Okiemute

@ijobaforall @akinraphaela @dammiedammie35 The USA is the world’s largest producer of crude oil. You have your phone. Research these things first before you post.

@akinraphaela @dammiedammie35 The USA doesn't have a single crude on it soil.. Dollar isn't our currency even though it's used for global trade.. Nigerian government is selling crude oil to Dangote in dollars instead of our own currency (Naira)... Fuel is way cheaper in Iran even though it's directly at war.

“Why should petrol be expensive in a country that produces it? if it's not a sign of fa!lure, Why is the w@r in Iran affecting Nigeria, a major producer of oil?” - Dele Farotimi.

@40andfoolish @ruffydfire CNG is not a short term solution

We must move beyond the "subsidy mentality" that held this country hostage for decades. While other nations use vouchers, Nigeria is investing in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). This is our own "energy voucher." By transitioning our mass transit to gas, we are lowering the cost of transportation, which is the biggest driver of inflation. We aren't just giving a temporary bandage; we are performing a surgery to make energy permanently cheaper for the common man.

Some countries already have energy vouchers to protect it’s citizens What will Nigeria do for it’s citizens to help them during this war

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 UK reviving their steel industry doesn’t stop us from developing our own industry (which is almost non existent now). As for building a port to import, you lost me there. Are you saying a port is not vital to an economy because it’s used for imports? Isn’t it also for exports?

@realokiemute @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 True "infrastructure" isn't the bridge or the port, it's the industrial ability to build them. By bypassing local steel for "speed," we ensure we will have to borrow again for the next project. We are building a port to import things we should be making.

There are three steel plants in Lagos/Ogun This steel contract could have been given to the Nigerian steel firms, guaranteed by the federation, and they would have engaged British Steel to invest in Nigeria or act as technical partners This same steel could still have been imported by Nigerian steel plants if there were capacity and timing issues, but the value and technology would have been captured in Nigeria, not to mention jobs. This is how you grow your homegrown economy. If a certain Lebanese-Nigerian owned a steel plant in Nigeria, would anyone believe that the steel contract would not be awarded to a Nigerian firm? Again, these are steel plants in Lagos / Ogun; if a policy can't favour “Lagos”, then what are we really doing? We mocked imports, now we now embrace imports because it's we we? What about Nigeria? Why is everything about a single individual who has no notable charity project or publicly listed company in Nigeria? Why does he get a pass but other billionaires don't?

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 How long would this take? Benin is on a program this year campaigning to successfully onboard more Nigerian traders in their port system. When would you complete the revival of these local smelting as to match the scale of ports revival? Why not do that in a seperate investment

@GGigne @realokiemute @FinPlanKaluAja1 You don't put projects on "hold." You pivot the spend. Using £70m to revive local smelting creates jobs that pay taxes to fund the next ten bridges. Buying from Scunthorpe creates jobs in the UK that Nigeria pays for. It’s a wealth transfer.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 You are not being practical. So if UK insist they want their steel only for this particular project or we don’t get the loan, if you are the president, would you reject this deal and allow the inefficiencies in your port linger with more of your trade diverted to Cotonou?

@GGigne @realokiemute @FinPlanKaluAja1 You’re thinking like a consumer buying a finished product. A State must think like a producer building a system. Buying foreign steel with foreign debt to build local ports isn't "progress"—it's a turnkey subscription to poverty. We aren't building a nation; we're renting one.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 Even aside Dangote, what you are saying is that we use Nigerian steel for all important project. This would make sense if we had a steel industry. We are building that (especially in Ogun state). You don’t know how many years that would take and you don’t delay ports for that.

@realokiemute @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 The mistake is comparing a private billionaire to a Sovereign State. Dangote uses his capital to build a private asset. The State uses your collective credit to build a public one. If the State borrows, the primary ROI isn't just the "port"—it's the industry it seeds.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 But we are revamping two of our most important ports in the process. Why is it a problem if the British also revive their steel industry with this? If those ports become efficient, our non oil exports improve while we develop our steel industry. What exactly is the problem here?

@GGigne @realokiemute @FinPlanKaluAja1 This isn't about our ports; it’s about their politics. British Steel was failing. By tying this to Scunthorpe steel, the UK saved 4,000 of their jobs using our balance sheet. We didn’t negotiate a port deal; we signed a bailout for the UK and called it "progress."

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 What steel did Dangote use for the refinery?

@GGigne @realokiemute @FinPlanKaluAja1 You’ve proven my point. Dangote didn't borrow money to pay European refineries to send us fuel; he built the refinery here to kill the import model. This is the anti-Dangote. We’re borrowing to buy the product, ensuring a local steel industry never has the market share to exist.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 But UK guarantees the debt. Nigeria is the borrower. What market is Nigeria providing in this instance?

@realokiemute @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 The issue isn’t "Deal vs. No Deal." It’s "Customer vs. Partner." We don’t cancel the project; we change the terms. If Nigeria provides the debt and the market, Nigeria dictates the factory location. A strategic leader doesn't just buy steel; they buy the capacity to make it.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 We don’t even have a steel Industry yet that can develop ports, so it’s not a competition with the UK when it comes to steel (maybe in few years from now but not now). What’s important to us now is efficient trade, for UK, it’s their steel industry. Win Win.

@realokiemute @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 Why is the UK desperate to save their steel sector, while we bypass ours? ​The goal isn't "No Deal"—it's a "Sovereign Deal." If they need our debt to save jobs, the furnaces should be on our soil. We have the ore and the energy. Don't just buy steel; buy the industry.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 Lol and then while doing this allow Benin and Togo redirect most of the trade from Apapa and Tincan right? Why didn’t Dangote apply such logic before building his refinery? Why didn’t he insist the refinery can wait until we have local steel with capacity?

@realokiemute @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 Real infrastructure isn’t just concrete; it’s the industry it builds. ​By rushing, we traded a permanent industrial base for a temporary construction site. The proposal: Use the £746m for a JV where steel is forged in Lagos, not Scunthorpe. Debt is leverage—use it.

@GGigne @WarRoomSense @FinPlanKaluAja1 Don’t mind them. Dangote would have stopped the design of his project in 2014 and wait until we develop local steel before a refinery can be built. I don’t think they think these arguments through.

@realokiemute @WarRoomSense @FinPlanKaluAja1 No, what they are 'suggesting' in effect is that we should have revived our steel industry first before doing anything else. Imagine Dangote thinking like this before building his refinery, only God knows where we would have been now.

@WarRoomSense @GGigne @FinPlanKaluAja1 So what is your proposal? The deal should have been cancelled to prevent UK from reviving their Steel sector? Is that it?

@GGigne @realokiemute @FinPlanKaluAja1 The issue isn’t "infrastructure vs. no infrastructure." It’s "Asset vs. Liability." If you borrow to buy a net, you have an asset. If you borrow to pay someone else to eat the fish while you hold the debt, you have a liability. We are subsidizing British jobs with Nigerian debt.

@STAbubakar @Danilo___TV @AfricaFactsZone Lol. Below $50 per barrel? You think your Government can do that currently?

@Danilo___TV @AfricaFactsZone The best option is to make our Govt to sell 350,000 bpd crude to Dangote for domestic consumption at below $50/barrel. This way, Dangote can process that and sell it to Nigeria only at below N500/L for our domestic consumption. How about that?

Nigeria's Dangote Refinery is exporting fuel to Tanzania, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Ghana with South Africa and Kenya set to join the list. The refinery recently exported 456,000 tonnes of refined petroleum products to five African countries through the sale of 12 cargoes.

@UmekweDaniel @dmightyangel You mean upstream. That’s a lot of money and also takes many years to get anything significant

@dmightyangel Why can’t dangote go into the downstream too? To explore the crude oil like total and the rest ?

Government does not PRODUCE crude Oil, International Oil Companies (IOCs) are responsible for that. Govt cannot just wake up and say divert the crude oil to Dangote Refinery.... There's are contracts already signed for years before Dangote Refinery came up.... A lot to learn, unlearn and relearn about Oil and Gas industry as well as other aspects generally....

@UcheBrand @FinPlanKaluAja1 “Nigeria produces enough volume (2.2M tonnes), but it does not yet produce enough specialized marine-grade billets. To upgrade the ports using 100% local steel, Nigeria would need to shift from scrap-based recycling to iron-ore-based primary production.”

@UcheBrand @FinPlanKaluAja1 “While companies like KAM Steel and African Foundries have the volume (KAM alone has a 600,000-tonne crude steel capacity), Nigeria does not currently produce the specific 140mm marine-grade billets at the scale or certification level required for this UK-funded project.”

@adegaboj @daily_trust Securing feedstock from where? How and in how many years?

@realokiemute @daily_trust Did you also see "securing feedstock"? x.com/i/status/20359…

@UcheBrand @FinPlanKaluAja1 So we should not build anything until we can start producing steel? Dangote refinery was built with foreign steel and is now a backbone to the economy. Should he have waited for our steel before starting the design phase of the refinery in 2014?

@realokiemute @FinPlanKaluAja1 How can we industrialize and grow when our local infrastructure is being funded and built by foreign countries/companies using foreign-made materials (like steel etc.) whilst using foreign skilled/semi-skilled workers? How does this sound right to you? Have we no pride/shame?

@UcheBrand @kjosephola4 @FinPlanKaluAja1 Let’s cut to the chase. We don’t produce enough steel currently and we would not be able to for at least the next 2 years upwards. Should we reject this deal until then or what exactly is your proposal?

@realokiemute @kjosephola4 @FinPlanKaluAja1 Electricity and Steel production are the foundation of industrialization. If we can't produce neither, then we're fvcked. So don't complain when you suddenly can't afford the basics of life because you choose to endorse the growth of your economy to the British or Chinese.