THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SANUSI

Good morning class! Good morning sir!!, thank you, I am pastor SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI, I am your new economics lecturer, unlike my predecessor, Prof SOLUDO who was an academic I will like to use the preaching method, in this class nobody knows anything except me, you must not ask any question about whatever I tell you because I can never be wrong. You can ask the HOD, Deaconess ALLISON MADUKWE or the Dean of this faculty prophetess OKONJO IWEALA or even the Vice chancellor, his holiness, Arch Bishop GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN,  they can all bear witness to my risk management skill. Today our topic is FUEL SUBSIDY what did I call it? So listen up;
The nationwide strike against government's removal of fuel subsidy is costing the economy about N100 billion ($617million) daily. I  expect inflation to rise to about 14 to15 per cent by the middle of this year, up from its current position of 10.5 percent, due to the impact of subsidy removal.“ Clearly inflation was always going to go up with the removal of subsidy. I think what we've seen is the immediate shock impact of a sudden removal and things will settle down.  It took us  one and half to two years from 2009 to come down to single-digit from 15.6 percent. I think a realistic target if we actually hit 15 percent, I think we will be looking at end of 2013 before we come back to single-digits, i think it's time to make a deal, any kind of compromise should have a final deadline for removal of subsidy ,I also want to suggest the option of keeping fuel price at N100 per litre and phasing out subsidies. But I insist that the details should be left to the government and labour to decide.

Meanwhile, Sanusi while I’m advocating for an agreement between the Federal Government and labour which would bring about gradual removal of the subsidy, said: “Look, the Federal Government can continue paying subsidy at N65 per litre for a while. I am not saying that it is not economically possible for that to be done, but speaking as a Nigerian, I will like to see a win-win situation.”, “I will like to see a situation in which the government shifts a little and breaks this policy into one or two instalment and I will also like a situation in which Nigerians also shift a little and understand that we cannot continue to have a Father Christmas kind of situation. If we continue doing this today, our children are going to pay for it. End of sermon!!!
Preach on pastor, we are enjoying the sermon, in all sincerity, who am I to speak when the only learned person has spoken but I only need to point the attention of the CBN guru to a couple of things.
First, the Nigerian war is not just against subsidy, it is against an extravagant and inconsiderate government. The presidency is talking about subsidy and sacrifice and yet budgeting N1.8b to maintain ‘existing furniture, office and residential quarters’, N1.7b for travel (N724m domestic, N951m international), a ministry has budgeted N2.5b for ‘citizens call centers’ whilst the ministry of agriculture has budgeted N1.2b to incorporate commodity marketing companies. Stationery, refreshments and snacks in the presidency will consume about N2b, miscellaneous spending by the presidential villa alone totals about N1.7b for food, honorarium and something called welfare packages. The SGF and head of service will also receive over N2.5b for miscellaneous expenses including about N300m for welfare and N270m for security votes. These are nothing but misplaced spending priorities! If we say Nigeria needs money because we are broke, the question is how did we get to that point? Simple- the reckless spending of our leaders, then why are we being forced to pay for it? Yet they are going about it in such an arrogant way as if it is time for us to pay for our sins. If the government of Jonathan under the advisory of Sanusi has chosen to help us, it is our fundamental human right to either accept the help or not.
Again the federal government is losing billions of naira to the NLC strike, the federal government in five days has lost an amount that is more than the total subsidy for one year and yet does not care to stop the strike by listening to the voice of the people, there can only be two things involved, it is either the government have a hidden agenda that is beyond this subsidy or that it is another chapter of the government’s prodigal expenditure. If we are actually as broke as the government claimed that we are, how does the same government hope to make up for the financially loss that we have made during this strike?
Finally, to say that if subsidy is not removed our great grandchildren will never be free from paying debts is a terminological inexactitude, what on earth is wrong with subsidy? With subsidy, in Venezuela, the fuel price is N3.61 and the minimum wage is N95,639, in Kuwait, the fuel price is N34.54 and the minimum wage is N161, 461; in Saudi Arabia the fuel price is N25.12 while the minimum wage is N99,237; in Qatar it is N34.54 and their wage is N101,250. Even in Libya, the price is N26.69 and the minimum wage is N23,813 but in Nigeria, not all the 36 states have enforced the N18,000 minimum wage and we are set to move the price of fuel from N65 to N140-N200. Why is our own case just so different? If you say it is corruption but I have heard us say it times without number that Nigeria is not the only corrupt country and that corruption is everywhere in the world, so how have these people being able to manage their own.

My one word advice for pastor Lamido is to look beyond figures and face the political reality of the Nigerian state, if he can combine the Knowledge of that political reality with his economic facts we will sure move forward otherwise we would only have succeded in turning Nigeria into an ECONOMICS 101 class where Sanusi is the lecturer, Okonjo Iweala is the Dean of faculty and his holiness bishop Jonathan as the Vice chancellor.