Four Billion Naira Hotel Bills

   If you had missed this news last week, by seeing it now  I am sure you will be saying: "wow, are you kidding me?" That is exactly how I reacted when I first saw it in one of the dailies last week. That the transition committee set up by the incoming governor of Kano state has discovered that the out going, oh sorry, the out gone Mallam Shekarau's led government had spent #4 billion in hotel bills in the state in its 8 years. The government neither confirm nor deny the allegations, the action which fortified people's belief that it actually incurred the bills. The only explanation (not officially though) came from the former Legal adviser to the ANPP Kano chapter, Dr Baffa Danagundi who said even if it was true the government had actually spent that lot on hotel bills, he was sure it was approved by the State Assembly.

   With all due respect, this is indeed lame attempt at justifying this irresponsible, reckless and unwarranted expenditure by the government. I can't say the government did not have cause to spend that much on hotels, but it is certainly clear that it was not prudent especially taking into consideration that there is a state owned hotel which was abandoned by the government and which 1/4 of this money would have been more than enough to transform it into a decent hotel that the government can accommodate any guests that may have cause to come to the state on an official visit. The hotel is situated in an area that is one of the best in the state. At some point, the staff of this hotel threatened to embark on strike over what they called nonchalant attitude of the government to their welfare and well being of the hotel. It is sad that its not only the hotel and its staff that suffer this neglect from the government, but even the road that the hotel is located on has been neglected. The effect of this is total collapse of business of the hotel as one can not even access the hotel as a result of  extremely poor condition of the road. There is only one explanation to this, ie, the government abandoning the hotel and its incurring this bills on hotels; somebody, somewhere was certainly getting a very huge commission from these transactions. This is what can only explain this irrationality. Whatever is the case, the incoming government owes a duty to the people of Kano to investigate and unearth the truth in this seemingly shoddy deal, fingers crossed. 

                 Goje Commissioned Four Billion Naira Stadium. 

   It is four billion Naira affair too in Gombe as the outgoing governor and senator elect Danjuma Goje commissioned a "state of the art" stadium that engulfed #4 billion. When one hears something like this especially when 'state of the art' is used to describe the stadium, one would begin to think that this stadium is

definitely up there with the likes of Emirates stadium of Arsenal and or Abuja National stadium, both of them having 60,000 plus seats. Well, if you had thought of that, I am sorry to say you are absolutely wrong. This stadium we are talking about has only 12,000 seats and it cost $ 250,000,000. Yeah dollars of course! OK, if you still don't get my point let me put it this way; Abuja National stadium built by Obasanjo cost $360,000,000 and we all know that there was so much cries that the stadium was too costly. Emirates Stadium of Arsenal f/c of England was built at $390,000,000, and both these stadiums are 60,000 plus seaters! 

   Isn't it logical that a stadium built by a Nigerian based firm that cost $250,000,000 to at least have fourty to fourty five thousand seats? More so, when we compare the cost of this one and those ones with 60,000, seats? So much for the mind to ponder. 

   God bless Nigeria!

Crash the price of rice too

   "Do whatever you can to crash the price of cement in 30 days". These are the words of Mr. President giving orders to the cement manufactures last week at the government house Abuja to crash the cement price. For two or so months we have been witnessing an unprecedented soaring of cement price in this country where a bag that was initially sold at # 1,650, now cost between #2,200 to #2,300 or more, depending on the particular product one wants. This really has brought hardship on the citizens of this country who use the product for construction works. One has to commend the president for deeming it necessary to intervene on the sufferings of the citizens as a result of this situation by summoning the manufacturers to a meeting and outrightly ordered them to reduce the price within 30 days. 

   After the meeting, the manufacturers while assuring people and the government that they are indeed going to do whatever possible to reduce the price  also revealed the various reasons why the price had to go this high. The Chairman of Dangote Cement, A. Aliko Dangote stated that the major problems the industry was facing were in the areas of supply of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) and the loss of 6000 trucks by his group recently. He however did not tell us how these were lost by his company. He added that the post election crises in the north was partly responsible for the hike in price. This is where I have problem, may be the Chairman of Dangote Group needs some memory refresh as regards the fact that, the cement price had reached over #2000 even before the elections and the post elections violence that erupted. So that excuse does not hold water. This greatly showed lack of sincerity from the manufacturers. Or may be its just true as somebody opined that the likes of Dangote who financed with a huge amount of money, the Goodluck/Sambo campaign are out to recoup their investment. Nothing could be further than the truth. In any case, the president did well by intervening and calling on the manufacturers to reduce the price in such a minimum period of time. 

   If Mr. President can do that, how about calling on them to crash the price of rice too? Which by far is more important to an average Nigerian than cement. And also which is by far much more expensive than the cement. A 50 kilogram bag of rice is sold between #8000 to #8500 depending on the product, compared to 50 kilogram bag of cement which goes for #2200 to #2300 depending on the product too. And curiously enough, two of the cement manufacturers that Mr. President had meeting with at the state house are coincidently the major importers of rice in this country. They don't produce the rice in this country therefore, they can't complain that there is no availability of LPFO in the country as they don't need it here. They equally can't complain of the high cost of taxes that they are required to pay when they import those products as we are all aware of the various tax wavers and concessions that they do enjoy when they import those products. There is just basically no justification that this click of very few but highly privileged individuals would be subjecting the over 150 million citizens of this country to this suffering. A bag of rice which is sold at the neighbouring Niger and Benin Republics respectively at equivalent to #4500, and their bags are fuller than ours, is sold at #8500 here in this country. The president only felt it necessary that the cement price be reduced but not that of rice's. If at all the masses of this country who are suffering, matter to the government, then how about ordering the importers to crash its price too?

Long queues again!

   I intended to post this piece last two weeks, but I had issues with my internet connection which has now been rectified though. Although the situation has considerably improved, but I believe the issues raised here are still not remedied, therefore the piece is still relevant. Enjoy.

   For the past few days, long queues at the filling stations across the northern states and the capital Abuja have resurfaced, proving wrong those who thought the queues at the stations were a thing of the past. Why should not them think that we have passed that era since the president assured and reassured us that we would never stay for as long as 15 minutes at the filling stations when we go to refill? That the government had taken measures to make sure that it never happen again. That those selling the products in jerrycans by the road sides would soon had to get something doing as we would have no reason whatsoever to buy fuel from them because of its abundance at the filling stations. Perhaps the mother of all assurances came when Mr. President while campaigning at the last April elections asked the Nigerians to vote for him for reason that he was able to bring to an end the fuel scarcity, and promised when he was voted he would do whatever to keep the status quo ante. Isn't it ironic that even before the president takes his oath of office that the queues resurfaced?

   People who actually have an idea on how the system works did not believe Mr. President when he said that. It doesn't require somebody to be genius to know that so long as transportation of the products is left exclusively at the hands of NARTO, and with the greediness for which this association is characterised with, the fuel crises will never be solved in this country. When the queues started to appear, in a blatant attempt by the government to deceive us as they always do, they attributed it to the holidays that were observed at that time, then later they said it was the post elections violence. Now that all those things are way  behind us and the problem still persists, they decided to be a little bit more honest by claiming that they are trying to reach a workable bridging claim with the transportes which may accumulate to about #2 billion monthly if the government succumb to the increase of 45 percent freigth rate as being claimed by the transporters. The plain truth is the government can not continue to be paying this 'subsidy' to the transporters for long, and as we don't have any alternative to them, they will continue to be hiking the rate and be holding the country to ransom at the sligthes provocation.

   The solution? Well, I have always argued that unless the government is going to revive one of these two or both, then any spell we may have of the availability of fuel is just going to be temporary. Repair the pipelines or revive the railways. That is all. These are the only solutions to this fuel crisis. You either be pumping the products through the pipelines or be transporting it by rail. One has to look at what the government spends every month on this 'subsidy' which stands now at staggering # 1.5 billion and which could well sky rocket to #2 billion if the transporters' demands are met by the government, and also the amount the government spends every month for repairing the roads which the transporters help considerably in putting it in its dilapidated condition with their heavy duty traillers and for which they don't pay corresponding taxes, and see if a total of such amount in a year can not make significant work in the revival of our railways. However, if anyone thinks the government will make the same calculations will be even more disappointed than those that voted for Mr. President on the promise that fuel crises would be over if he was elected. 

   Nigeria is being led by a visionless leadership, that is just the plain and bitter truth! So its better that we do not expect that from the government for fear of us being disappointed if it never happen.