”And when this house shall fall, it shall fall on the good and evil alike”
(Youth shot dead in occupynigeria protest in Ilorin,Nigeria on 03/01/2012)
Young Nigerians be not deceived, revolution is not for the faint-hearted and are almost always paid for in blood. To withdraw without result is the worst failing of those who start out in protest and as already these protests have been bloodied it will be too late to stop now.
Please however do not have it all rosied in your minds as the stuff of reformers is of steel.
The President’s timing no doubt is wrong but the policy itself has immense merit. As I stated before he should have reformed his government first and showed the people he is serious about equality and sacrifice by first cutting graft and waste in his government.
Mr. President in a country so diverse you should never unify your enemies at the wrong time. Nigerians are angry.They are a beleaguered people faced by insecurity,poor infrastructure, high handed government, widespread poverty and pervasive despondency.They are a people weighed down and at this time feel besieged.
You left alot of people stranded in various parts of the country by the fuel price hike. You need to be more sensitive and read the times sir. Learn this lesson sir-”never unify your enemies because the vultures will be waiting to swoop” and take advantage of this unpopular decision to deal you a deathblow.
I wish you well my President-sincerely and I find this baffling as I never supported you from the start of your government; but when I see a good policy and a threat to the state I must speak for what I know to be right. I must speak against chaos and the breakdown of civil society.
Sir, you must listen to your people no matter how foolish you may think them to be.You must lead the way in sacrifice before you ask them of same.
It is not too late sir.This policy is good but you must do it the right way.
And when this house shall fall!
Published
Adebayo Alonge 
Right now, going back isn’t an option anymore.
Right now, going back isn’t an option anymore. They have drawn the first blood.
Dear Alex, there should always be room left for dialogue.
comrade adebayo alonge, i wish i cld in all sanity back you up on this but you are not different from the very many verbose nigerians that has not shed a drop of sweat, let alone blood for the just course of putting an end to this embarrassment. lets not make a mockery of ourselves in the name of letting our voice being heard.
show me one scar! a fair inch…………………lets leave d talking and take the path of dat unfortunate youth in ilorin,better die on your feet than live on your tongue.
i am not a very good student of the laws and dynamics that surround the whole petroleum ‘ish’. i like to see it as a man who has many children (the federation) the man has raw yam in abundance but you and i know that it has to b cooked before eating the man in his wisdom instead of fixing his cooking tools (rifineries) decides to send it to some1 who has cooking tools and then buys back his cooked yam and sell it to his children,now he says the children should go and buy it them selves, i cant rap my brains arround this,if nigerian are fair to themselves when did PPRC make the pronouncement when did private marketers adopt the pump price……………….
safe thine lives oh youth,we re not fools,the soldiers on both side of the divide are obviously uneven,we re obviously outnumbererd,and underarmed
Dear Henry,I support protests I agree with.You can ask the current organisers of occupynigeria in Ibadan.
To understand my position on this issue please read this post on this blog: https://adebayoalonge.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/why-and-how-the-fuel-subsidy-should-be-removed/
Dear Henry you support what you believe in.
In the past I have supported protest in line with my thinking ask the present organisers of the occupynigeria protest in Ibadan.
Please read this post for a clearer understanding of my thinking-
https://adebayoalonge.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/why-and-how-the-fuel-subsidy-should-be-removed/
Well…
Please read this post-https://adebayoalonge.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/why-and-how-the-fuel-subsidy-should-be-removed/
really, i have never been in support of one Nigeria. In my most optimistic state, though ( for a ‘clueless’ president like ours ), i think this removal may just b d best way out.. Itz just the timing dat i av a prob with. As for the casualties…..my condolences.
Dear Folarin, the President appears ill-prepared for his assignment. It is reason he has so many advisers and shows such puppy adoration for his finance minister.
The large market brought about by the territorial entity called Nigeria is an advantage. We need to develop a federal state so that we can rebuild our value system on the ethos of hard work.
I agree with you-the timing of the removal is wrong. Please read this post-https://adebayoalonge.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/why-and-how-the-fuel-subsidy-should-be-removed/
I’ll have to disagree with you on this one.
Now, I’ve always felt that a true leader that can bring a turn around in this country must not only have very clear ideas about the policies that’ll aid him on his quest but must also have the tenacity to press on even in the face of widespread dissatisfaction, so long as it remains within the limits of the law. After all, good medicines are often bitter to swallow. He must stake his name, integrity and all else on his conviction and let history and posterity be his judge—whether it turns out good or bad.
My opposition to GEJ’s latest policy move stems not from the widespread opposition to it — the popularity or otherwise of a policy can hardly be used a a measure of its soundness — but on the merit (or lack thereof) of the decision itself.
Government policy must be judged by its
economic results—its impact on jobs and inflation. It doesn’t take an economist to realize that the removal of fuel subsidy fails on both counts. As the costs of doing business in the country suddenly rise, many firms would be forced out of business and many more would lay off workers to survive. Businesses would be squeezed tight as consumer spending contracts. Prices of every commodity you could think of would rise. I’m hard pressed understand how a rise in unemployment and inflation can be a good thing.
And what are the benefits being proposed by GEJ? Funding of some capital projects. Not even the building of refineries, the gross inadequacy o which put us in this spot ab initio. How can that somehow offset the damage the economy and the already poor living conditions have to suffer?
Rather than audit the NNPC and sanitize the entire oil industry; rather than probe fuel subsidies so far to bring to book those that have unfairly profited from it; rather than ensure that subsidized Nigerian fuel does not find its way to neighboring countries, the government has decided to remove the subsidy altogether.
The good news is that the opposition to this policy is so overwhelming that GEJ is only going to succeed in keeping it going if he’s ready to ruin the economy completely. Labour unions, civil society and out-of-school youths are united in their opposition. It’s hard to see how this can stand.
You obviously believe the subsidy removal to be a step in the right direction. If you see how this can benefit this country please enlighten me. I just don’t see how.
Dear Tolu I appreciate your comment. In reply I wrote this post- http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fadebayoalonge.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F01%2F05%2Fwhy-and-how-the-fuel-subsidy-should-be-removed%2F&h=dAQF9Qy9QAQHeX-gHbbiwrjNCI_70oJptvZXqg6aSie2S3g
Please read.
Fuel subsidy removal would not produce any economic benefit, you do not need to be an economist to know this. No economic system can be operated in absolute form. Even America govt, a major supporter of capitalism with all her financial strength has never operated capitalism 100%. They have a lot of welfarist policies such as the social security system, national health insurance policy etc. because economics is not just about statistics but people. What the expect from a society that leave 90% of her wealth to less than 10% of the society? of course pandemonium, chaos…Although i am not totally against capitalism govt but a good govt will plan to curb its excesses by protecting the poor from the wealthy. Man is naturally greedy, he will always want more unless you curb him. Removal of fuel subsidy will only put the verse majority of helpless nigerians at the mercy of these greedy oil marketers (who are PDP co-opt), i ‘m sure you have heard of people stranded at car parks in abia state because the cant afford the exorbitant t-fare. “Lets not deceive ourselves the problem of nigneria is not making money but how to spend it” how are you sure more money from subsidy savings would be judiciously realised?
However, i have a list of suggestion for mr. goodluck if he is really willing to carry out the so called which i doubt:
1. Reduce his cabinet size by fifty percent., reduce the number of govt agencies we have which are really doing nothing,reduce salaries/allowances acruing to public officers including himself and the senators by 60%.
2. Immediately sack madam okonjo iweala because her policies will only serve her world bank/IMF masters. She once promised that paying off our foreign debt will solve our problems; and replace her with an economist domiciled in nigeria with active experience in running/managing a business.
3.Empower EFCC to prosecute former leaders who were found to be corrupt. Made sure all their loots were recovered and they are properly sentenced to jail/or killed. This will serve as a deterent so many public officers.
4. Block all leakeages/wastages in govt ministries
With this he would have saved close to 2 trillion naira to execute all the capital projects and solve power supply problem and there would be no need to remove subsidy
Dear horlandoe, cutting waste and reducing public recurrent expenditure is very important and is a fact that runs through my statements on this fuel subsidy debate.
Yes it is important to protect the poor as Roosevelt did in the U.S, during the great depression, when he rolled out ‘the new deal policies’ that set up unemployment benefits for the poor for example. In fact some of the most civilized societies e.g.the Scandinavian nations have been able to successfully combine ‘welfarism’ and capitalism to set up strong societies. This a model we can follow.
However please be aware that the aforementioned welfare policies are targeted at the poor directly not through some self-serving cartel as the oil marketers in Nigeria, which is the case with the oil subsidy. On the long run it may appear that these subsidies help but assessed critically they only benefit the few and prevent access to wealth from the the oil industry for the majority of Nigerians.
Hey We loves your marvelous editorial thanks and please keep it up