A January 1 decision to stop subsidizing fuel prices by Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has sparked not only labour negotiations, but an Occupy movement.
After the repeal of the subsidy the cost of gas in Nigeria went from 40 cents a litre to 86 cents a litre. According to a protest statement put out by Chinua Achebe and 37 other writers, the average Nigerian lives on $2 a day. Even though Nigeria has plenty of oil, its oil refineries are inadequate, forcing the country to import 70% of their oil. The Goodluck Jonathan administration and the Nigeria Labour Congress are still negotiating, while thousands of workers and Occupiers fill the streets of Ojota, Lagos. Labour negotiations have led to a settlement on 60 cents a litre. The NLC acted to save lives, but the Occupy protests continue.
The removal of oil subsidies will save the Nigerian government $8 billion a year. Jonathan’s Minister of Information, Labaron Maku, claims these savings will be put into much needed public transport, sanitation, and electrical services. The subsidy removal does not affect the price of diesel, which is what busses for public transport run on, and the subsidies themselves are not financially sustainable. Many Nigerians though, such as ‘Gebenda Sesan from Enough is Enough Nigeria, are accusing the government of using the extra money to settle debts and line their own pockets. Each Nigerian senator, of which there are 109, makes $135,803.97 US a month, most of which is in amenities, not salary. Since oil sales make up 80% of the country’s revenue, oil affects the price of everything. “Corruption is endemic because we have had a complete failure of leadership in Nigeria that has made corruption easy and profitable,” says Chinua Achebe in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor.
It is these accusations of corruption that have lead Nigerians to Occupy the streets of their capital. In the early days of the labour protests one man, Ademola Aderinde, was beaten, then shot by the police. Police have tried to justify the violence by claiming that well documented ethnic and religious strife has motivated attacks amongst the crowd of Occupiers, but according to Enough is Enough Nigeria these attacks were perpetrated by undercover police themselves. Social media corroborates this assertion, as many statements of solidarity amongst ethnic factions are being circulated. There is a widely circulated picture of Christians guarding Muslims as they pray. “It is important to be a Nigerian first, not an activist, not a musician, not a politician,” says Prince of Afrobeat and activist Seun Kuti. Even Nigerians abroad have been having Occupy Nigeria movements in the UK and North America.
Many comparisons to the Arab Spring have been made, in which corrupt North African governments have been toppled non-violently. Like the Arab Spring, social media has been credited for giving Nigerians a medium to tell their own stories. Seun Kuti pointed out that many traditional broadcast media (TV, newsprint, radio) are easily bribed and coerced by the government, whereas the decentralized and abaxial nature of internet communications allows for there to be too many media producers to pay off. President Goodluck Jonathan himself announced his campaign on Facebook and even wrote a book based on the Facebook comments of his friends. I’m sure he won’t “like” the popular Occupy Nigeria group.
