Occupy Nigeria had no convener. It began out of a feeling of discontent to protest the sudden unexpected price increase on petrol. Gradually, it gathered momentum, day after day, turnout at protest grounds outgrew the number of the day before. They had one demand and one demand only: revert the fuel price to N65 per litre. Called out through social media and by personal persuasion, young Nigerians could not be kept quiet as they soon regretted their mistake of April 16. The NLC soon joined declaring a nationwide strike action which ground the country to a halt for 9 days.
The whole time, the president was adamant; he refused to listen to the rage and bitterness in the land. His ministers had non in disagreement, they all agreed with finance minister and CBN governor that subsidy was evil or unsustainable. They preached long and hard about how much courage the president had and that the savings from the withdrawal of subsidy would be channeled to other areas of development. With the people protesting, labour on strike, and government defiant, someone had to play a role to bring the warring parties back to the round table. Enter David Mark Senate President. The House of Representatives were more proactive setting up a committee to find out what went wrong. Diagnosis is the first step towards cure.
There were no negotiations but accusations at the meeting brokered by David Mark. The president accused the labour leadership of trying desperately to scuttle his government, heat up the polity and discredit him. Many will disagree but with the turnout of events, it is now obvious that the strike action was suspended on ground of duress. Farouk Lawan’s ad hoc committee revealed through its report that the finance ministry has no leadership worthy of another office let alone the World Bank. It revealed also that the CBN governor had been complicit in his analysis. Men without conscience and conviction parade themselves in our corridors of power while our poor lie in anguish. Having a mouthful of cake, it is evil to ask others to eat stale bread.
Private companies in that worm full can colluded with the NNPC through venomous sharp practices to defraud the country. The accountant general’s office soon forgot the ethics of good accounting practice, a lesson in senior secondary school. The stench from that rot is assiduous and one who is allergic to smells need stay away from it. Salutations must go to the committee for a job well done. But it has to be said, that the incompetence of the country’s leadership is embarrassingly phenomenal. Every fool had asked the president to identify and bring the cabal to book rather than punish the people with an unfair policy change. Instead it was mindless promise of making deductions in basic salaries and cutting down on foreign trips. Talk about building bridge where there is no river.
There will be denials. There will be outright counter arguments and trivialization by the persons involved, all of whom this report has indicted. It is expectedly normal for suspects and saboteurs to plead innocence and that is where worry strikes our weary heart. Our anti corruption agency the EFCC will sloppily prosecute these suspects. The president will drag his feet rather than show the courage for which he was so famed when that ordeal lasted. Sadly, nothing will be done about the committee’s recommendations. Lawyers will have a swell time defending culprits who in turn will serve them fattened calves stolen away from the poor.Justice denied.
There is no hope for a country where justice is faulty; whose people have come to believe that only the rich can ride the ass called law. There is no hope for a people who would rather sit content and watch while their roofs leak. When a team trails, it must look for the equalizer or make the contest a formality and what team makes a formality of the championship on home soil? Nigeria perhaps.
Many said, the protest was a waste of time and that there was nothing worth it in the end. Today, those cynics should stand corrected. Occupy Nigeria was not a waste of time, the people were right, they might have been wrong on April 16 but not on this issue.
The whole time, the president was adamant; he refused to listen to the rage and bitterness in the land. His ministers had non in disagreement, they all agreed with finance minister and CBN governor that subsidy was evil or unsustainable. They preached long and hard about how much courage the president had and that the savings from the withdrawal of subsidy would be channeled to other areas of development. With the people protesting, labour on strike, and government defiant, someone had to play a role to bring the warring parties back to the round table. Enter David Mark Senate President. The House of Representatives were more proactive setting up a committee to find out what went wrong. Diagnosis is the first step towards cure.
There were no negotiations but accusations at the meeting brokered by David Mark. The president accused the labour leadership of trying desperately to scuttle his government, heat up the polity and discredit him. Many will disagree but with the turnout of events, it is now obvious that the strike action was suspended on ground of duress. Farouk Lawan’s ad hoc committee revealed through its report that the finance ministry has no leadership worthy of another office let alone the World Bank. It revealed also that the CBN governor had been complicit in his analysis. Men without conscience and conviction parade themselves in our corridors of power while our poor lie in anguish. Having a mouthful of cake, it is evil to ask others to eat stale bread.
Private companies in that worm full can colluded with the NNPC through venomous sharp practices to defraud the country. The accountant general’s office soon forgot the ethics of good accounting practice, a lesson in senior secondary school. The stench from that rot is assiduous and one who is allergic to smells need stay away from it. Salutations must go to the committee for a job well done. But it has to be said, that the incompetence of the country’s leadership is embarrassingly phenomenal. Every fool had asked the president to identify and bring the cabal to book rather than punish the people with an unfair policy change. Instead it was mindless promise of making deductions in basic salaries and cutting down on foreign trips. Talk about building bridge where there is no river.
There will be denials. There will be outright counter arguments and trivialization by the persons involved, all of whom this report has indicted. It is expectedly normal for suspects and saboteurs to plead innocence and that is where worry strikes our weary heart. Our anti corruption agency the EFCC will sloppily prosecute these suspects. The president will drag his feet rather than show the courage for which he was so famed when that ordeal lasted. Sadly, nothing will be done about the committee’s recommendations. Lawyers will have a swell time defending culprits who in turn will serve them fattened calves stolen away from the poor.Justice denied.
There is no hope for a country where justice is faulty; whose people have come to believe that only the rich can ride the ass called law. There is no hope for a people who would rather sit content and watch while their roofs leak. When a team trails, it must look for the equalizer or make the contest a formality and what team makes a formality of the championship on home soil? Nigeria perhaps.
Many said, the protest was a waste of time and that there was nothing worth it in the end. Today, those cynics should stand corrected. Occupy Nigeria was not a waste of time, the people were right, they might have been wrong on April 16 but not on this issue.
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