by ‘Ifreke Inyang

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku held a tweet-meet this afternoon from 12pm. Maku had announced yesterday that he will be engaging young people on Twitter on the recent removal of fuel subsidy. A Tweeting with the handle, @FMNigeria, he set the tone: “The Min. of Information, Labaran Maku tweet meeting will kick off in 30 minutes. Hashtag for the tweet-meet is #fuelSubsidy.

“It is good to be here to rub minds with fellow Nigerians on deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. #FuelSubsidy

Here are some of the answers he gave:

@flybiggie We are deregulating the sector to grow the downstream sector  for investment by the private sector to refine products locally.

@GbengaOlajide Please what is the ‘status quo’? #FuelSubsidy

@lloydatiku Atiku, I pay for my fuel. You need to know that the govt. has reduced the allowances of the national assembly members.

@Asccheim The appropriate term is deregulation. It is to make sure that when the govt. is controlling a sector and it is not working…The govt. is freeing the sector for the private sector to come in.

@hafos Don’t forget that opening the telecommunications sector has helped in boosting the economy. Bank deregulation have also helped.

@Segun_ Don’t forget that the deregulation of the airline sector has helped. You can see that private airlines in the country are doing well

We have deregulated broadcasting in Nigeria and you can see that the private stations employ thousands of Nigerians.

@fk149 In the downstream sector is it not a shame that since 1958 Nigeria started exporting crude oil.

In 54 yrs as a nation in Africa, we have been exporting without adding value to it.

@popularjingo Once you deregulate diesel without freeing the market private people cannot come in to set-up. This will earn more value.

@Lo_Journ It is the poor and unemployed, because subsidy is mostly enjoyed by the middle and upper class.  #FuelSubsidy

@femochi1 There has been gradual increment over the years but Govt still kept control.  We need to free the market once and for all.

@emvince03 The timing is not wrong. At whatever time it is done, it might still be misunderstood.The economy is going down.

@johnNyior In Nigeria, we have cut our allowances and are adopting more measures to bring down the cost of governance.

@CMoses_Jrnalist We know at the initial stage there will be a bit of difficulty. We are children of the poor too.

@tweetbraille Govt manning corporate infrastructure has not been successful all over the world that is why we are relinquishing control

@SapphireChic Govt. is saddened by the loss of Muyideen’s life. We commiserate with his family and Ilorin as a whole. It is loss to Nig.

@SapphireChic To be sincere, we do not have full details of his death. Nobody wants to lose a child. I feel the pain of his family.

@lightdworld Govt is presently building 10 new power plants and some will be commissioned this year. Subsidy accruals will also go in2 power

@DashCK I was SUG 28 yrs ago.  Subsidy was not an issue then.  If I supported a policy 30yrs ago that has not worked, should I continue to?

@umaribm There is nothing like international minimum wage. Each country have their own minimum wage.

The 1600 buses will not solve our problems.  They are just the 1st phase.  The buses are a stop gap measure.

The rail ways and water ways are what we are going to revive in order to solve the problem of transportation.

@ekenejustmii @MrHARRY10 It is the subsidy that led to the cabal.  Removing the subsidy is the best way to eliminate the cabal. #FuelSubsidy

There questions are many.  All are good questions asked by very concerned Nigerians.  I will take time to answer all in details #FuelSubsidy

 

Here are some of the reactions from Twitter:

@sulubabs: @FMINigeria @ekenejustmii @MrHARRY10 #FuelSubsidy which subsidy led to cabal, dis man thinks we r fools,

@popularjingo: @FMINigeria y bring this upon urselves now? Boko Haram, ASUU, etc r issues u also need to solve #fuelsubsidy

@famesh2002: Dis Maku,Iweala n Abati ppl! Una go hear am #fuelsubsidy #occupynigeria

@eowen633: channel ur fury towards ngozi okonjo iweala cos she’s the cause of all this #fuelsubsidy Jonathan is only a button waiting to be pushed..

@F_Jay1: US the capital of world’s capitalism are subsidizing through health package! You idiots! Errand boys of IMF! #fuelsubsidy @FMINigeria

@inibetok: @FMINigeria i dont support #fuelsubsidy but this is not the right time nor way to do it.Why are our refineries not working?

@rosanwo: Egba mi!! Minister of Misinformation @FMINigeria is asking what is status quo? N65. Cut your wages by 50% #fuelsubsidy #occupyNigeria

@dainfinity: @FMINigeria: what do U hope to achieve wit wasting our time? You’re a horrible distraction at the moment #occupyNigeria #fuelsubsidy

@Ogala: It is not even Labaran Maku that is tweeting with this @FMINigeria handle.  #fuelsubsidy #OccupyNigeria”

@cOntEntXrated: The question I wanna ask the dishonorable minister is ..when will he go hang himself…that’s what failed asian politician do #FuelSubsidy.