Thursday, 23 February 2012
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“We Shall Start Stoning The Economists In Official Corridors.” – By Reuben Abati In 2009
Rueben Abati
By Reuben Abati
Just three years ago, Dr. Reuben Abati, now Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, was so incensed by the “joke” called removal of fuel subsidy that he evinced the possibility of jungle justice for proponents of the idea in the corridors of power. Today, he has changed his mind. A man has the right to change his mind. But the people too have the right to remember; to remember where, when, and how the rain of betrayal and treachery began to beat them…
READ ABATI'S ARTICLE BELOW:
It must be a joke, right? The proposed plan by the Federal Government to fully deregulate the downstream sector and remove the remaining subsidy on petroleum products. When the news first broke during the week, Nigerians were told that a committee had been set up to be led by the Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, with a mandate to work out an action-plan and a time-table for implementation and consult with stakeholders.
The mischief and dishonesty are obvious: why set up a committee to seek the input of stakeholders when a final decision has already been taken? By yesterday, The Saturday Punch newspaper had reported that a pump price of N73 per litre may be announced within a week. The assignment of the Yuguda committee had been completed even before it had a chance to sit. A Petroleum Industry Bill, and another bill seeking to change the Petroleum Producta Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) template have also been sent to the National Assembly. Why not wait for the bills to be considered by the National Assembly?
The so-called complete deregulation of the downstream sector and the removal of subsidy may seem like a purely economic policy decision, but it is so tied to larger Nigerian questions that it ought to be more rigorously debated, and government should make haste slowly. As at this moment, Nigeria operates a partial deregulation regime in the downstream sector. Petrol and kerosene prices are regulated while diesel is fully deregulated. The regime is corruption-ridden, it is badly managed. There is no indication that a complete deregulation regime will be better managed. The problem is not one of form, but leadership.
The arguments being advanced to justify the proposed full deregulation do not make sense. All the arguments have a ring of deja vu. They are taken from the same textbooks that the economists have refused to update, the same ideas that led to the collapse of the global economy. Other countries are making a U-turn and subjecting textbook knowledge to the test of reality, Nigerian policy makers are still holding on to old paradigms. One of these days, we shall start stoning the economists in official corridors.
They tell us that in a fully deregulated downstream sector foreign investors, who have been suspicious of the Nigerian market, will be encouraged by a better pricing regime determined solely and fully by market forces. Marketers in the downstream sector will also be happier as the margins of profit will increase. The Federal Government under the new dispensation wants to privatise the country's four refineries, and it is convinced that investors will jump at the opportunity. To please us, they say as investors make more money, pump prices will reduce and the scope of price differentials will widen, enabling choice. But what is more important, the profit motive of investors and marketers or the interests of the Nigerian people?
Deregulation will not automatically guarantee the happiness of marketers and investors. Who wants to buy Nigeria's run-down refineries, with their obsolete technology anyway? And if anyone does, the profit that they seek will be automatically abbreviated by other challenges in the environment including transportation and the violence in the Niger Delta. I'll like to see those investors who would like to take on the refineries in the Niger Delta at a time when oil mutlinationals are scaling down operations and relocating their expatriate staff due to the menace of kidnapping in the Niger Delta. Besides, the Nigerian investment environment is unstable and uncertain and it is increasingly so. What if another government shows up in the future and introduces a different policy? Full deregulation as proposed translates into only one thing: higher pump prices of petroleum products and greater hardship for the Nigerian people.
It is curious that the recommendation is coming from the Federal Government Committee on the Global Economic Crisis. Elsewhere, recession has resulted in government becoming friendlier towards the people. Countries are introducing packages to stimulate the economy and to inspire hope. Prices are being slashed in order to encourage more spending, government is intervening to play a bigger role in the lives of the people in order to save nations from anomie. These same blind market forces that Mansur Muhtar and co are reinventing as the cure-all for the downstream sector is the devil in the global economic setback. Don't they know this? If PMS now goes up to N73 per litre, with the Naira exchanging as at yesterday at N173 to the dollar, with the stock market now a penny shop, with no regular power supply and no jobs, starvation wages are still being paid, companies are cutting jobs, and public officials are living large and bank directors are junketing about like a yo-yo in expensive jets, and the refineries are down, and there is very low capacity utilisation in the real sector, the only losers will be ordinary people. What should come first: full deregulation or house cleaning? I think the latter.
One major excuse offered by the Minister of Finance is that in the face of huge budget deficits, the Federal Government can no longer sustain an annual subsidy of about N640 billion in the downstream sector. In the past three years, a total of N1. 6 trillion has reportedly been spent. The question to ask is: How? Where is this subsidy that government talks about? How was it disbursed? It is not enough for government to talk about huge subsidy, it must explain what constitutes that subsidy. Now, they argue that if government can have access to this N640 billion per annum, it can then use it on infrastructural development. Well, we have heard that before.
It was the same argument that was used to raise the pump price of petrol from N11 all the way to N70, that was in those days when they used to tell us that a litre of petrol in Nigeria was cheaper than a bottle of Coke, and there has been no improvement in the quality of infrastructure since then. Muhtar says privatisation of the refineries is important and that government is determined to get it right this time. The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mohammed Barkindo says with local refining, cost associated with importation will be eliminated and retail prices will become cheaper. We don't think so. Because even if all the refineries were to work at optimal capacity, Nigeria would still have to import refined petroleum products to satisfy local demand. And can anybody rely on government's promise? The reality is that Nigerians no longer trust their governments.
The Minister of Finance put his finger on the matter when he lamented that the bane of the oil and gas sector is that government has been subsidising inefficiency and corruption. The PPPRA is to be reviewed because under the new arrangement, its role would have to change, but even more so, the Federal Government says, the body has been compromised. Also, the rehabilitation of the refineries, we are told, ended up putting money in private pockets, and so the Federal Government does not intend to spend one extra kobo on those refineries anymore. If the government knows all of these, why is it lamenting? It should immediately arrest those who have encouraged the inefficiency in the PPMC, the NGC, the NNPC, the PPPRA and let Nigerians know who and how the subsidy of N640 billion vanished annually without any impact on the economy and the people. The Obasanjo government once tried to audit the accounts of the NNPC. It couldn't come up with reliable figures. A proper audit of the present, operative template is advisable. Yes, there are leakages, but what exactly is wrong? First, the Federal Government must determine the actual cost of petroleum products, from production to the market. This will enable it to know the exact amount of subsidy that is required, and exactly how much has been frittered away, and by who. Perhaps if it knows the actual required subsidy, and plugs the leakage pipes, it may be persuaded to seek scapegoats elswehere. Second, sanctions must be meted out to the saboteurs when identified. Into whose pockets did the N640 billion disappear every year?
It was further argued that government intends to ensure open and free licensing in the downstream sector in order to break an existing oligopoly. But, if we may ask, who are the members of the cartels that Mansur Muhtar is complaining about? Can they be named? Could they possibly be the same persons who donate money to PDP political campaigns, or Presidential libraries and who are so neck-deep in PDP politics that their names show up every year on the National Honours List for services rendered to (sorry, for damages done to) Nigeria? Independent marketers in the downstream sector complain daily about the dominance of these powerful forces who alone exercise an undeserved monopoly in the sector. Is there any guarantee that government as it is can protect a regime of free competition? With 2011 around the corner, won't the Yar'�dua government still need the cartel in the downstream sector when it decides to raise funds for a second term project?
Again, government wants to do offshore refining. This had been recommended many times in the past, but even if the option is now adopted, has government thought its way through it? Or has this been thrown in merely as a convenient slogan after a fashion? To further simplify this matter: by cancelling subsidy for petroleum products, government wants to free more resources for its own use. I don't want to believe that the Nigerian government is cash-strapped. Is this not the same government that returns unspent money every year to the treasury? And if the lifestyle of government officials and the politicians is any measure of reality, government remains the most profitable business in the country today. If the Federal Government is looking for more funds, why doesn't it look elsewhere and try to cut its own costs and reduce the extravagance of government?. A salary cut for public officals was proposed recently, but one after the other some state Governors are already saying: "Pay cut? Count me out?" Why don't they cut the fat allowances and estacodes then? And strengthen the mechanism for checking corruption in official corridors?
About a month ago, the PPPRA had suddenly announced a surprising reduction in the pump price of petrol, from N70 per litre to N65 per litre. With the present development, it is now clear that government was playing games with the feelings of Nigerians. The reduction was meant to last for one month only. A month later, now the plan to remove "subsidy." The Nigerian Labour Congress has said that it will resist any increase in the pump prices of petroleum products, but it should do more than that. It should provide strong counter-arguments to expose the folly of the proposal and the wrongness of the timing. The National Assembly should be persuaded to act in the interest of the people and say to the Federal Executive: "No, not now".
Other countries of the world provide subsidy for their citizens. Nigerians ask: if they remove petroleum subsidy compeletely, then what is it that we are expected to enjoy as citizens? Yet, Nigeria is a petroleum producing country. The Global Recession Committee should take another look at its proposal, it should pay clozse attention to public responses. No matter how attractive the removal of subsidy in the downstream sector may be, this is not the time to do it. And this is not how to go about it. Now again we pay the price for poor leadership. What is being planned is provocative. It is an invitation to chaos.
Comments
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HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN
Submitted by Nnaemeka (not verified) on January 16, 2012 - 18:15.
Thy glory oh Reuben, is slain upon Naija's high place! How are the mighty
fallen. The day he justified and redefined consistency, I wept! where are those pontifications of years gone? Life is transient, when the lucre of office is over,dear Reuben, can you look us in the face and say you are for us? Like the paper you once headed its editorial board (Awolowo)says " conscience an open wound, only the truth can heal it.
Too Bad, Dr. Reuben Abati
Submitted by Razzac Ayinde Adesina (not verified) on January 14, 2012 - 14:16.
We should not be disappointed, many of these so call radicals do change their coat as soon as they get elected or appointed. He is another example of "Idealogical Turn -coats" in government.
Too Bad, Dr. Ruben Abati
Submitted by Razzac Ayinde Adesina (not verified) on January 14, 2012 - 14:04.
We should not be disappointed, many of these so call radicals do change their coat as soon as they get elected or appointed. He is another example of "Idealogical Turn -coats" in government.
fuel subsidy removal
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 12, 2012 - 00:34.
1. More time for wider consultation needed.
2. Nigerians need more education on this subject.
3. More importantly, president Jonathan should push for constitutional reforms that will make it possible to punish corrupt public offce holders past and present.
4. As you compare pump price of petrol between Nigeria and other African countries, did you compare also the following - STABLE ELECTRICITY, SOCIAL STABILTY, LEVELS OF CORRUPTION, RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE, LEVELS OF UNEMPLOYMENT, etc.
5. How do government intend to manage the proceeds from oil subsidy removal?
fuel subsidy and all
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 8, 2012 - 22:05.
I am sorry that emotions has taken over.....nobody wants analysis anymore.
Question time.
1. Why does nigeria import fuel?
ANS. Becos it does not produce enough locally.
2. Why does it not produce enough locally
ANS. Becos the local refineries are not working properly.
3.Why are the local refineries not working properly
ANS. Becos they are run by a nigerian government parastatal.
So how do we solve this issue of importation of fuel?
ANS. Build more refineries.
The solution to the problem is so easy.
Judge not...can an adviser take control
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 7, 2012 - 21:48.
There is little or nothing he can do in his advisary capacity. Announcing their resolution at the end of the meeting may not change his opinion. Have you forgetten the OBJ'S administration after swearing-in of some advisers he said it is not necessary he take their advice, so why do we have to blame Dr. Abati.
REMOVAL OF OIL SUBSIDY IN NIGERAN
Submitted by ADEOMOADE (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 17:29.
The removal oil subsidy as the government called it will make life hard to live for the man on the street and everybody will have to give one thing or the other that support their life. Government should fight corruption which is the bane of our development and a way will open for us to make progress in all aspects of our public life. Goverment should have a second thought about the removal of the subsidy at this time as it is a sure invitation for chaos and a step back from our way forward.
Reuben Abati
Submitted by Peter (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 15:34.
It is pity that even people like Reuben Abati who a lot of us looked up to as a man of integrity have let us down so badly please ask yourself this if NELSON MANDELA had accepted any of those many offers just for him to be free were will the black people in South Africa be today . It is a great mind like that of Ruben Abati that we need right now.
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Part problem in Nigeria clearly exemplified in this features!
Submitted by Vincent London (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 15:27.
I repeatedly urged lets do ‘Orientation’ for prospective Nigerians intent for public office/ politics! The big issue is question of PhDs and leadership! U are a PhD holder by presumption also! In this report U wonder can 1000 character comment deal with the issues raised? Punch used to allow 500 until we kicked against it; U cannot deal with 2,000 character features meaningfully under 989 words; it is nerve 1000, I noticed! In Nigeria where U don’t have public inquiries 4 controversial issues & where U have one, no creditable reports/white papers are issued/ acted upon! In such situation U bread self conceited, not motivated & often despicable leaders! Yar’Adua blew D whistle first & could have been involved in this same policy to deregulate yet we are complaining! Reading through the lines (not between as I say), U have the feel of aghast and U gasp in dismay somewhat! I have also repeatedly urged that solutions 4 our problems have been supplied but for that Nigerian factor!
Part problem in Nigeria clearly exemplified in this features!
Submitted by Vincent London (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 15:27.
I repeatedly urged lets do ‘Orientation’ for prospective Nigerians intent for public office/ politics! The big issue is question of PhDs and leadership! U are a PhD holder by presumption also! In this report U wonder can 1000 character comment deal with the issues raised? Punch used to allow 500 until we kicked against it; U cannot deal with 2,000 character features meaningfully under 989 words; it is nerve 1000, I noticed! In Nigeria where U don’t have public inquiries 4 controversial issues & where U have one, no creditable reports/white papers are issued/ acted upon! In such situation U bread self conceited, not motivated & often despicable leaders! Yar’Adua blew D whistle first & could have been involved in this same policy to deregulate yet we are complaining! Reading through the lines (not between as I say), U have the feel of aghast and U gasp in dismay somewhat! I have also repeatedly urged that solutions 4 our problems have been supplied but for that Nigerian factor!
Abati and his ilk lacks integrity
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 13:53.
The man lack integrity. If u know that u have interest in working for government, pls don't criticize the govt cos one day, u will undo yourself. That is what has happened to Abati. As for me, I have never believed in him. I sympathise with Prof Utomi who thought he was real and gave him role in Patitos gang and he used it to gain more relevance in addition to the one given to him by late Ibru. My prayer is that the stone he said those in govt would receive, may it not first land on him.
DONT CRUCIFY HIM BECOS YORUBA
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 10:17.
DONT CRUCIFY HIM BECOS YORUBA ADAGE SAYS ENI TO BA JE DODO KOLE SO ODODO.AND ALSO REMEMBER THE PROPHECY OF JACOB CONCERNING REUBEN IN (GEN 49;4)SAYS REUBEN UNSTABLE AS WATER.
People think differently when they get to power
Submitted by Tosin Ade (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 09:00.
Rueben Abati's case is not just the only case of those who stood for justice before getting to power, but on getting to power, the drum beats change. I have come to understood that a person's true nature cannot be revealed until he has a taste of power. Rueben among few others is whom the masses look up to for a change they desire. To me, a man who swallows his vommit again is not a man. Let me site this example, 23yrs ago, the then SUG president of great University of Jos, led the troop that stood against the deregulation by the military regime led by IBB, that same man stand now to say that 'the deregulation of the downstream sector is long overdue', i am talking about Labarun Maku, HON minister of FRN. Oh! What a man!. It wont surprise me, if the drum beats change after all these aggresive comments made by all of us, with just a taste of power that be. If they can change sides as they want, we shall also remind them that no one eat his cake, and still have it.
Deri, read between the lines
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 06:18.
You indeed need to sit down without any bias and read the article intelligently without apportioning blame. You are so corrupt, the masses will soon get to you.
According to a popular Yoruba
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 05:52.
According to a popular Yoruba adage,Abati has eaten 'dodo' (fried plantain) hence,he cannot say the truth-'ododo'
Give Abati Time
Submitted by ike (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 05:51.
When Abati was appointed i know this will be the result cos he has no say in governace rather he announces decisions already taken. But i feel he just used the opportunity to know how it is on the other side and just like Prof.Soyinka, he will throw the towel when the time comes. Each time he's shown in the TV he's never cheerfull, and expression tells aloy. He is still the man for the massed.
It could happen to anyone
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 05:37.
This could happen to any one of us in future. Therefore think deep before saying it out. So dt to have a say wen the time comes.
too bad
Submitted by Steve (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 02:10.
it's sad and unfortunate. see, i don't really see any thing wrong here per se because the Abati is not a member of the economic team of the govt ,neither a propagandist . And for this issue of subsidy cut , how many people know that jona will cut subsidy today when they were casting their vote? probably few or none. This bad policy probably caught him(abati) unawares . It won't be easy for him to resign based on his position on subsidy then . This is a lesson to journalists- don't write what you are not ready to stand for because the whole world reads what you write on the internet.
Also,methink abatii isn't swallowing his boss administration's policies hook, line, and sinker.
Myopism suspected
Submitted by Paul o (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 01:41.
Since our government has decided to be insesitive and myopic, we should be ready to let them know dat we cant always be taken for a ride or fooled.
@ comment 05/01/2012 23:29
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 6, 2012 - 01:27.
@ comment 05/01/2012 23:29 you are obviously reuben abati himself. Stop exonerating your evil deeds. To reuben abati, i say to you, you have failed nigerians, you have failed your pressure groups and you have succeded in killing dreams. Imagine the possible rippling effects of your 'actions. You are not noble, but a bloody traitor. Imagine the many youths who would have looked up to you till this minute. You have made meaningless the term comradeship. your poverty stiken background is now rearing its ugly head. I didnt know you could get this 'hungry'. You are just a coward. you and all the other pro government and poverty delivery agents in nigeria will be totally eliminated and struck off. All your past 'efforts' were obviously geared at selfish interests. May all those your previous selfish efforts be futile and in vain. As you support undue hardship and suffering for your people, you will be utterly disgraced, disregared and become an absolute nonentity!
What exactly is our problem?
Submitted by Bayoooo (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 23:29.
What exactly is our problem? That Abati should not have agreed to serve in GEJ government or what? We would be the same set of people castigating Jonathan if he appointed mediocre? When has it become the job of special adviser on communications to influence economic policy? This article is good and is still very relevant today and would have had the negative impression SR hoped for had Abati been the Coordinating Minister of Economy. Abati is still an excellent and brilliant journalist he has always been.
Is a Jaguda.
Submitted by Makossa (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 23:04.
Aren't they all. But we knew it, saw it coming, and yet handed them the keys to the treasury. I'm sure we will know what to do when the time comes.
Dr.Abati, do not forget, your
Submitted by Obi Moore (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 22:38.
Dr.Abati, do not forget, your article of three years ago is still relevant today even more than ever, as living condition of Nigerians has worsend in the last three years. The chaos you talked about will now lead to the doom already prophesised for Nigeria. I see President Jonathan as the man that will quicken Nigeria's demise. Those one Nigeria protagonist, your beloved country's demise is about to be actualized by the Government of Goodluck, he has substituted the GoodLuck Nigeria to BadLuck to Nigeria.
Reuben Dr Abati
Submitted by Babs Daramola (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 22:33.
Oh my God. Is this the same respectable man of Patitos Gang?
OH MY GOD!!!
Abati Dr Reuben
Please pray to God so that after Leaving the How of Bread (3M daily food allowance) you can still be a friend of the masses. Stop dinning with the devils, Dr Reuben Resign and it must be NOW!!!
I will be praying for you so that your sight will be able to distinguish colours. For now it seems differentiating between white and black is a problem.
On mine!!! oh dear!!! oh Dr Abati.
Please see ophthalmologist for sight check up!!!
THE MEN WHO NOW SITS ON THE OTHER SIDE- REUBEN ABATI AND CO.!
Submitted by A A. Ikheigbe (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 22:27.
What will Reuben Abati write now? Positions indeed changes people! Consider the position of Mr. Obasanjo now on the issue of Oil subsidy and look at the position of comrade Oshiomole, ( if he can still be considered a comrade with his current anti people stance), on the same issue, you can see that they are dialectically opposed. Each is influenced by the reality of his current position. This tells you that there is a serious mischief on the issue of withdrawal which is highly orchestrated by the" Economic Hit Woman" and Bad Samaritan- Okonjo WHAT?- Wahala! The tempo just has to be sustained on these representatives of western do gooders of democratisation who are giving us Democracy (POLITICAL) with the right hand and taking away its content (ECONOMY) with the left hand. This is nothing but COPORATOCRACY or "the sorcerer’s choice.
Osita
Submitted by Justina (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 21:51.
You are a very funny human being.* Laughing long and hard*
GOOD POINT
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 19:24.
Thank you for your immense WISDOM.
Re: there is sense in the removal
Submitted by dere (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 19:13.
Your piece makes sense but what beats me is whether our so-called advisers don't drill deep to consider all options with a view to proferring the best option for the people and the nation! Why do we have special advisers who are not specialists in their field? May the Lord help us indeed!
@Wahala and Saad Ibrahim appionted speech writers to buhari
Submitted by DERI (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 18:58.
I said it here on SR that GEJ should not hire Rueben Abati. That even if he wanted to have him work for his Gov, he should be sent to the ministry of information-That Abati was real trouble! I pleaded that GEJ should retain Niboro. But the Buhari political jobbers here thought otherwise. Now we know better! inclduing GEJ himself. Long before the land issue came up here, SR and Rueben Abati have been having a running battle. The thing again with most writers on SR among other media outlets is that, they dont write because they want to use their articles to change the society in which we live. But to better their bread and butter for their families. What has Rueben Abati done to improve the image of the GEJ? Nothing. Is it not even worse than when he was with the Guardian penning his thoughts against ex governor of Bayelsa state and GEJ? Why has Abati stopped producing articles for the Guardian? Is it because of his new job? We are all thieves if not one in the making abroad.
On Reuben Abati
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 5, 2012 - 18:39.
I read so many comments here, some people are actually calling for Reuben's crucifiction.Points to note:
1.When you are in authority, you see what the masses can not see.
2. When you are hired to do a job, you go by the tenets of the job and the goals and objectives of your boss. All your personal goals must be tailored towards achieving your bosses goal as a team.
3. Most of you lashing out at Abati if you had that oppurtunity you would have been worst.
4.Abati wrote that article as one of the masses then, now he is in govt. and he can see what there rest of you can not see or hear. It is not everything those in govt know or see that they disclose to the public else they will caos everywhere.
So let's not be quick in condeming people when we dont know what they know by reason of their office and positions.
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