A Contrived Hardship: Call For Mass Protests By Ebun-olu Adegboruwa

Towards the end of year 2017, Nigerians were thrown into great
panic, occasioned by what is now clearly an artificial scarcity of
fuel. As a result, many became stranded during the holidays and
those who traveled paid huge sums of money to get to their
destinations. Most people spent their Christmas queuing up for
fuel.

Then followed the usual trade blames, from the NNPC, to fuel
marketers and finally by the President, in his new year broadcast.
It has since been one inconsistent story line, to outright
falsehood, from the ruling government.

Despite the repeated assurances, the fuel queues have refused to
abate and in many parts of the country, the price of petrol is way
beyond the official N145 per litre. At a time when salaries are not
paid, when the purchasing power of the average Nigerian has
dwindled, it is certainly not the time to impose hardship.

The availability of fuel is critical to every Nigerian, as it is
the major source of transportation. And due to the epileptic supply
of electricity, fuel is also the major source of generating
electricity through generators. At the peak of the hardship
occasioned by the artificial fuel scarcity, Nigerians were then
thrown into total blackout. With no fuel to move around, one is
forced to stay indoors. With no fuel to power the generator in the
midst of total blackout, one is then left at the mercy of the
government. That is the game plan indeed, to box Nigerians into a
wicked corner.

It is against the above background that I view the current fuel
scarcity and nationwide blackout, as a grand conspiracy, between
the ruling government and the oil marketers on the one hand, and
the electricity companies on the other, to impose hardship on
Nigerians, as a way of forcing them to accept an increase in the
price of petrol and the cost of electricity.

Most schools, companies and the courts, are expected to resume
their full activities on January 8. So it is clear that the
government deliberately chose this period to strike, knowing the
chaos that will follow from January 8, when people will be forced
to move around and to generate power.

It is totally unacceptable, for government to impose hardship on
its own people, in order to force them to accept a ridiculous price
regime of basic amenities and infrastructure. The Constitution
makes it mandatory that the welfare of the people shall be the
primary purpose of government. Thus, it is callous and inhuman, to
contrive an artificial scarcity of fuel by the government, in
making the NNPC the major importer of fuel and to then use that
organ to withhold adequate supply of the product, in order to
achieve a self induced scarcity.

The consequence of all these is better imagined, on the
productivity level, the hardship on human lives and existence,
coupled with a near collapse of all economic activities.

If the planned increment is indeed proper and justifiable, why
should government be employing this crude tactics of forcing the
people to accept it, willy nilly?

In the midst of all these, the President and his team are busy
positioning themselves for a second term in office, when the first
term has not even been earned or justified in any way.

Consequently, I urge the President to urgently suspend all his
political activities, in order to concentrate on alleviating the
sufferings that the masses of our people are currently going
through. For any government to deliberately set out to withhold
fuel and electricity in Nigeria, is to cripple the people totally,
and it is unacceptable.

I urge the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Nigerian Bar
Association, activists and Civil Society Organisations, the media,
the clergy, and all people of good conscience, to rise up on behalf
of the people of Nigeria, and call this government to order, to end
the pitiable plight of Nigerians.

I call on all Nigerians in their various locations to declare
and organize mass protests in all the major towns and villages. It
is better to sit at home than to be suffocating and enduring
avoidable hardship.

It has never been this bad.

#EnoughisEnough!

Towards the end of year 2017, Nigerians were thrown into great
panic, occasioned by what is now clearly an artificial scarcity of
fuel. As a result, many became stranded during the holidays and
those who traveled paid huge sums of money to get to their
destinations. Most people spent their Christmas queuing up for
fuel.

Then followed the usual trade blames, from the NNPC, to fuel
marketers and finally by the President, in his new year broadcast.
It has since been one inconsistent story line, to outright
falsehood, from the ruling government.

Despite the repeated assurances, the fuel queues have refused to
abate and in many parts of the country, the price of petrol is way
beyond the official N145 per litre. At a time when salaries are not
paid, when the purchasing power of the average Nigerian has
dwindled, it is certainly not the time to impose hardship.

The availability of fuel is critical to every Nigerian, as it is
the major source of transportation. And due to the epileptic supply
of electricity, fuel is also the major source of generating
electricity through generators. At the peak of the hardship
occasioned by the artificial fuel scarcity, Nigerians were then
thrown into total blackout. With no fuel to move around, one is
forced to stay indoors. With no fuel to power the generator in the
midst of total blackout, one is then left at the mercy of the
government. That is the game plan indeed, to box Nigerians into a
wicked corner.

It is against the above background that I view the current fuel
scarcity and nationwide blackout, as a grand conspiracy, between
the ruling government and the oil marketers on the one hand, and
the electricity companies on the other, to impose hardship on
Nigerians, as a way of forcing them to accept an increase in the
price of petrol and the cost of electricity.

Most schools, companies and the courts, are expected to resume
their full activities on January 8. So it is clear that the
government deliberately chose this period to strike, knowing the
chaos that will follow from January 8, when people will be forced
to move around and to generate power.

It is totally unacceptable, for government to impose hardship on
its own people, in order to force them to accept a ridiculous price
regime of basic amenities and infrastructure. The Constitution
makes it mandatory that the welfare of the people shall be the
primary purpose of government. Thus, it is callous and inhuman, to
contrive an artificial scarcity of fuel by the government, in
making the NNPC the major importer of fuel and to then use that
organ to withhold adequate supply of the product, in order to
achieve a self induced scarcity.

The consequence of all these is better imagined, on the
productivity level, the hardship on human lives and existence,
coupled with a near collapse of all economic activities.

If the planned increment is indeed proper and justifiable, why
should government be employing this crude tactics of forcing the
people to accept it, willy nilly?

In the midst of all these, the President and his team are busy
positioning themselves for a second term in office, when the first
term has not even been earned or justified in any way.

Consequently, I urge the President to urgently suspend all his
political activities, in order to concentrate on alleviating the
sufferings that the masses of our people are currently going
through. For any government to deliberately set out to withhold
fuel and electricity in Nigeria, is to cripple the people totally,
and it is unacceptable.

I urge the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Nigerian Bar
Association, activists and Civil Society Organisations, the media,
the clergy, and all people of good conscience, to rise up on behalf
of the people of Nigeria, and call this government to order, to end
the pitiable plight of Nigerians.

I call on all Nigerians in their various locations to declare
and organize mass protests in all the major towns and villages. It
is better to sit at home than to be suffocating and enduring
avoidable hardship.

It has never been this bad.

#EnoughisEnough!