane is for real. May the dreams of the nigerian masses come true.

Which is better, "lynch riggers" or "Rig and Roast" (remember ekiti 2010).

Thank God, People are getting wiser, people vote for personalities rather than parties. That informs buhari topping in most polls, including NL. Non of the candidates can match 1/10th  of bb's popularity amongst the masses. Reasons:

GEJ has the power of incumbency with unlimited state resources and access to media. Take away these and  GEJ cannot even win in Ogbia, his LGA.

Ribadu without Asiwajus support will be in the ranks of Pat utomi dele momodu and chris okotie.

Buhari: smallness of means, outstanding results in moving masses.

ponder, just ponder, is there any candidate better than he? you be the judge.
.

Perharps we can use a yard stick for guaging the popularity of the candidates if we look at it this way:

1. If GEJ was not the incumbent, would he have garnered the support he is enjoying now?

2. Would have RIBADU enjoyed the support he is having if he contested on another platform other than ACN? Or without Asiwaju's support would he have clinched the parties ticket?

3. Why is it that Buhari Enjoys tremendous support from great percentage of the masses even though he doesent have power of incumbency and resources as its even reflecting now on the NL polls?

You be the judge

@Genbuhari3; I love your commitment towards the BB success project. With your efforts on Nairaland especially, most people are beginning to understand buhari and respect him more. I pray that he succeeds even though the PDP rigging machine is hell bent in stopping him.

Development: PTF - shining in the gloom
The Petroleum Trust Fund, headed by former President, Gen. Buhari, has confounded all its critics. As a development agency, it has succeeded spectacularly where all others failed. Pini Jason has the details.
The one silver lining to emerge from the current heavy economic cloud must be the performance of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF). In October 1994, General Sani Abacha hiked the pump price of petrol from N3.25 to N11 per litre, promising, with Decree 25, to set up a Petroleum Trust Fund to distribute the gains from the increase on social and infrasturctural projects. The board of the fund, headed by former Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, was eventually inaugurated on March 21, 1995.

The Fund began with an initial capital of about N60bn in 1996. Its all encompassing mandate includes the rehabilitation of roads and waterways, educational and health institutions, providing textbooks and stationary, procuring essential drugs and vaccines, providing water supply systems, reviving crumbling agricultural sectors, connecting outlying areas to the national electricity grid, extending railways and telecommunications and ensuring consistent food supply.

The huge budget and all-embracing mandate earned PTF some criticisms. Some dubbed it "the alternative government," accusing it of duplicating the responsibilities of other existing government agencies. There was for instance an initial conflict about who should be tarring which road, between PTF and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

Yet, for once, other Nigerians began to hope that here was an agency that took its work seriously. The question was: could it carry out its entire mandate, or even a part of it? Everyone waited to see what would happen.

Initially PTF awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of 12,000km of federal highways (including drainages) nationwide, and between 25-100km of urban road in major cities such as Gusau, Benin, Funtua, Zaria, Enugu, Kaduna, Aba, Lagos, Lokoja, and Port Harcourt. A N27.3bn contract was awarded for road rehabilitation in the first quarter of 1996. The sum of N1.328bn was awarded to 53 pharmaceutical companies for the supply of drugs, while the importation of vaccines cost N229.9m. As at December 31, 1997, funds available to PTF stood at N115.1bn.

One thing even the most uncharitable critic of PTF will admit is that it has evolved a new way of doing things. This is true to its mission statement which is 'to establish and operate an open, modest and efficient organisation for the purpose of achieving the honest and timely execution of carefully designed socio-economic projects.'

Right from its inception, the Head of State directed the fund to operate a lean bureaucracy. It depends therefore largely on consultants supervised by Afri-Projects Consortium, the management consultant to PTF. This policy has created jobs and boosted the confidence of Nigerian professionals such as architects, engineers and quantity surveyors.

In many other ways, PTF has thrown a lifeline to dying sectors of the economy. Most of Nigeria's pharmaceutical companies were failing, and the foreign multinationals were divesting. But through its drugs procurement programme, PTF has turned the balance sheet of most of them into profit. Equipment and car leasing companies are also benefitting from the multiplier effects of PTF operations.

Banks and insurance companies have also benefited. Nigeria has a history of contractors collecting mobilisation (advance) fees and not carrying out the contract. But not with PTF. Every advance payment up to N10m must be guaranteed by a PTF-approved bank, while other advance payments are covered by performance bonds issued by similarly approved insurance companies. This method, apart from increasing solvency through cash deposits, has created business for banks and insurance companies.

One of the insurance companies that has benefited from PTF as a provider of performance bonds is The United Nigeria Insurance Company (UNIC), a composite insurance company which provides both life and non-life insurance. The total assets of UNIC stood at N979m while it grossed premium income of N916m and settled claims of N263m in 1996. With a staff of 552 spread all over its nationwide branch network, UNIC is today one of the leading insurance company in Nigeria.

Another company that has done good business with PTF is IPWA plc, formerly International Paints (West Africa) Ltd. IPWA is today one of the biggest and most diversified paint manufacturers in Nigeria. The company product range spans automotive paints, building paints, industrial coatings and marine coatings. Others are packaging coatings, protective coatings and wood finishes.

Most PTF contractors, specialist advisers and consultants lease and use computers, fax machines, printers and photocopiers. This has provided a new market for computer companies like Leading Edge Ltd., headed by Mr Tony Edoro, the managing director. Leading Edge is foremost in cloning computers with parts from diverse companies such as US Micro-Generation, IBM Direct, Merisel and Gateway. According to Mr Edoro, a widely experienced computer systems engineer, the advent of PTF has been good for Leading Edge. The company's turnover has grown from N50m in 1995 to well over N100m in 1997.

Apart from energising several sectors of the economy, PTF is also setting the pace in another direction. In the words of Mr Salihijo Ahmad, of Afri-Projects Consortium, the twin objectives of PTF are to "rehabilitate infrastructures and reorientate the people." This the fund does through its insistence on transparency even though some critics still accuse it of lopsidedness in project execution and selection of consultants and contractors.

In a country dogged by lack of transparency, PTF is the first, and perhaps the only public institution in Nigeria to publish its annual accounts. Last year, when he presented the annual report and accounts of 1996, Gen. Buhari promised to present the 1997 accounts before the end of the first quarter of 1998. He fulfilled that promise.

The 1997 account of PTF shows that it disbursed N24.3bn on roads, N21.2bn on security, N7.8bn on health, and N3bn on other projects. Other disbursements include N2.2bn on water supply, N936m on food supply and N476m on education. It realised a total of N1.049bn from various investment activities.

Reviewing the success story of PTF, Gen. Buhari said: "We have consolidated our execution of the take-off projects for the previous year and increased our intervention within the sectors. There is no doubt that the years ahead will witness even more intervention, as reports of some of the studies commissioned are received and project execution commenced."

The fund has embarked on community education to sensitise and enlighten communities of its activities. The idea is to bring recipients closer to the objectives of the fund, so that they can participate in project identification and selection as well as eventual PTF projects in their areas.

One aspect of the overall project that the public has raised an eyebrow over is the Armed Forces PTF. According to Gen. Buhari, PTF is under instruction to allocate 20% of its funds to the armed forces, and another 1% to the Federal Capital Territory. The allocation to the Armed Forces is probably a continuation of a practice that started during Gen. Babangida's time when he used to allocate excess revenue from the projected price of crude directly to the commanding officers. But what worries critics of PTF is that the military is not accountable to anyone regarding its utilisation of funds. Moreover, critics question the wisdom of allocating such a huge chunk to the military (who also usually takes the lion's share of the budget) over and above food supply, education and health. Apart from roads, the allocation to all other sectors does not add up to the Armed Forces PTF allocation.

Nobody knows how long PTF, a purely intensive intervention agency, will last or whether there will be a place for such an agency under a democratic set up. That decision, Gen. Buhari said, will be up to Nigerians. For now his preoccupation is to rehabilitate infrastructure and reorientate the people towards a new, effective and efficient way of executing uninflated contracts without kickbacks and without consuming mobilisation fees. Said Gen. Buhari to PTF contractors: "If you perform well, you get a hand shake. If you perform badly, you get a handcuff."