Nigeria: The Protest and Oil Subsidy Removal
2 August 2023 By Abiodun Kareem Giwa
The Nigeria Labour Congress's indefinite protest against the high cost of living began Wednesday in Nigeria. However, 16 Nothern Coalition Civil Society groups under Arewa Civil Society Organizations publicly backed out, saying the indefinite strike would exacerbate and increase the people's agony, the Punch newspaper reports. People who thought the development could force the NLC to cancel were shocked the action continued. How indefinite was what no one could say. Many Nigerians are uncertain the strike has ended until they wake up Thursday and find workers are not on the street.
News reports Wednesday afternoon said the workers' union representatives met with the government, and the development led to the NLC calling off the strike. Did government agree to reverse the oil subsidy removal as demanded, compelling the NLC's decision? There was no clarity besides the union's leaders' fruitful and frank discussion with President Bola Tinubu.
The news said the union leaders have a new confidence in the president. But the report was based on a government representative's statement. Nothing specifically new Tinubu has said different from his broadcast before the strike. The union leader, too, gives no specific other than promises from the president.
Some Nigerians, including this writer, ask why calling an indefinite strike and calling it off after one day without anything tangible granted in the long list of demands. Others say the NLC has deferred to the 16 Nothern Civil Society groups' advice. The coalition had said the strike would exacerbate the Nigerian situation. And the NLC should meet with the government to talk things over. It also said the demand for the restoration of oil subsidies is retrogressive.
Aside from the strike worsening the already damaged Nigerians' psyche, the government has just been elected and is still busy forming the cabinet. Why didn't the NLC allow the government to be fully assembled and running before calling a strike? The union's excuse is that the oil subsidy's removal has subjected Nigerians to untold suffering. Didn't Nigerians suffer hardship from the Naira Swap before and after the election? Did the Naira Swap end before the oil subsidy removal came with another pang? Nigerians are no strangers to the government's placing the country's problems on their heads.
Most Nigerians expect the current administration to settle down and begin work before being held accountable. And just as the NLC called the strike, the senate also completed the screening of the first set of ministers the president sent to it last week. Nigerians have seen more than enough military and politicians in government with promises unfulfilled. And no one thinks that giving assurance is what Nigerians currently deserve. Tinubu's government will be accountable sometimes if the oil subsidy removal and income from it fail to reflect in the government's delivery of purposefulness in alleviating the burden on Nigerians.
The story of the Nigerian State from independence to this moment is one of failure, safe only a single time, when a military head of state, Murtala Muhammed, came into office and showed a government could act to correct wrongs. His assassination set Nigeria back beyond expectations. His successor, Olusegun Obasanjo, took Nigeria to the gutters with a return to democratic government, resulting in another military coup four years later, allowing Muhammed Buhari's emergence as military head of state. Another coup two years later displaced him, allowing Ibrahim Babangida, who many Nigerians say finished Nigeria, to assume office.
Obasanjo, who left office in 1979, returned as a civilian leader in another military officer's managed selection after they killed their mentor, Moshood Abiola, who won an election but was not allowed to rule. Obasanjo spent another eight years in office. He wanted another four years, but the ambition failed by public outcry. - The next government after Obasanjo rigmarole with ministers stealing left, right, and center with no accountability. Buhari returned with a promise to fight corruption but ended with a blind eye to sin. Nigerians now describe him as their worst leader.
No matter Tinubu's promises to the NLC, his mention of unnamed Nigerians benefiting from oil subsidies in the past and his determination to take the money back to help Nigerians touches many observers. Who are those unscrupulous Nigerians? The president did not identify them.
News reports Wednesday afternoon said the workers' union representatives met with the government, and the development led to the NLC calling off the strike. Did government agree to reverse the oil subsidy removal as demanded, compelling the NLC's decision? There was no clarity besides the union's leaders' fruitful and frank discussion with President Bola Tinubu.
The news said the union leaders have a new confidence in the president. But the report was based on a government representative's statement. Nothing specifically new Tinubu has said different from his broadcast before the strike. The union leader, too, gives no specific other than promises from the president.
Some Nigerians, including this writer, ask why calling an indefinite strike and calling it off after one day without anything tangible granted in the long list of demands. Others say the NLC has deferred to the 16 Nothern Civil Society groups' advice. The coalition had said the strike would exacerbate the Nigerian situation. And the NLC should meet with the government to talk things over. It also said the demand for the restoration of oil subsidies is retrogressive.
Aside from the strike worsening the already damaged Nigerians' psyche, the government has just been elected and is still busy forming the cabinet. Why didn't the NLC allow the government to be fully assembled and running before calling a strike? The union's excuse is that the oil subsidy's removal has subjected Nigerians to untold suffering. Didn't Nigerians suffer hardship from the Naira Swap before and after the election? Did the Naira Swap end before the oil subsidy removal came with another pang? Nigerians are no strangers to the government's placing the country's problems on their heads.
Most Nigerians expect the current administration to settle down and begin work before being held accountable. And just as the NLC called the strike, the senate also completed the screening of the first set of ministers the president sent to it last week. Nigerians have seen more than enough military and politicians in government with promises unfulfilled. And no one thinks that giving assurance is what Nigerians currently deserve. Tinubu's government will be accountable sometimes if the oil subsidy removal and income from it fail to reflect in the government's delivery of purposefulness in alleviating the burden on Nigerians.
The story of the Nigerian State from independence to this moment is one of failure, safe only a single time, when a military head of state, Murtala Muhammed, came into office and showed a government could act to correct wrongs. His assassination set Nigeria back beyond expectations. His successor, Olusegun Obasanjo, took Nigeria to the gutters with a return to democratic government, resulting in another military coup four years later, allowing Muhammed Buhari's emergence as military head of state. Another coup two years later displaced him, allowing Ibrahim Babangida, who many Nigerians say finished Nigeria, to assume office.
Obasanjo, who left office in 1979, returned as a civilian leader in another military officer's managed selection after they killed their mentor, Moshood Abiola, who won an election but was not allowed to rule. Obasanjo spent another eight years in office. He wanted another four years, but the ambition failed by public outcry. - The next government after Obasanjo rigmarole with ministers stealing left, right, and center with no accountability. Buhari returned with a promise to fight corruption but ended with a blind eye to sin. Nigerians now describe him as their worst leader.
No matter Tinubu's promises to the NLC, his mention of unnamed Nigerians benefiting from oil subsidies in the past and his determination to take the money back to help Nigerians touches many observers. Who are those unscrupulous Nigerians? The president did not identify them.
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