Protests continue in various cities in Nigeria and around the world by Nigerians as they vehemently resist increase in fuel prices and removal of fuel subsidies!

At Ojota, Lagos.

OccupyNigeria in Yaba

Occupying on Third Mailand Bridge

Demonstrating on Lagos Island

Nigerian Police brutalizing a protester who was later killed.

And Abroad...

OccupyNigeria protests in London outside the Nigerian High Commission.

#OCCUPYNIGERIA BULLET POINTS:

• It is a moral question:
- The government has spent N9.55 trillion ($63.7billion) since 2010 and nothing is on ground to show for that splurge safe for presidential private jets and fat accounts of public office holders.

- This government said it spent N1.3 trillion on subsidy while the same subsidy cost the Obasanjo government an average of N300 billion. Where really did this figure come from? Someone is lying.

- If we cannot trust the government to keep to a simple date, how can we trust them with our money? They said subsidy would remain till at least April and they were still engaging only to remove same two days later.

- The government is yet to come out to refute the believable claims that petrol based on production cost should actually sell at N39.

- How can a president who feeds on N1billion tell Nigerians to endure the pains of subsidy removal?

- Each lawmaker will cost Nigerians (N320million) $2.1million in 2012. How can this be when the same government claims it is broke?

- They increased recurrent expenditure by another N92billion ($575million). Considering that this monies essentially goes for the public officers upkeep, how can we justify government’s claims to reduce same only last year?

- The Subsidy Re-investment document (SURE) is filled with lies and fraud. Some of the projects that they claim would be carried out with funds from subsidy have actually been taken care of by the budget.

- If Nigerians are on minimum wage, politicians must be on maximum wage. How do we justify the fact that our minimum wage is only 0.003 per cent of the pay of some of our Senate president when in France the same is 26.73 per cent? Why should our Senate president earn so much as to be able to pay the salary of an American president for almost 8 years?

- The cabal will become the burden of Nigerians. The government cannot take care of the cabal so it essentially passed the burden directly to Nigerians.

- Even as we speak, there has been no salaries and allowances cut by the president and his cohorts. Instead the president and his vice still found an extra N600 million for their “welfare.” They have become moral hazards.

Nigerians in Ottawa, Canada protesting in the freezing cold!

• It is an Economic Question:
- Already all the prices of goods and services have at least doubled. This means that people’s real incomes have at least been halved. Whoever was earning N18,000 before January 1st when the fuel tax was announced is now really earning virtually less than N9,000.

- In a country without social welfare, social amenities and infrastructure, this is an attack on the very nature of human existence. Many will not survive.

- The cost of governance and the size of government is the real burden that will crash the economy. At over 50, we have one minister too many.

- Stop the reform by addition – selective reform – pass the original PIB and let the industry have a life of its own.

- The government’s spending pattern indicates that the fuel taxes were raised to further expend same on recurrent expenditure and the waste that has characterised the Jonathan administration.

- Importing 1600 buses as a palliative for 167 million people is at best a joke. Importing same is an economic crime. This government cannot do anything right.

- The claim that the petrol sector will be like the telecom sector after deregulation is a big lie. They are totally different. One was done under a transparent government for a start while this government is shrouded in secrecy.

• Against the values of Democracy

- Democracy is essentially about people. Nigerians have said they are not in support of the new petrol taes and have voiced the angst against same. If the people still matter, the government will adjust to the status quo.

- This is a democracy. At least we pretend it is. In a democracy, the voice of the is everything. When the voice of the people ceases to matter to those who govern them, the legitimacy of those who govern them ceases to matter to the people. It means they have attained illegality.

Protester felled by Police Bullets!

IMMEDIATE DEMANDS:

• Return petrol prices to pre-January 1, 2012 status quo as we return to the dialogue table

• Cut the pay of public officers especially law makers, ministers and Governors by 70 per cent

• Every police man or security agent involved in the killing of protesters must be brought to book

• If all the above fail, walk the path of honour, resign enmasse

Photos courtesy: Sahara Reporters, Al-Jazeera, LindaIkeji.Blog

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