In the Grandiose Parlor…

People protest following the removal of fuel subsidy by the Government in Lagos ,Nigeria. Photo: AP

Chauffeur-driven, feeding fat on government allowances, locked up in the government-paid, generator-powered, air-conditioned enclaves, and surrounded by a retinue of personal and security aides, it is very easy to lose the pulse of the people on the streets, subsisting on less than $2 per day. This is exactly what is happening in Nigeria.

One fact has emerged clearly as riots enter Day-3, and Nigeria grinds to a screeching halt following petrol subsidy removal and subsequent increase in price: the government is not in tune with the masses. The tenacity, organization of the protesters and extent of the riots have shown that those calling the shots in government have indeed lost touch with the reality of the people they govern.

The subsidy removal argument as presented by the President Jonathan and his aides is poignant and sensible on paper. However, the petrol subsidy, as ineffectual as it may be from government point of view, is the only “social welfare” enjoyed by the common man on the street; it directly impact the lives of the people on daily basis. Besides, the “failure of the petrol subsidy”, as presented, is mainly due to government inefficiencies and corruption, perpetrated by a handful of elites. So why pass the burden on to the people without preparing and helping them manage the aftershock?

No matter how well the strategies for cushioning the effects of removal is, the street will not buy it! The federal government has little or no credibility with the people.

A better approach would have been to phase out the subsidy in stages, and at each stage, demonstrate to the people the gains and benefits of the removal in real life, not just on paper.

The situation in Nigeria is now a case of who blinks first, I would rather have Jonathan be the first to blink.  Jonathan, can you do this, please?

More on the petrol subsidy removal here:

• Naijablog: The Fuel Subsidy Removal Protests for Dummies
• My Heart’s in Accra: More thoughts on Occupy Nigeria
• YNaija: This is Why we are Angry

Former Education/Petroleum Minister, Professor Jubril Aminu

Professor Jubril Aminu, Nigeria’s former Education/Petroleum Minister, on loving and being patriotic about Nigeria:

Love for this country is just not there. People love their religion more than their country. I am from the North; people from the North are mad about the North but our leaders did not advise us to be as mad about our country. It is the same thing with the West and the East; their leaders did not advise them to be mad about Nigeria too. The people from the West love the West, but they were not thought to love their country, Nigeria. They were told to antagonise the federal government, because of the opposition stance. In my view, everything necessary should be done to get the people to love their country, Nigeria. Not in the fashion of what we see on the television every day, ‘We are Nigeria, we are one’….etc. Even children laugh at it. Invent real ways of making the people love Nigeria.

I remember this quote on patriotism from Mark Twain: “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” Continue reading…

Some African traditional rulers bestowed the title "king of kings" on Gaddafi in 2008

An interesting Vanity Fair photo collection of the dead Libyan leader, Gaddafi. Muammar will be remembered for his outlandish garb and outrageous ideas, no doubt about that. Remember he coaxed some 200 African kings and traditional rulers to bestowed the title “king of kings” on him in 2008.

With all the billions of money and assets acquired over four decades of his dictatorial reign, I thought Gaddafi would have taken the smartest way out – sneak out of the Libya and buy/negotiate himself a safe landing somewhere, like the Tunisian president did. Ben Ali left Tunisia with his family for Saudi Arabia.

An ITN camera crew follows a terrified group of Nigerian men pleading their innocence in front of anti-Gadhafi forces.

I once read somewhere that “development is the gradual emergence of a problem-solving system”.

Nigeria is fraught with problems, the tooth-achy type that seem to last for ever. Power failure, crumbling infrastructure, failing institutions, etc.

Half a century down the road, can one say Nigeria has developed over the year?

Has any problem-solving system emerged since 1960 when the Brits passed on the baton? Food for thought!

Every now and then, I get to read statements that make me cringe, this is one of them, coming from the Minister of State State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Odein Ajumogobia:

“If the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta had laid emphasis on capacity-building, there would have been limited crisis in the area [Niger Delta] today.”

Talk of relegation of duties.

When did capacity building become the responsibility of the oil companies? I do understand corporate social responsibility, but what about government social responsibility to the people they govern?

The Minister must have forgotten that it’s part of government social responsibility to watch and hold the oil companies accountable to the people in the Niger Delta!

I tried to think of a moment when this was done diligently… and I couldn’t remember any!

It is becoming increasingly difficult to blog on Nigeria from a positive perspective. This is one of the reasons:

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pays $6 million to Niger Delta militants as “protection fee’ monthly, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance investigating the alleged non remittance of revenue collected by government agencies from 1999 to March 2008 heard yesterday.

The NNPC in its submission to the committee yesterday said it was forced to pay the sum of $6 million monthly to militants who threatened to “deal” with the corporation.

Daily Trust has the full coverage.