In an interactive session with media executives on Monday in Lagos, the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, among other issues, adduces reasons fuel subsidy must go. Excerpts:

Security
In the last seven months, what the president and all of us have been trying to do is to plan the development of this nation for the next 10 years and that planning stage is virtually over. The government is really going out now to implement the development policies. You are very familiar with the transformation programmes that the president has come up with, based on the Vision 20:2020. And in the transformation programme, we have targeted three key areas that will guide us in the next four years. The first is to continue work on infrastructure. It remains the greatest challenge for us. If we are to attract investments, if we are to propel the domestic development, we need to work on infrastructure. So, we have targeted the development of infrastructure as our number one priority.

The second area is human capital development, which is essentially education in all ramifications. And the government has seen it as a key area where we will invest a lot of money to update facilities to get stability and quality educational system to produce the kind of manpower that will attract investment into Nigeria. The third area is governance. So, these are the three key fronts that we are going to confront development challenge in the nation.

Mainly because of the insecurity that greeted us on assumption of office, beginning with the unfortunate proliferation of arms and the activities of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, there has been a lot of anxiety and that has created a lot of disillusionment about what the government is doing. The forces that unleashed this violence on Nigerians have done so mainly to create doubt, to paint the government as incapable of leading the country.  But over and above this, the government has been working hard on the security situation in the country. We face a new kind of threat, which was not there before, but I can assure you that a lot has been going on. The government has invested a lot on security, especially on intelligence. We have invested a lot on intelligence in terms of training, sharing security information, getting the kind of technology to monitor the movement and passage of information across the world. We have been doing this over this period. Also, a lot of arrests are being made on some of the elements. The reason it (the situation) is so far not completely under control is because there are cross border movements of these criminal and terror elements, stretching from Algeria to Niger Republic.

So, we have a wide theatre of operation. Because of the cultural proximity or similarity between our nations and other nations, sometimes it becomes very difficult to pin down every individual coming in and going out. But the government has, in fact, moved forward to establish security outposts outside the country to monitor the developments and movements of these people. Most of them are trained outside. Some of them are trained in far places like Algeria and then smuggled themselves into the country. The president has also put in place what we call the ECOWAS security coperation system.

You will notice that the ministers of defence and police affairs have been meeting after the president convened the meeting of leaders of ECOWAS. We will begin to cooperate at that level so that if something happens here, we can trace it to wherever and if it crosses our border, they can help us to chase it to be able to find those who are involved.

And because of that development, everyone of those who attacked us on October 1, 2010, has been arrested. There is no single person involved in the bomb blast that has not been arrested. Investigations are going on and they are going to be put on trial. So, this is the kind of work that goes on, but sometimes we cannot just rush to the media. What has been lacking, in my opinion, which we need to enforce, is a public awareness programme that involves the media and all of us to see that we educate Nigerians to be able to speak out and to pass information. There are different channels. If you are comfortable with the police, you do so. The police remain the vanguard of our internal security. You can do so through a network of leaders in an organisation. You can do so through civil society organisations. I can assure you that we are focused clearly on stabilising the security of the country and bringing the attacks to an end. It is not Islamic and I know that Islam does not condone suicide, Islam does not support attack on innocent citizens or violence for any cause at all. So, we must see these people as a group of people that absolutely represents evil. When we unite the nation, it will be easy to expose them, so I call on the media to show greater understanding.

Also, one of the areas that have worried me is that we give this group so much publicity and it is unimaginable. If there are threats, it is in the public interest to report, but I have seen, as minister of information and as a citizen that we have given too much attention to a group of people that is highly demonic. When I see some of the reports; somebody would just pick up the phone and send a text message and the next day, it is front page lead story. You have not established a source; you don’t know who the person is; you don’t know who he is speaking for. What if this is a group that just wants to destabilise the country, and the purpose is actually to destabilise the nation. We have continued to see stories that create doubt in the minds of the people and divisions. We must be proactive in reporting this group in order to defeat them, to expose them and also to show the nation clearly that this is an evil group. I have seen a lot of stories that frightened me in the media. On this issue, I am appealing to our colleagues: we should never give terror the kind of publicity we are giving it. The publicity we should give is to report their activities from the point of view of condemning them and defending the nation. The way we have been reporting is as if it is a football match between terror and the country. We should not do so because it is dangerous. Presently, we have created a lot of doubt and anxiety because of the way we have handled it. I have tried to speak to a number of our colleagues on the need to reduce the kind of sensationalism we are giving terror and even groups, whose sources are not verified. If I want to destabilise the country, all that is needed is to issue a statement and threaten northerners not to be in particular places in Lagos. I am sure that newspapers will carry it the next day. But ask yourself: who is doing it, and for what purpose? The media must defend the stability of the country and its institutions and expose all those who cause confusion. Enemies that don’t want the country to go forward can create a lot of doubts in the minds of the people and stampede us.

I have noticed that each time this country is having a breakthrough, something would distract us. In 1960, we had the greatest opportunity, after the independence; all the regions were developing. In the South-West, for example, there was the Cocoa House; there was free education, the same thing in the North. If there was no coup in 1966, there would have been no civil war. Politicians were almost resolving their problems. The opposition parties were already in the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA). We were already moving towards a two-party state when the coup took place in 1966. Again, after June 12, 1993, when we had a peaceful election, from nowhere, the annulment came, and the nation was sent on a spiral of crises. We lost another opportunity because of June 12. We would have been very far if we didn’t take the course of instability. So, we in the media must begin to look at this nation as an opportunity to use our profession on the side of peace. If we do not do this, it will be difficult for our nation to stabilise.

Look at the United States of America (USA). There are certain things American journalists would not report about themselves. If you look at all the crime that takes place in New York alone, it is more than the crime that takes place in this country every year put together. They would not present America as a criminal nation. If you look at the crime rate in Johannesburg, Lagos can never compare with it in any way, in terms of assassinations, senseless killings, rape, but they would never report their country as criminal. We need to accept the fact that this is our country and we must report things in ways that will not portray us as the worst people in the world, because we are not. There are forces that are afraid of this country emerging as a modern nation. If you looked at the economy last week, experts are beginning to compare the country to Russia and Brazil. In the last 10 years, we were virtually condemned. We were told that by 2015, we would disintegrate as a country, but Nigeria is now being compared to Russia in terms of the next economic force in the world. Even while we are having security challenges, investments are still coming. The economy was last year grouped as 7.35 per cent. This is far higher than any other nation in Africa. Everybody knows that South Africa is 50 million people; we are talking of a nation of about 167 million people.  We have a capacity, but sometimes we are too hard on ourselves as a people. We should not report ourselves from the point of view of self-condemnation. We should report ourselves from the point of view of correcting ourselves in order to play a better game. As a government, we know that there are issues, but we are working on them.

Power
We have targeted power, which is our number one priority, because we know that once Nigeria can generate enough electricity, we can grow this economy on a sustainable basis. Power is our number one problem. Ten new power plants are under construction. We expect that as we enter 2012, some of the plants will be commissioned. What we are trying to do is to connect gas. In 2013, we will still commission others. So, the idea is to continue to stabilise power. Right now, we have the capacity to produce more than 5,000 megawatts. The issue involved is just gas and a lot of work is being done to get it ready.

Besides, we are reforming the entire electricity system. In the meantime, the regulatory agency has been set up. We are privatising both generation and transmission. That is the only way we can get it right. We have seen that there is a clear road map for progress. Our transmission infrastructure has the major problem. It is so bad.  Presently, we are reviewing the entire transmission infrastructure in the country. By the time these power stations are ready, we will be able to convey the additional power that is being generated. We will be targeting key industrial cities to give stable power. If we can give Lagos alone stable power for one month, the impact on the Nigerian economy will be amazing. So, I will like us to focus more on some of these projects.

Also, now we have decided to build the Mambilla power project. The real work in terms of planning and design is virtually completed. The Chinese are working in partnership with the Federal Government. Mambilla is going to be the largest in the country and it is going to give the country 2,600 megawatts of additional electricity. We plan to finish it before half of 2015. Also, we have targeted 17 additional small-scale hydroelectric projects. Power is our number one priority in terms of kick-starting and growing the economy.

Agriculture
We are also looking at agriculture very seriously, because since oil was discovered, agriculture was abandoned. We are no longer going to support agriculture as subsistence farming as in the past. The whole concept of government’s support for agriculture is changing it. By changing it, we are not going to give fertiliser contract to people; no middlemen; we are giving fertiliser direct to farmers. Then, we have divided agricultural production chain. Those who are interested in cropping would develop the products and we will support them.

We have also developed special product to support those who are interested in storage facilities for agriculture. Those who are interested in processing of agricultural produce, we have developed special product to support them, so also for those who are interested in packaging. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Ministry of Agriculture have set aside a sum of N450 billion to support agriculture. We have also segmented the country into different zones for special crop products.

So, we are going into agriculture in a big way. In the last three years, agriculture has been leading in national economic growth. We want to take it further to ensure that we gain self-sufficiency, like we want to gain self-sufficiency in rice. We want to grow rice and we will support domestic producers. Our country has the capacity. Even at the subsistence level, there is a lot of rice production going on.  If you come to Lafia in Nasarawa State, you will be shocked at the volume of rice we produce, but the people don’t value it. So, the government is now targeting processing of rice. The rice millers will have government support both in terms of duties and resource back-up. The president wants us to join in the campaign of ‘Eat Grown-in-Nigeria Food.’ We are hoping that in the next three or four years, we should be able to generate one million jobs in agriculture.

Transport
In transport, we have been able to rehabilitate the rail line from Lagos up to Jebba now. We have train services between Lagos and Ilorin. We also have train services between Ido and Sango-Ota. We have also introduced train services between Minna, Kaduna and Kano. There are also intra-city train services in Lagos, Ilorin, Kano and Kaduna. We imported 25 new trains recently and all of them have been delivered. We have started the rehabilitation of the rail line from Port Harcourt through Enugu, Makurdi, Lafia, Jos, Gombe and Maiduguri. We are working on this. We are also building a standard gauge between Kaduna and Abuja, and we have started to ensure that the one between Lagos and Ibadan is built and eventually from Ibadan to Abuja. This is going to happen through private sector participation. We will consolidate on our investment in the railways because without the railways, we really cannot have any capacity to convey goods and services at a level that will be sustainable.  I am calling on the media to try and report some of these activities so that we will not just focus on the negative. If you take a look at all the things we are doing, you will see that we have clear focus on what we want to do and a lot of work has been going on.

Education
In education, we have started the Almajiri education programme, because part of the insecurity we are facing is also because a lot of people are out of school and are roaming the streets. Presently, we are constructing 39 Almajiri schools in many states of the North.  The idea is to take them out of the street.  We are doing this in league with state governments. The funding is coming directly from UBEC. In higher education, we are, through Education Trust Fund (ETF), training more than 4,000 people at PhD level in Nigeria and abroad. ETF had been directed to replenish the present stock of Nigerian scholars. We are targeting the production of new set of scholars to replenish the existing stock. We will continue this programme permanently, because without that kind of training, our nation’s institutions will not be at the apex of global knowledge. We are also funding universities more significantly than in the past through ETF. There is a lot of money going to the universities to update their infrastructure and to also increase their facilities for research.

Oil Subsidy
And in the downstream sector of the economy, I have seen that the debate is completely upside down. It is not about subsidy. It is about opening up that segment of our society for investment. How can we, as a nation, explain that 53 years after we discovered oil, there is no real manufacturing taking place associated with this product? We have entered into an agreement to build three new refineries. One will be located in Lagos and will be processing  200,000 barrels of crude a day into finished products. The other ones will be located in Kogi and Bayelsa states. They will produce 100,000 barrels every day. Put together, we are planning to process 400,000 barrels of crude into finished products every day in the country, in addition to the old refineries. With this, we will be able to satisfy domestic consumption and for export. Besides, we have issued 20 licences to other people to set up their own refineries, which they haven’t done. Why? The government has an artificial price control mechanism. So, none of them can go to a bank and raise a loan, because for a bank to give you a loan to build a refinery, you need to show how you are going to make profit to pay back. When the price of the product is controlled, nobody would set up. We have discovered that in recent times, some of the companies that have been waiting for the country to make a policy decision are now migrating to Niger, Chad, Benin Republic and Ghana, because these countries have also suddenly discovered oil. So, they are moving and building refineries there.

What they are doing now is to shift base to other countries and then manufacture from there and target the Nigerian market. It is cheaper to produce in the country and since 100 per cent of the raw materials needed are available here, they would prefer to set up here. So, if we do not act now, we would now face the shame of importing petrol from Niger Republic and Benin Republic, when we have been an oil-producing nation 50 years before them. What we need is an economic decision, but unfortunately, this debate has been turned upside down because we do not quickly appreciate what we are doing.

A number of companies, including Shell and Chevron have not been able to build refineries here because the domestic environment does not favour private production. So, we need to take a look at this thing very critically. What the government has decided to do is to deregulate like we have done with telecoms, cement, aviation and broadcast industries. And in this way, in the next two or three years, Nigeria will be major exporter of finished products. And you can now earn the money to subsidise.

In all modern economies, you don’t subsidise from raw materials. In England, a petroleum-producing country, in addition to deregulation, they also pay tax on fuel, because they would generate the money from economic activities to now fund education and subsidise the life of the citizens. In the meantime, the subsidy on petrol alone is one third of Nigeria’s annual budget. How do you grow the economy this way? So, the president says we are not going to borrow, let’s take the right decisions. No leader would want to take a decision to punish people.

Leadership means that if you see danger ahead, you must act and tell people the truth. It is not only about taking light decisions. Unfortunately for us, there is a lot of difficulties in Nigeria today and those difficulties will be compounded if we fail to take decisions that will correct and keep the economy on a sustainable basis. So, the government has proposed to transfer the subsidy, which has been blocking further development in the sector, and put it in a common basket and administer it directly on Nigerians.

The country is today the real place everybody wants to come, but government policies are blocking growth and development. The government has decided to put the subsidy in a special account and set up a trustee made up of prominent Nigerians and representatives of civil society organisations, labour and journalists. The alternative to it is disaster.

The problem is that because of the nature of democracy, most political leaders are afraid of taking decisions because they would annoy the electorate. History will not forgive us if we do not tell Nigerians the truth of what is happening. Instead of going on with increased deficit budgeting and poor spending that is killing the economy so that in that in another three years the economy would collapse on our head, it is better to tell Nigerians ‘this is the problem we have and if we are to get out of it, these are the painful decisions that we must make.’

In the end, even if we are abused and insulted, history will remember that somebody took an initiative, rather than lying to you that all is well. If we distribute free fuel in Nigeria today, will it defeat poverty?

We want the public to hold us to account on what we have decided to do with the proceeds of subsidy. I know that governments have disappointed people in the past, but unfortunately, we have not found a way of running society without leadership. So, judge us on our own account. I appeal to Nigerians to give us the benefit of the doubt. We understand the feeling of Nigerians, we appreciate it, we sympathise with it, but the country belongs to all of us.