The bellow piece is culled from my National Pilot column of Monday 9th September, 2013. Happy reading friends. THIS CONTRAPTION CALLED NIGERIA 1 When former president Olusegun Obasanjo described Nigeria as a country “where anything goes”, many people thought he was crazy. Nigeria is financially porous, and so many things are swept under carpets unnoticed. So many things that happen in Nigeria cannot happen in any sane society. If I still put you in a state of bewilderment, then read the following outburst recently made by Uncle Femi Falana on Channels TV: “Crude Oil production per day= 2.5m barrels; Current price= $113 per barrel; Daily sales= 2.5m times 113= $282.5m; Monthly sales= $282.5m times 30 days= $8.47billion; Yearly sales= 8.47billion times 12= $101.7billion; Naira equivalent= 101.7 times 160= 16.272trillion naira per year; Interestingly, Nigeria’s budget for 2012 was 4.5trillion. The question is what happens to the surplus?” When I finished listening to the learned man, I began to think, and later finally came to the realization that probably, that surplus is what they usually share between the federal government and the states as excess crude oil. But what do our governors do with the excess crude oil money being shared on monthly or is it quarterly basis? I was surprised when I read people bashing Falana on a social media known as Nairaland. I understand that everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion, but the response of one Mr. Bashr was uncalled for. As it turned the whole discussion to ethnicity, rather than logic. He, for instance, condemned the Yorubas that they “…Yorubas are only good at complaining as if all these started today, when it is time to take the bull by the horn and cut the dragons throat or uproot the weed from the soil, they will disappear or sabotage it. Being a human right activist or opposing corruption or incompetency cannot be solved by writing articles and shouting about it on social media. Ask Julian Asange, El-Rufai, Ekwueme, Fela, etc. it can only be solved by doing what has to be done. Ask Jerry Rawlings, Kaduna Nzeogwu, Ojukwu the man, and several other violent and non violent revolutions around the world”. A fellow who simply identified himself/herself as Face was more logical and decorum in his/her own contribution thus: “Some people should stick to what they know; I think a JS1 student should be able to have answers to analyses by Falana. Because: 1. Oil does not dig itself up, load itself into tankers, sell itself and hand over all proceeds to the FG 2. Shell and co are not paid with handshakes or in “thanks” as part of the JV with FG. They have their own cuts like 40%, which leaves the FG with 60%. 3. Oil producing states take 13% of FG’s share of JV proceeds. 4. The state governments share the remainder of the money with FG taking the lion share. 5. Surpluses are derived from the difference between the budget benchmark and the selling price. This surplus was once put in excess crude account, but states have been insisting that the money be shared and FG has been chopping some as well. I agree that the government is wasteful, and should be accountable, but there is no need to embark on an argument without thinking it through”. He/she concluded. I find it very difficult to understand what Mr.Bashr want us to ask such revolutionaries as Rawlings, Nzeogwu, Ojukwu and the rest. Rawlings’ action brought Ghana to its present level of development; the fact that Nzeogwu’s well intentioned revolt didn’t work doesn’t mean Nigerians can no longer ask questions when necessary. Femi Falana raised the issue not because he is a Yoruba man nor because Mr. President is from the Niger-Delta. But because he’s a Nigerian and reserves the right to ask questions on issues bothering his mind. Moreover, where was Mr. Bashr between 1999 and 2007 (during Obasanjo’s era), who is also from the same tribe as Falana? He bashed OBJ for the whole eight years the Ebra of Owu spent in office. He was always at the fore-front criticizing virtually all OBJ’s local and external policies. I think we should always be fair and objective in our comments. As I’ve noted earlier, Face’s argument sounds more convincing. But the simple question I have for Face is what a budget is after all, if oil proceeds are not included? Well, for the purpose of clarity, a budget is an itemized summary of expected income and expenditure of a country over a specified period, usually a financial year. In a sane society, every income and expected expenditure must be captured in the budget. This is because budget cannot be made without an expected income or source of income generation. About 99% of Nigeria’s income revolves around oil. Therefore, 99% of our budget is expected to revolve around money being generated from oil. If Face must know, all the money generated from oil and gas and all other sources within a year is the expected (total) income, and all expenditures must be based on the income generated. It is therefore a sheer display of ignorance for anyone to claim that oil revenue is not part of the budget. Face should also take note of the fact that monthly allocation to all the 36 states and local governments and the 13% oil proceeds to oil producing states are part of the budget. However, the very many questions bothering minds of many Nigerians are: Why is our federalism not working, to the extent that the FG takes the lion share of 52% of the total revenue while all the 36 states struggle over 48%? With the lion share of 52%, to what extent has the federal government justified the huge resources at its possession in our health, education, agriculture, sport, technology, transport and all other sectors? What are the governors doing with their monthly allocation apart from paying civil servants’ salary in their various states? To the best of my knowledge, none of the governors has been accountable for the excess crude oil money they collect intermittently from the federal government. Nigerians now find themselves in a shameful situation where the federal government puts all the blames of underdevelopment on the states’ governors for their inability to account properly for their monthly allocation and excess crude oil largesse; while the states’ governors are equally pushing the cause of underdevelopment to the federal government that takes the lion share of the country’s huge income. To be continued next week.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 07:34:09 +0000