I came here scared; I cannot tell you
I came confidently
I came scared of my life, but I came
because I want to see a New Nigeria
I grew up seeing Nigeria without
light
I grew up seeing Nigeria without
water
I grew up seeing people on the street
Sometimes, I’m almost close to tears
when I see children roaming about
It is sad
Our governments have failed us
Our parents have failed us because
they have not spoken
It’s time for us to speak; look
around you, Nigerians are tired
It is beyond Fuel Subsidy
They used touts; they used people
Look around, they are all here today
They are here to speak
They are also tired of being used as
mercenaries for the government
We just want the government to stand
up and be responsible
If they cannot be responsible, they
should resign
It’s only in Nigeria that people do
not resign
Why? Because they are selfish
My parents stopped me today but I
damned the consequences
If I die, I die but Nigeria has to
move
- A young female lawyer at Ojota
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the fourth estate of the realm,
colleagues and comrades from civil society, the labour movement, and citizens
of our dear country Nigeria, we welcome you to this auspicious press briefing
on the first anniversary of the January Uprising of 2012, also known as OccupyNigeria.
On January 1st 2012, as a new year gift of hardship and increased exploitation
to Nigerians from their government, the price of fuel was arbitrarily
increased; effectively locking a majority of citizens who live in poverty in
their state of poverty, while also threatening to wipe out the middle class and
drag it into poverty as the prices of goods and services automatically
skyrocketed in indirect proportions with the same earning power.
Thus it was that from January 2nd, we all rose up as one people and
achieved in the subsequent 11 days of glorious nationwide mass action and
general strike, for ourselves and our country, a landmark action that has
changed the status of government/citizen relationship and redefined citizen
reaction to inept, incompetent, light fingered, treasury looting, selfish and
greedy ruling class types.
Our response to the obvious injustice of that unconscionable act
was our collective resistance. In the January Protests, we stamped our feet on
the ground, we drew a redline in the sand, and we stood our ground insisting
that ‘Enough Is Enough’! And inspite of the abrupt manner by which our evolving
revolution was truncated through the use of military forces, we have very
literally remained at the barricades ever since.
While the removal of the subsidy was the trigger, most Nigerians
were clear that our concerns were around the cost of governance and unbridled
waste and corruption which has led us down the path where our refineries have
become moribund – some of them operating at 0% capacity utilization in some
months for an average of 22% utilization from January to August 2012 according
to NNPC. In the process, we have turned the 6thlargest oil producer in the world,
with the 3rd largest installed refinery capacity in Africa, into one that
depends exclusively on importation of refined products to meet its domestic
needs! We are the only member nation of OPEC that is in such a sorry state!
We dared to struggle against the systemic corruption and impunity
that has become the defining character of governance, and impoverished 70% of
our population, ensuring that the richest 10% of Nigerians [perpetrators and
beneficiaries of treasury looting] owned 41% of national wealth, while 20% of
the poorest Nigerians barely own 4.1% of national wealth.
Thus as we enter into the period of the first anniversary of our
collective fury, with all the issues that have since emerged; with the
revelations about the actual scale and scope of the corruption and rot in the
system, and precious little having been done in the last year with regards to
taking concrete steps to clean the Augean stable of corruption, grand theft,
and impunity; it behoves on us, Nigerian citizens, the victims of this grand
theft and treasury looting to remind our ruling elite that it will not be
business as usual.
We have no doubt in our minds that this unprecedented and mind
boggling scale and scope of treasury looting amounting to the loss of close to
17 trillion naira [$100bn] to extra budgetary theft alone [and in just the
petroleum sector] over the last decade -that is on average the size of 4 annual
federal budgets; combined with the looting on a scale of nearly half of
appropriated funds in annual budgets; is what is responsible for the inability
of governments at all levels to meet the basic constitutional requirement of
governance, which is to ‘ensure the security and wellbeing of all citizens’. To
put this in a different perspective, according to the findings of The Punch
Newspaper in the period between June 2010 and July 2012, a period of 2 years,
this nation has lost in reported cases of corruption just about N5trn, which by
the way is the size of the 2013 federal appropriation bill recently passed by
the National Assembly.
As we reflect on the events of January 2012 and the weeks and
months that followed, we choose to mark this anniversary for four key reasons:
1. To
remember and honor those who died during the protests.
We remember Muyideen Opobiyi, Ademola
Aderinde and others who lost their lives to state brutality and we call on the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and other human rights groups to
urgently take up these cases to ensure that justice is secured for the victims
and compensation paid to their families as required by law.
2. Honor
Nigerians who came out in the thousands to publicly display their discontent
against bad governance.
In Akure, Ibadan, Osogbo, Lagos,
Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, where women came out to protest for the first time in
history, Nigerians stood with one voice, even before the labour movement
formally joined the protest movement to denounce the continued abuse and
insincerity of our ruling elite.
3. Remind
government of its failed promise of public ‘service’.
There have been numerous probes and
reports, yet no indicted persons or institutions as the judiciary continues to
play games with the law. It is inconceivable that such a massive scale of
proven corruption undertaken by private and public sector players continues
unabated. How can a sitting minister be judge and jury over her own case? How
can any nation survive the scale and scope of treasury pilfering that we have
endured thus far?
4. Remind
Government and citizens of their responsibilities
and obligations.
The N97 per liter price of PMS, was a
major [even if partial gain of the January Uprising]; yet this price is
virtually being observed in the breach. In the overwhelming majority of outlets
across the country PMS is being sold at more than N120 per liter or in even
more exorbitantly in black-markets supplied by oil marketers. In the face of
the manifest inability and unwillingness of the government to enforce its own
decision, we urge all Nigerians to take collective citizen action to enforce
the N97 per liter price and prevent hoarding of the product by marketers.
The clarion call sounded in January 2012 and it continues to
reverberate around the country. We remind all public officials at all levels of
government that we are watching and will continue to demand better governance
by any means necessary.
In the coming days different organisations across the country will
host various events to mark this anniversary. A tentative schedule of planned
events is provided as an appendix.
Thank you all for responding to our invitation.
Signed:
1. Rev David Ugolor for END IMPUNITY NOW
[EIN] CAMPAIGN
2. Yemi Adamolekun for ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
NIGERIA (EiE)
3. Jasper Azatalum for MOVEMENT FOR
ACCOUNTABILITY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
4. Jaye Gaskia for UNITED ACTION FOR DEMOCRACY [UAD]
