Deziani Allison-Madueke'Let's Remove Subsidy And Reap The Benefits'I HAVE worked in private sector for many years and rose to be the first female in the highest level of Shell Nigeria at the time. So, I understand the private sector mentality and hopefully, would bring it in as I work in the public sector.In this period of time, I have seen all that happened, both the good and the bad. I must say that when I hear fellow Nigeria say 'nothing is happening in this country,' it is extremely dispiriting when you stand on this side of the podium, because, whether you realise it or not, we are, first and foremost, Nigerians and we were not born and bred in the public sector all our lives.Having stayed on both sides, I think Nigerians seem to have a very short memory. We don't think of how things were before and cannot stand up and support those trying to move the country forward.Many of these things we may not see immediately but I am sure that, within the next 12 months, or so, all those things would be apparent. Just for the record, how many of you saw fuel queue last Christmas'To ensure there is constant fuel in this country is not an easy task. So, we are working very hard and getting things to work. Some of them will take a little longer but they will happen. We need to support all the policies and work together with us because we can't do it alone.I want to say that the issue of keeping the deregulation now and then is the same thing as chicken and egg situation. We all know that it has not worked for us in the past 10 years; and we know why it has not worked. Except we have the courage to bear temporal pain to move our country forward, we will not get to where we are going.I think this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that a leader puts his entire leadership online because he believes it would bring about better reality to the country and entire economy.We try to stand behind the possibilities because this is the dream we have all waited for a very long time. If we are not ready to suffer at all, then we stay where we are and will not be getting any better.We have to be prepared to take a few pains and if we do it together, I can assure you that as many of us seated here, we are committed to moving this country forward. You need to work with us and be committed to the work. And hopefully, by 2015, this country would have been in a better place.We Must Believe Strongly That The Govt Will Work For Us ' Ngozi Okonjo IwealaI came back from abroad because I believe in this country. This is the kind of dialogue that I want. No government can do better if it doesn't listen to its people and if it doesn't dialogue with them.We can only do better when we are able to withstand criticisms from the people.We all know that we have been disappointed overtime, but people keep asking me, 'Why did you come back'' They can't believe that I would leave the job I was doing and come back. I came back because this is the country I truly belong to and believe in its people.This is why when I see people very cynical as if they have lost hope, I plead with them not to transmit such to our young people. Let's believe and give a chance to the fact that we will really make things better in this country.Let's listen to people who would say, 'give us a chance to see how we are going to work it happen'; a chance to do their best. Give that little chance for things to improve.It is only by giving chance to improve the country that people who would otherwise be doing different things would be encouraged to join the team that will change the situation.If all us take to apathy and say is not going to work, it's cynical. Who will change the country for us' It is only you and I and every Nigerian who has to work with the president and change where we are today. This is what I'm asking Nigerians to give us a chance to do it.We need to rebuild this trust that has been broken. And we need to do it by starting with difficult issues. We have to start with more difficult ones. The fuel subsidy is a very big one. But here and now, everybody has agreed that it is not working for the poorest in our nation. But we need to fix it.We need to use these resources to solve the problems that the poorest within our society are facing. We need to give better healthcare and improve the roads. We have talked about it long enough and I think this is where we are on the same wavelength.Ben Bruce said give us this money and we will make something out of our transportation' make transportation and healthcare better for the poorest. We are willing to work with you and Labour to change things.We do not want to hear any longer what we are going to do, rather what we are doing. As somebody in the government now, it is so difficult talking about what we want to do, rather what we are doing. We are doing specific things and, when we do, please support us.I want to cite an example: At the port where the people say this is not working and the President said, 'go there and make it work' clear out the Port.' Now, when you go there, you discover that there is no long queue at the port. No more long containers blocking roads there again.Is that not working, if you are no longer paying demurrage for your containers; you clear your goods within 10 days! We are targeting 48 hours. Is that not action' That is what we need.On this side of government too, we are tired of talking. Just watch out and see.Let's Take This Hard, Difficult Decision Now ' Sanusi Lamido SanusiI speak as a Nigerian and a former member and aspiring member of civil society. We talk about government promising and not delivering.Every four years, we have an opportunity to change those governments. We need to focus on strengthening and structuring our democracy. Having free and fair election, expressing the will of the people.If this government that I am part of, removes subsidy, which will be done very soon, and it leads to hardship, in three years time the government will come back and you have the right to examine what the government has done, whether it has done well or not.You have the chances to determine if the government had delivered on its promises and also a chance of taking your destiny into your own hands. So, this goes beyond subsidy. It shows how the government has worked, how has the leadership and democracy worked in the country.Talking about skepticisms. For the past two years in the CBN, we have been complaining about recurrent expenditures. The Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, came and said she was going to do a budget consolidation. We have a reasonable budget that stands upright at $70 (per barrel), which means if there is shock, we will have a reasonable charge not building the budget on miscalculation and assumption.Scientifically, the budget grows between five to six per cent. The rate of inflation is about 11 per cent, which means in real sense that government spending has started coming down. This is one sign that government has started working on its talks.I will give another example on agriculture. We have spoken for so many years about the disjointed system of Nigeria's Agriculture. We import rice, maize, wheat and sugar. If you listen to the President's speech lately, he mentioned zero import duty on equipment for the agricultural sector.So, nobody should say that this government has removed subsidy. This is a subsidy ' zero duty for agricultural production is a subsidy!We also have tax exemption for Agricultural equipment. It is important for us to understand that point. It is not whether the government is pro or against subsidy, but the government has recognised that we need to shift subsidy from consumption to production subsidy.' We have to be very careful and realistic. I heard people say, 'let's delay this for two years and let government build refinery.'In 2007, the power reforms was introduced, believing that the government and the private sector can build power plant, they have not come up with it yet.Aliko Dangote, restarted his power plant at the same time with the government, for the past six months he had finished his, the government is still waiting.We have the same thing with the NITEL, saying that NITEL will fix telecom, that didn't happen too.We have talked about maintenance in the NNPC; that one didn't happen too.The same people and the same government that could not do maintenance work for these years, you want them to build a refinery for the country within three years' That will not be realised.The way out should be to create an environment where private sector investment can come in and build refineries. We want the government to get off the refineries. They can support the private sector and provide subsidy for the private sector.Nigerians should not make the mistake of asking the government to come and award contract for 10 new refineries. If they do, it will end up like one of the white elephant projects in the country.We talk of corruption. Corruption thrives when you create an opportunity for the indigenes. I wish we would do this as fight against corruption. I hope that this programme would continue, hoping that the government will implement all that have happened in this meeting. I hope we would take this long and difficult decision now in the interest of our country.
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