In the face of the numerous challenges in the country, the president in his infinite wisdom has declared the year 2012 as the national mathematics year. This is a part of the government’s transformation agenda which it seeks to achieve through mathematics.He further revealed that the official flag-off of the mathematics year will be performed by the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai on the 1st of March.
So in the spirit of mathematics, I though I should share a maths problem I came across recently.
If 5 Nigerian Senators share 20 Ghana Must Go (GMG) bags in 30mins and 10 Nigerian National Assembly men share the same number of GMG bags under 15mins, how long will it take a single Nigerian President to vamoose 20GMG bags considering that 30 Nigerian National Assembly men have the same GMG consumption rate as 1 Nigerian President?
Assumption Take the Ibori Constant (IC) as consumption constant irrespective of EFCC resistance.
As the Nigerian government and the oil marketers plan to increase the price of PMS in the country for the second time this year based on reports emanating from the media, let’s ponder on whether this is the best course of action for a government of the Nigerian people. During the oil subsidy protests, Nigerian government officials said that the cost of the petrol subsidy is not sustainable and the government will break down if it continues to carry that burden. But is that really true? or is it a ploy to deceive the people?some even say that the script was written by the international monetary fund which is a fund run by the European government to the detriment of developing countries but I can not blame a foreign entity for Nigeria’s problem even though IMF has received a lot of criticism for its policies in Africa and Latin America. Let’s keep in mind that the ‘inflated’ amount of this subsidy at the time was N1.2trillon ($8billion).
At Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Forum held in Abuja recently, the Shell’s Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Ian Craig said that 150,000 barrels of crude is stolen in Nigeria every single day. Assuming a price of $120 per barrel (Yesterday’s price was about $125), the loss is valued at $6.5billion. I am certain we can add at least another $1billion to account for the losses at Chervon, AGIP, ExxonMobil operated wells. To understand the magnitude of this very cautious estimate of $7.5billion (we have assumed that the top echelon at shell are aware of all the losses at all shell operated wells. The estimate is likely a cautious one from the Shell ), the national budget of Nigeria in 2012 is $29billion.
Lets take a quick look at the Nigerian budget. Nigeria plans to sells its interest in utilities in 2012 so we should expect a windfall in this sector in the year. Thus, the $1billion allocated to the power sector is ridiculous. Aviation is a mode of transport and should be a department in the ministry of transportation. The airports should be leased to competent operators who will run them better as they are all in an embarrassing state. The idea of the government considering to float a new airline à la Nigeria Airways is laughable. Water resources should be managed in each state so there is no need for a federal ministry to perform this function. Governors in the Niger delta should have a higher allocation if it is deemed necessary but there is no need for a federal minister for Niger delta affairs not to talk of a minister of state for Niger delta affairs held by a hausa woman no less. This is a basket ministry aimed at draining the country with round table discussions. For the ministry of petroleum resources, the NNPC should be sliced and privatised with a mandate that its entities will be listed on the floor of the Nigerian stock exchange so that ordinary Nigeria can have a stake if they wish. This will create an excessive windfall for the government even though they may have to sell some assets separately. This would be a long-term project which is achievable. We want to see an NNPC which can compete in other countries like other former state-owned entities such as Petronas, BP, Petrobas and Stat Oil. All regulatory functions of the NNPC can be transferred to the ministry of petroleum resources which will act as the only arbiter in the industry. Nobody will need to tell NNPC to sit up. At this point, NNPC would also be liable to taxes and royalty payments like other players in the industry. Government spending would be drastically reduced and it can now focus on infrastructural projects with the use of public private partnership to maximise the use of available funds.
To go a step further in raising funds, they can write laws that deal with taxation for local companies in a more considerate way and sanitise the local accounting bodies whose members work in public practice and enable the prevalence of tax evasion. The net result will be a net gain for the government because it is better for all local companies to pay 10% of their assessable profit to the government than for a few local companies to pay 30%.
A good government should be able to find ingenious ways to run itself for the benefit of its citizens and not to their detriment. We need a strong judiciary that can not be easily harass by the executive and legislature,a president who believe that he is accountable to the people and can inspire them to see a New Nigeria emerging where the government works for the people and not the other way round and a more transparent and open government which is overseen by a competent legislature and probed by the press (was there any benefit to the passage of FOI act?). A final point is that current price of crude is currently hovering around $125 per barrel while the 2012 budget is based on a benchmark price of $70. I hope Mr President knows where the difference is going to?
Some news are downright disturbing like a son marrying his mother. Others give you a good insight into happenings in far away lands. For example on the 26th of February, the Senegalese would go to the election polls to ‘elect’ a president. There is a need to reduce the variants of democracy in the world. What is the use of a democratic system that does not follow the spirit of freedom and civil liberties. Senegal gained its independence from France in 1960. The first post colonial president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, ruled from 1960 to 1980. The second president, Abdou Diouf, ruled from 1981 to 2000. The incumbent, Abdoulaye Wade,estimated to be 86 years old has ruled since 2000. He is running for a third consecutive term (a similar move from Olusegun Obasanjo was strongly opposed in 2007). A term in Senegal is seven years (a similar move is being hatched by Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria). After more than 50 years of democratic rule, the oppressed people have not seen the dividends of democracy. They want change. But is change for its own sake enough? We can only hope that the violence experienced in the previous months subside and the elections being observed by the international media is free and fair to a large extent. Although, these may just be wishful thinking.
On the same day, the academy awards celebrate the movies with its 84th edition hosted by Billy Crystal at the Kodak center in Los Angeles. I certainly would not try to predict the winners but I would like to blog about the best picture of 55th edition held in 1983. I saw Gandhi recently and it is the best film I have seen in years.
The movie begins with the filmmakers explaining their approach to the problem of filming Gandhi’s complex life story:
“No man’s life can be encompassed in one telling. There is no way to give each year its allotted weight, to include each event, each person who helped to shape a lifetime. What can be done is to be faithful in spirit to the record and to try to find one’s way to the heart of the man”
In other not to spoil it for people who will later want to see it, I will restraint myself from discussing the heart touching movie beyond this quote from Ben Kingsley who portrays Gandhi in the movie;
“An eye for an eye leaves the world whole world blind”
I would like to see such selfless Asian leaders like Mohandas Gandhi and Sun Yat-Sen ( I know him from Jackie Chan’s China 1911) being emulated by our political leader today especially in Africa and the middle east (most notably in Syria today where the Bashar Al-Assad led government continues to bomb its citizens into submission)were politics is seen to be all about greed, power and corruption in both totalitarian and democratic settings.
Marlon Brando was the second person to refuse an Oscar awarded for his performance in the Godfather in 1973 because of the way the movie industry treated Native Americans. Which actor do you think can take such a stand today for a cause they believe in?
Musings of Sir Lishi 