Kachikwu, “Petrolese” And The Road To A Blue Christmas

                                                                                                    OPINION

Azu Ishiekwene

 By Azu Ishiekwene

It’s easy to speak petrolese when the state fills your tank and you don’t have to worry about the petrol gauge in your fleet. Whatever Kachikwu chooses to do this Christmas, he must remember that there are thousands of consumers who are not as lucky as he is and whose misery must not be compounded by big grammar.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has the gift of the gab. He sure can ask a man to go hell and make them look forward to the trip.

But honestly, I won’t mind taking that trip in his company, if only there’s enough petrol to get us there. I have read, re-read and tried to understand his explanation for the current mess, but I’m not getting it. Of course, he promised stable petrol supply next year, but his explanation about just how that is going to happen – clarity about whether or not the government will remove the subsidy on petrol – has been couched, not in English but in his native language, petrolese.

What does this mean?

“The total subsidy figure for 2015 when taken along with NNPC will be in excess of N1trillion. We can get the specifics but the point is largely that it does not involve NNPC because the agency takes its off-cuff. We will work towards taking those figures off our budget in 2016…the government doesn’t need to fund subsidy.

“There is energy around the removal. Most Nigerians we talk to today would say that’s where to go. I have since left the dictionary of subsidy by going to price modulation, which is a bit more technical. Price of refined products today is N87. It was N97 before it was removed and we really have to go back to that because we don’t really have the finance to remove it.

“There are lots of safety barometer between N87 and N97 per litre regime between which government does not have to fund subsidy….”

That was Kachikwu’s answer to whether the government will remove petrol subsidy in the 2016 budget.

Now, if that’s not petrolese, I don’t know what it is. What is the man saying? As I’m writing this, my heart is in my tank. My fuel gauge is verging on yellow and after a weekend of buying 35 litres at separate times between N180 and N200 per litre, I think I should know what to expect in the New Year, without mincing words.

Attendants at the pump are smiling to the bank and petrol station owners are enjoying the best of two worlds: they fiddle with the pump and sell at black market rates at night and in the daytime, divert supplies to premium customers!

The government has moved from, “we don’t believe there’s subsidy because we don’t know who-is-subsidising-who,” to paying nearly N700billion to petrol importers in five months only to end up speaking in tongues. What exactly is going on?

It’s not hard to figure it out. The government tied its hands with its own mouth. Following the expression of doubt about subsidy payments by President Muhammadu Buhari when he was a candidate, the facts now appear inconvenient. Not only as facts, but potentially, as a political landmine.

The government’s head knows the right thing; it knows that paying out billions of naira monthly for subsidy when it can hardly pay salaries is not sustainable. But its heart longs to appease a political base – the so-called masses that were promised kerosene at N50 per litre by the last government but have continued to buy it at twice the price and, of course, labour unions that love to live in denial.

Who gains?

The National Bureau of Statistics has just announced that petrol was the biggest import in the third quarter. The 2015 budget provided for N145billion in subsidy, but between June and now, Buhari’s government has paid nearly five times this amount in subsidy.

While the confusion continues – confusion that ostensibly should benefit the masses – all sorts of profiteers are cashing in.

If we are not drinking any of it as laxative, why are petrol lines snaking all around as we pay through our noses for a litre? Why is supply short? Simple. Filing stations, except the government-owned mega ones, are not selling until they can decode Kachikwu’s petrolese. If they bought at X price, they will hoard stock until it becomes clear what the new price regime will be, plus replacement cost. That is enlightened self-interest.

While the confusion continues – confusion that ostensibly should benefit the masses – all sorts of profiteers are cashing in.

The folks who sold petrol to me in a jerry can at a street corner just a stone throw away from a petrol station on Saturday in Abuja, told me that since cans are banned, they now get their supply (in jerry cans) from security men, who are apparently immune to the ban. Attendants at the pump are smiling to the bank and petrol station owners are enjoying the best of two worlds: they fiddle with the pump and sell at black market rates at night and in the daytime, divert supplies to premium customers!

And the “masses”, the supposed beneficiaries of the subsidy, are left high and dry.

It’s easy to speak petrolese when the state fills your tank and you don’t have to worry about the petrol gauge in your fleet. Whatever Kachikwu chooses to do this Christmas, he must remember that there are thousands of consumers who are not as lucky as he is and whose misery must not be compounded by big grammar.

Dr. Kachikwu, is subsidy on or off?

·          Azu Ishiekwene is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine and member of the board of the Paris-based Global Editors’ Network.

Christmas Without Ponmo

                                                                                                             OPINION

Dr. Odion-Akhaine

By Sylvester Odion Akhaine

As toiling Nigerians cannot merry today, eat their ponmo, let it be known that their days of ‘suffering and smiling’ will be over (apologies to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti). They shall claim their day, they shall have their laugh, and they shall merry again with shouts of victory over their oppressors.

Today is Christmas. The big question is how many Nigerians can really merry and embrace in merriment, a season’s embrace wrapped with peals of laughter. Given the palpable suffering of most of the population in long-lasting struggle to eke out a living and its compounding by a bunch of reckless state actors, the hilarity of Christmas is at least gone for today. In pains, the suffering masses would continue their existential drudgery in search of what to eat. This undermines hope, a panacea of sort. From the beginning of the year, in their toil for what to eat, a hardly fruitful endeavour in this clime, hope is always there like a shadow trailing its owner.

Christmas is a season for new clothes, eating and wining. Some culinary finesse is brought to bear on our diet. Beef, chicken, fish, crayfish, prawns and ponmon. The latter is known by many names such as kanda and ohian. Its value lies in being affordable and also mouthful. Medicine men says it’s cholesterol full, others say it is wholesome for the liver, yet there is the view that it has no nutritious value. Also, an indolent ruling class is even considering tapping into an estimated 75 billion dollar global leather industry where cow skin or ponmo ought to be. Fears of chemicals and contamination are even being invoked to dissuade the poor from his/her preference. Whatever the views, they are the reason while it is the refuge of the poor and always tops a sense of a wholesome meal. It is an easy complement in the combination called in the South-West, orisiorisi (assorted meat.)

Irrespective of their faiths, poor Nigerians often look forward to Christmas; not really for its religious essence but for the leisure it offers, the vent its provides for a momentary mirth of life in which we are at one with the creator; inspired by his work of creation, we would exclaim: life is beautiful! Today, hope is driven away, or shall we say smashed, not a lick of the lips and the crunching of ponmon, the choice of the impoverished Nigerians, which by some ironic and weird force of attraction is also patronised by those responsible for their misery.

In spite of the masses’ impoverishment, already hemmed in the margins of bare existence and uncertainty of a season, our tomorrow, if there may be one is already being overshadowed by our tormentors, mouthpieces of IMIFI JUJU, known as Bretton Woods institutions, and a man who promised ‘change’ is telling them to prepare for pains over obvious economic downturn that they did not engender, others demented are clamouring for the removal of oil subsidy, an imaginary specie, you and I know, does not exist but a fraudulent carbuncle inflicted on the people by the thieving elite. Others are projecting tolls for unpassable roads while the naira is racing towards Golgotha. Agencies that provide power and energy have upped their tariff blatantly without improvement on their services. Aforesaid, hope is a panacea. Where is hope? It is being attacked by our tormentors in ways that made good old John Keats say that pains abide forever with us while happiness is a rare visitor. As Shakespeare’s Cassius in Julius Caesar puts it, oppressed people when burdened never lack the means to dismiss the fetters of oppression. In his words, “…Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius: Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat: Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; But life, being weary of these worldly bars, Never lacks the power to dismiss itself. If I know this, know all the world besides, That part of tyranny, that I do bear, I can shake off at pleasure”.

The toiling people of this country would perhaps invoke the general will to damn their traducers and oppressors.

Cassius envisages suicide or revolt. The option for our people maybe the latter. The toiling people of this country would perhaps invoke the general will to damn their traducers and oppressors. This could take on different social expressions. The country is already contending with Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East, Indigenous People of Biafra, Niger-Delta militants, one of the most impoverished enclave in the world, Odua revivalism is lurking at the corner and who knows, very soon, Ogiso brigade would emerge from the Mid-West. These processes are irreversible for a people beaten to the wall. History is there for us. The Americans took on the British tax masters in 1760s, the Cuban people triumphed over Batista and his gangs in 1959 and the Bolsheviks took on the reactionary forces and the Czar scums in Russia in 1917.

The suffering of our people today reminds me of the signature tune of Hotel de Jordan, a drama series in NTA Benin, written and produced by the inimitable Comrade Jonathan Ihonde, in the early seventies which goes as follows: “God save us make we no see trouble; who see one no dey know whether na white or yellow; poor man dey suffer, monkey dey work, baboon dey chop”. As toiling Nigerians cannot merry today, eat their ponmo, let it be known that their days of ‘suffering and smiling’ will be over (apologies to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti). They shall claim their day, they shall have their laugh, and they shall merry again with shouts of victory over their oppressors.

·        Sylvester Odion Akhaine, a political science lecturer at the Lagos State University, is a visiting member of The Guardian Editorial Board.

OKOWA FLOORS OGBORU, EMERHO AT APPEAL COURT

By David Diai, Flashpoint

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed the appeals filed by the Labour Party’s governorship candidate Chief Great Ogboru and his All Progressives Congress, APC counterpart, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, in the April 11, 2015 governorship election in Delta State, challenging the judgment of the state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which had earlier affirmed Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s victory.

L to R: Governor Okowa, Ogboru and Emerhor

In a unanimous judgment by the five-man bench presided over by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji on Thursday, December 24, 2015, the appeal court held that the appeals lacked merit and that the tribunal was right to have dismissed Ogboru and Emerhor’s petitions.

Both Chief Ogboru and Olorogun Emerhor had filed their petitions, through their lead counsels, Chief Dele Adesina, SAN (Labour), and Chief Thomson Okpoko, SAN, (APC), before the Court of Appeal, following the Delta State tribunal decision, challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration of Okowa of the PDP as winner of the poll.

Reacting to the Court of Appeal judgment in a spontaneous victory service at the Government House Chapel, Asaba, after the judgment was delivered, a jubilant Governor Okowa, flanked by his wife, Edith expressed surprise that Deltans had turned out in their numbers, despite the public holiday, to join him in the thanksgiving service, even as he added that he was dedicating the victory to God as it had been made possible by God through the prayers of Deltans, who came out massively to vote for him in the April, 2015 gubernatorial elections.

“In the last few days, there have been a lot of rumours, a lot of speculations but, we continued to trust in the Lord, I thank God for His faithfulness and I appreciate all Deltans for your prayers and support, the wish of Deltans expressed in the April 2015 elections have been upheld,” he said.

Governor Okowa once again called on his two opponents to join hands with him saying, “It is time they (my opponents) have a rethink. It is time for peace to reign in Delta State, We believe that Delta State is one and we need to live as brothers and sisters.”

Speaking further, Okowa said, “There is room for reconciliation, for peace. We must continue to build bridges. We must continue to do those things that unite us as a people. Delta State is greater than all of us and if their (Ogboru and Emerhor) ambition is all about Delta State and not personal, then they should join us in taking Delta State to greater heights.”

Governor Okowa who, equally spoke with journalists after the thanksgiving service said that the Court of Appeal judgment in Abuja was a perfect Christmas gift for Deltans, as it had further re-affirmed their faith in the decision they made to vote massively for him and the PDP in the April 11, 2015, Delta State governorship election.

“This is a perfect Christmas gift for Deltans. I believe that Deltans must be very excited because the truth is that they trooped out on April 11 to cast their votes and the courts have continued to uphold their wishes. By God’s grace, we will not Delta State down,” Okowa said.

However, in a swift reaction, Chief Great Ogboru and the Labour Party, Delta State has vowed to pursue its case to the final logical conclusion at the Supreme Court

A statement issued by Henry Efe Duku, Senior Media Aide to Chief Great Ogboru reads thus: ‘The Court of Appeal just delivered judgment in favour of PDP in our appeal. We salute their Lordships for concluding this phase of the litigation process.

“We note at once that the Court did not pronounce on all the burning issues submitted to it for adjudication. Significantly, the Court did not make a finding on the fact that the result of the election was pre-written before collation of votes began.

“There is another phase at the Supreme Court to test the correctness or otherwise of this judgment. Obviously, it shall be tested on appeal.

“May God bless our dear Delta State and help us all,’ the statement concluded.

Although the Emerhor/APC camp had not released any statement reacting to the Court of Appeal judgment, it is highly expected that they would also head to the Supreme Court to seek a final opportunity to present their case challenging the election of Senator Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa as the Governor of Delta State, after the April 11, 2015 governorship elections in the state.

Deltans and Delta political watchers will attest to the fact that an air of palpable tension and real uncertainty had pervaded the state in the days preceding the Court of Appeal judgment, following the decision of the judges to reserve judgment after having listened to the submissions of all the contending parties in the matter.

The sense of expectation and foreboding, in equal measure, had been further heightened when the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, not only sacked and replaced the five man panel of judges handling the April 11, 2015 Delta State governorship election at the Court of Appeal, in Benin city following cases of alleged corruption, compromise, and abuse of office leveled against the judges, but equally moved the judgment on the matter from Benin to Abuja, ostensibly to forestall any security breach and breakdown of law and order, given the proximity of Edo and Delta States.

The sacked judges, whose names were reported, are Justice J.O. Bada, Justice P.M. Ekpe, Justice H.A. Barka, Justice M.N. Oniyiangi, and Justice U.A. Ogakwu.

They were then replaced by new judges, whose names included Justice (Mrs.) Uwani Abba-Aji (Chairman), Justice Tom Yakubu, Justice Mohammed Danjuma, Justice I.O. Akeju, and Justice (Mrs.) Bolaji-Yusuf, from which the final panel for the Appeal judgment, would be selected.

This decision to replace the earlier judges, was interpreted in certain quarters as a definitive sign indicating the direction the judgment would go, especially given the reported filial bonding between Justice Bulkachuwa and President Muhammed Buhari and indeed, the recent Appeal Court verdicts in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers State respectively, which she supervised.

Further spice was added to the pending judgment, when an online news portal reported that Governor Okowa had mopped-up a whooping N530million from Banks in Asaba to boost his financial war-chest with the speculated intent to Influence the Judges (either the sacked or the replacements), and had equally mobilized over 2000 ex-militants to Abuja ahead of judgment, with the aim of protesting the result if it went contrary to the verdict earlier given by the Justice Nasiru Gunmi led Delta elections petitions tribunal.

The tension barometer then went into frenzied overdrive, when news filtered in, that the judgment had been brought forward by one day to Wednesday, December 23, at 4pm, instead the earlier announced Thursday December 24, only for another round of news to creep into the airwaves late on Wednesday night that the judgment day still remained December 24.

The rest, as they say is history, and contrary to all the speculations and permutations, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa emerged victorious once again.

All attention will now be focused on the Supreme Court as the duo of Chief Great Ogboru and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor seek a favourable judgment and as he savours the sweet taste of his present victory at the Court of Appeal, Governor Okowa knows only too well, what is obvious now, which is that the matter will not be completely settled until the early months of 2016.

Compel Discos to acquire meters locally, manufacturers tell NERC

The Electricity Meter Manufacturers Association of Nigeria on Wednesday, appealed to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to compel power Distribution Companies (Discos) to procure meters from local manufacturers.
Executive Secretary of the association, Mr Muyideen Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the importation of meters by the Discos had crippled local manufacturers of the item.
He said that the promotion of indigenous meter manufacturers would boost their business and create more job opportunities in the sector.
Ibrahim reiterated that local manufacturers had the capacity to meet the needs of the companies.
`` Government should be strongly committed in the promotion of local content because we want to be part of the growth in electricity sector.
“If the government compels the Discos to patronize local manufacturers, it will demonstrate its commitment to the local content policy,’’ he said.
Ibrahim urged NERC to liberalise the metering arm of the power sector to allow consumers and vendors to buy meters directly from indigenous meter manufacturers. (NAN)

DTHA lifts suspension on Erijo, Pat Ajudua

·         Duo sit in chambers at Assembly's proceedings

Two suspended members of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Erijo and Hon. (Mrs.) Pat Ajudua resumed Wednesday on their seats in the chamber of the House, indicating that the House has softened its stand on them, and has lifted the three-month suspension slammed on the duo for acts unbecoming of members of the legislative arm of government.

Hon. Erijo

Hon. Pat. Ajudua

In a unanimous vote, the Assembly upheld the motion to suspend the two law makers moved by the House Majority leader, Hon. Tim Owhefere that the two legislators be suspended from the house for three months, following which Mrs. Ajudua stood up from her and walked out of the chamber in compliance with the suspension motion.

Observers at the house proceedings Wednesday were surprised to find Ajudua and Erijo back in the house, and accorded warm greetings from the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Monday Igbuya and other legislators. Their return to the house was without any ceremony.

However, sources hinted that their return was the climax of various underground moves and interventions by influential persons in the society who intervened and made concerted entreaties on behalf of the duo, urging the house to show magnanimity and forgiveness towards them.

Erijo in a half-page advert dissociated himself from those who went to court purportedly on his behalf against the assembly. “I do not know them, and I am not in any association with such people,” Erijo said. He promised to join hands with his colleagues in the House in assisting the Okowa administration to succeed  

Okowa presents N266 billion budget proposal for 2016

 Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Tuesday presented a budget proposal of N265 billion for the 2016 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly.

Okowa reading his budget speech before the House

Christened, “Budget of Renewed Hope and Inclusive Development,” he said the proposed budget amount is made up of N153.2 billion (57.65 percent) for recurrent expenditure and N112.5 billion (42.35 percent), for capital expenditure, and it shows a marginal increase of N12.7 billion (5.03 percent) when compared to the 2015 amended budget which stood at N252.9 billion.

A sector by sector breakdown of the budget shows that the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), was allocated the lion share of N28 billion; while education is allocated N10.1 billion; the state job and wealth creation scheme is allocated the sum of N2.296 billion . Others are: Transport sub-sector, N15.421 billion and the Health sector receives N5.9 billion.The Governor stated that being the first budget that is conceived by his administration; the grim forecasts from these documents place a moral burden on the administration to adopt a pragmatic approach in the 2016 budget estimates based on prudent management of public finances without necessarily playing to the gallery or raising false hope.

Okowa dropping copy of his budget speech on the floor of the House.

He noted that the health of the state’s public finances was crucial to good governance which would inspire hope and confidence, attracting investors, ensure the sustainable development of the state’s economy as a whole and maintain the basic principles of prudent management of public finances in strict adherence to due process and keep expenditure within revenue limits.

“The budget is admittedly tight but it is consistent with our vision for maintaining strict fiscal discipline. As part of our resolve to avoid the mistakes of the past and ensure that we get full value for every kobo spent the project monitoring and supervision function is being handled by a Directorate under the leadership of the Senior Policy Adviser,” he said.

To this end, the governor warned that no contractor will get away with any shoddy or uncompleted jobs, because, according to him, it was for this reason that the Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Economic Planning has been strengthened to enable it discharge its responsibility as the due diligence outfit for Government.

Similarly Governor Okowa observed that the State Executive Council has resolved that from now on, any government official who, either by omission or commission, allows the state to be short-changed in its investment projects, will be severely sanctioned.

He noted that the goal of his administration was for Delta State to become the most prosperous State in the country.

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Friday Osanebi, who thanked Governor Okowa for his respect for the legislature and for working in the interest of Deltans, moved a motion for the budget proposal to be accepted as a working document while the member representing Oshimili South Constituency, Rt. Hon. Peter Onwusanya seconded the motion for the adoption of the motion which was overwhelmingly done.

PDP rejects Kogi governorship election results

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday said it would challenge the outcome of the governorship election in Kogi before the election petition tribunal.

The Publicity Secretary of the party in Kogi, Mr Bode Ogunmola, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.

Ogunmola said the results of the election was unacceptable to the party and cannot stand the test of time.

He said the death of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu on Nov. 22, while collation was ongoing had made it inevitable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare PDP candidate, Idris Wada, winner of the poll.

Ogunmola said PDP had rejected the declaration of Yahaya Bello as winner of the exercise, saying that the party would challenge the results before the tribunal.

He commended people of the state for their support to the party before and during the poll, urging them to continue to be law abiding. (NAN)