WHAT WOULD THE OUTCOME BE?

Yesterday, the 9^th of January 2012, the NLC (Nigerian Labour Congress) proposed strike began to go against the pump price of petrol (PMS – Premium motor spirit). A lot of notable figures spare headed the protest with the likes of Wole Soyinka, Tunde Bakare, Bankole Wellington (Banky W) to mention a few.

On Saturday 7^th January 2012, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gave a speech pleading to Nigerians to bear with him and his cabinet and also to give him time to implement policies and factors that would make life bearable.

He talked about bringing in diesel run buses, which would be handed over to transport managers in the 36 states of the nation, he also pointed out the economic implications if the subsidy on PMS is not removed.

All the points highlighted made sense, except for the fact that PMS is in more direct use than diesel, the populace depends on their single and two stroke engine generators to run their daily businesses in a country where electricity is a major problem.

How on earth would prices of goods and services not skydive when the basic cost to run small scale businesses which serves the need of the populace would increase, what happens to DVD/CD seller who needs light to power his system for advertisement, what happens to the fashion designer and hairdressers who uses electricity to power their machines, how would these translate on the price of other basic needs attached to direct usage of PMS, I wonder.

It is said that 300 Billion Naira was spent on subsidy during the democratic regime of Olusegun Obasanjo and today we spend close to 1.5 trillion Naira. To me, if this is true, is the government of the day not supposed to know that some people under serious covering buy the fuel in extremely high quantity with the government paying subsidy on the amount bought, store it and export it out of the country after a while, selling it at extreme profit (a process known as ROUNDTRIPPING), does this not point out the loopholes in our shipping and export system, which is also evident in the security arms of our dear nation, I wonder

To the best of my knowledge, I feel the government is not ready to face the reality of things, in my opinion, decisions that should be taken should be to put monitoring measures in place, accounting for all PMS produce imported, exported and how they are distributed. I feel the government should devise means for easy distribution of the product and I also feel that all arms of government involved in the petroleum sector should be properly audited and investigated, I suggest that all unnecessary expenses be cut down and methods should be fashioned out to use little resources to achieve high productivity, but the fact remains that it is just my opinion.

Back to the main issue, what do we expect to get from the ongoing strike, would the aim and objectives by the NLC and the good people of the nation come to pass?, time would tell, time would definitely tell.

As we go on in this civil course, I wish and hope our expectation is granted, but as the saying goes, “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride on them”.

Fakeye, Olaniyi Olatunde

President,      
Neff Business Concept

HAPPY NEW YEAR

First and foremost, I congratulate everyone who made it into this year 2012. Going by all that happened last year, ranging from religious and ethnic crisis in different part of my country, to wars and famine experienced in other parts of the world, being fortunate to see the new year is something we should thank Baba God for.

To everybody who took out time to read my blog last year, I am happy about the fact that you took out time of your busy schedules to pick few points from my write-ups, this year has a lot in stock for all of us and I would say we should take our time to enjoy and take all in as the day go by. I also wish you all success and fulfillment in all your endeavors.

 My discussion today is basically going to be about the occurrences in my country Nigeria. Yesterday, the federal government officially removed the subsidy on premium motor spirit known as petrol. I woke up this morning, drove down to the petrol station only to find out that the product now sells for N141, as against N65 which it used to be. I can’t even imagine the effect this singular decision would have on the populace, as I know this increase in price of fuel would have a chain reaction on the price of all other commodity

Around October last year, news filtered out that the federal government plans to invest N428.8billion which sums up to ($2.68bn) in three refineries in Indonesia, when we have refineries here that should be repaired and put in good working condition that would in turn provide the product at very low rate, provide employment and also allow for other chain of service. To me, this move would only go against what they preach which is wooing investors into the country, as nobody would be willing to invest in a country where the government of the day does not see prospects.

 The policies declared by the federal government has not in any way created an enabling environment for entrepreneurship to thrive, there is high unemployment rate, level of crime in the country is high and the case just got worsened with the increase in fuel price.

 Recently, the minimum wage of workers was just increased to N18500 as against N7500, then, the price of petrol was N65, now it has surged to N141, in a country where having 10-15 hours electricity in a day is a tall order, where transportation takes a large chunk of our money, where education is on a daily basis nose-diving, where clean consumable water is still a major problem even in some of the oil rich state, where insecurity is a big issue, where we maintain and operate one of the most expensive government. I sometimes wonder how they reason.

A country which used to be known for peaceful and happy people is now a place where depression is becoming a rampant issue, where suicide is becoming the order of the day and where religious/ethnic crisis is even threatening the daily operation of her citizen.

I wish we could go back to the root, discover what the values of our founding fathers were, their dream, aspiration and collective goal for the nation which made them give all to get independence from the colonial masters.

I wish we could take out time to have both short and long term goals as regards all aspects of this country, mapping out strategies that are workable and efficient to produce results needed.

I wish we could just be truthful to ourselves, understanding the fact that there are people who cannot afford a meal of N100 which is less than $1 a day, working the streets without a slight idea of what the next minute holds for them and taking this as a reference point when making policies\

I wish we could all bend a little so the boy walking on the street would have a ray of hope, so the girl at that corner waiting for a customer to pay her for sex because she has no other way to survive could see that she has no reason to do that anymore

Only with this kind of mentality and action can we return to our old values and make good decisions that would favor us as a nation because the child of today becomes the adult tomorrow and the values he grows up with affects the decisions he makes, but as the Holy Bible says, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride on them. Which way are we headed as a nation?, which way Nigeria?.

 Fakeye, Olaniyi Olatunde
 President,
 Neff Business Concept