Social Protest and Protest Policing in Nigeria: An Analysisof the 2012 Fuel Subsidy Crisis Protest.

GBADEYAN, Olawale James

IFRA-Research Fellow

Gbadeyan2@gmail.com

International Institute for Professional Security

Abstract

The January 2012 fuel subsidy removal crisis was a

nation-wide held protests against the autocratic decision of

the President Goodluck Jonathan to remove the subsidy on

Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), thus increasing the price of fuel

to 141Naira while most Nigeria were still on the new year

vacation. With a history of poor protest management the

Nigeria police force swing into action while the protests

last. Thus, the study identify the causes of the fuel subsidy

protest, investigate the role of the Nigerian Police Force and

asses the state response in the management of the crisis.

The study concluded that structural imbalances such as

poverty, injustice, unequal distribution of state resources,

unequal access to political power amongst others are factors

that always lead to the citizen being frustrated and

eventually leads to protests that are sometimes violent.

1

Introduction

Social protest and activism are profoundly important part

of modern society. Most people, at one time or another in

their lives have found themselves supportive of, and sometimes

involved in collective efforts to challenge the status quo.

While the success of such efforts is often difficult to

measure, their very existence brings important issues into the

public eye and offer new ways of thinking about them. Social

protest may thus, be regarded as essential to the working of a

democratic society. However, various forms of self-expression

and protest are sometimes restricted by governmental policy

(such as the requirement of protest permit) economic

circumstances, social structures or media monopoly. When such

restrictions occur, protest may assume the form of open civil

disobedience, more subtle form of resistance against the

restrictions.

Protest have led to revolutions and changes of regimes

across the globe. This made them to be a source of worry form

many regimes irrespective of the type of government or leader.

Consequently, leaders and dictatorial leaders have under

different types of regimes have been motivated to deploy the

military and police as agents of repression and oppression. In

most cases, success is achieved and in some others, repression

cause further problems and that could lead to eventual down

fall of the regime, as in the case of Egypt and Tunisia.

A protest can itself sometimes be the subject of a

counter-protest. In such a case, counter-protest demonstrate

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their support for the person, policy, action etc, that is the

subject of the original protest. A good example is the "Bring

back our girls Campaign" unaddressed protest may grow and

widen into civil resistance, dissent, activism, riots,

insurgency, revolts and political or social revolution.

Encounters between demonstrators and the authorities policing

the protests could be very delicate. Protests policing, i.e

the control of protest, requires a difficult balance between

the protection of legal order and the defense not only of

individual freedom, but also of citizen rights to political

participation, and thus the very essence of the democratic

system. The manner in which the police intervene in control

of protest is perceived as an indicator of the quality of

democracy in the political system. Evidence has shown that

repression might thwart protest, by increasing the cost of

challenging authorities, when however, the protest is

widespread and well supported, repression can backfire due to

outrage.

Globally, the police remains the first line of state

reactions to crime control and maintenance of public order

and security. This implies that the police are indispensable

in the public life of any society. As observed by Lipsky

(1971), protest policing is very crucial to the

understanding of how states view social movement or reactions

to draconian policies. In many cases, state deployment of

police has raised issues of human rights abuses and questions

about the democratic credentials of many states.

3

Protest policing is handled by the police, who might be

assisted by other agencies. While police continue to deny

being repressive and abusive of human rights, the victims of

such brutality have maintained that the police breached their

fundamental human right. In this situation, citizens

described actions of state during protests as repression while

the state justifies its own decision in the name of

maintaining law and order. Lipsky (1970) expanciates further

that police are always seen as street level bureaucrats

whose actions construct the perception of the government

held by the people. Thus, the management or mismanagement of

these protest goes a long way in projecting a state as

actually repressive or tolerant of the expression of

dissents and demands from the citizens. Hence, in this

situation, the police appears as a public relation officer

whose activities goes along way in shaping how the protesters

who are first and foremost citizens of the state would

perceive the state.

Thus the study wish to assess the management of social

protest in Nigeria using the fuel subsidy crisis as a case

study. The study will investigate the role of the Nigeria

Police as the first point of contact with the Nigerian

government response to the fuel subsidy removal protest.

Objectives of the Study

The objective of the study will be to:

A. Identify the causes of the fuel subsidy protest

4

B. Investigate the role of the Nigeria police in the fuel

subsidy protest; and to

C. Assess the management responses of the Nigerian State to

the fuel subsidy removal protest

Global overview of Social Protest

There are abundant literature dealing with protests and

particularly social protests across the globe. In the U.S. the

year 1955 marked a dramatic turning point in American

reactions to racial disorder. "There were mass violent

reactions by blacks primarily as acts of social protest. In

December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, one of the first major

protest began"i. Rosa Parks, a black woman refused to give her

bus seat to a white passenger as required by the city's

segregation laws. Although often depicted as a very weary

older woman, too tired to get up and move, parks was actually

a long time, active member of the National Association for

the Advancement of the Colored People (NAACP). A committed

civil rights activist, she decided that she was not going to

move. She was arrested and jailed for her defiant and

courageous act.

The NAACP saw Park's arrests as an opportunity to

challenge the segregation laws in a major southern city. The

NAACP called on Montgomery's black political and religious

leaders to advocate a one-day boycott protesting her arrest.

More than 75 percent of Montgomery's black residents

regularly used the bus system. On the day of boycott, only

eight blacks rode Montgomery's buses.

5

On the same note, another protest occurred in the US in

1999. The protest against the World trade Organization in

Seattle during the week of November 29 through December 3,

1999. The demonstrations occurred during the business week.

During that week, most WTO delegates stayed in hotels within

walking distance of the Seattle convention Centre, where the

meetings were to be held. Together, protesters and police

paralyzed the business district for three days, shut down the

WTO Ministerial and called international attention to the

issues raised by the WTO meetings. Two major protests events

started the paralysis on November 30. The first events was

the downtown demonstrations or “Direct action”. Where

thousands of well trained activists engaged in non-violent

civil disobedience that effectively closed the core of the

city and prevented delegates from attending the WTO

meetings (Gillinham and Marx,200; cited in Aluko, 2012)

The other major events was a march and rally

sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Tens of thousands of representatives

of union and environmental and religious groups congregated

for a four-hour stadium rally with music and speakers. Flanked

by AFL-CIO marshals wearing fluorescent orange hats, they

marched through a three mile corridor to the city centre that

was filled with affinity groups, media personnel, by-standers

and police (Gillinham and Marx, 2000). Many of the marchers

then joined in what had become a battle between

demonstrators and police. The troubles in Seattle began around

daybreak on a cold drizzly Tuesday, November 30, when

thousands of non-violent protesters filled the streets

6

surrounding the entire Seattle Convention Centre and

effectively blocked downtown streets,, sidewalks, and hotel

doors. They made it impossible for most WTO delegates to

enter the opening rounds of the discussions (Aluko, 2012)

In Israel, the 2011 social protests are on record. There

were series of demonstrations involving hundreds of

thousands of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and

religious background opposing the continuing rise in the cost

of living (particularly housing) and the deterioration of

public services such as health and education. A common

rallying cry at the demonstrations was the chant; "The People

Demand Social Justice"

As the protests expanded during August 2011, the

demonstrations began to also focus on other related issues

relating to the social order and power structure in Israel.

The housing protests which sparked the first demonstrations

began as a result of a Facebook protest group that initially

led hundreds of people to establish tents in the Rothschild

Boulevard in the center of Tel Aviv, an act which soon gained

momentum, media attention and began a public discourse in

Israel regarding the high cost of housing and living expenses

(Levin ,2011). Soon afterwards, the protests spread to many

other major cities in Israel as thousands of Israeli

protesters began establishing tents in the middle of central

streets in major cities as a means of protest. As part of the

protests, several mass demonstrations have been held across

the country, in which hundreds of thousands of people have

participated. 7

A major focus of the protests have been what organizers

have termed social justice. Part of the movement is about changing

the social order, and the economic system. Calls to topple the

government were made by some parts of the protests (Melanie,

2011) Criticism of the protests includes accusations of a

political agenda rather than a social one with revelations of

funding from specific left-wing individuals and organizations

like S. Daniel Abraham and the New Israel Fund. Journalist

claimed that the spontaneous protests had actually been three

months in the planning by Stan Greenberg and orchestrated by

left-wing organizations and The National Left.

Following the first large-scale protests in early August,

the government announced that a series of measures would taken

to solve the housing shortage, some of which were already

under preparation and ratification, and some which were new

measures proposed in response to the demands of the protest

movement leadership (Moran, 2012).  In addition, Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a team of ministers and

senior staff members from his office, headed by Finance

Minister Yuval Steinitz, to negotiate with the protest leaders

as well as the Trajtenberg Committee. Since that time, there

has been significant criticism of the Prime Minister's

perceived insensitivity to the public sentiment, and there is

ongoing speculation that general sympathy for the protest

movement may cause one or more members of the governing

coalition to leave the government, triggering national

elections.

8

In 2010, UK experienced series of students Protest

arising from the government's review into higher education

funding in England. The 2010 United Kingdom student

protests were a series of demonstrations in November and

December 2010 that took place in several areas of the country,

with the focal point of protests being in central London.

Largely student-led, the protests were held in opposition to

planned spending cuts to further education and an increase of

the cap on tuition fees by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat

coalition government following their review into higher

education funding in England. Student groups said that the

intended cuts to education were excessive, would damage higher

education, give students higher debts, and broke campaign

promises made by politicians.

The first major demonstration occurred on 10 November,

jointly organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) and

the University and College Union (UCU). It involved between

30,000 and 50,000 demonstrators marching through central

London, with several hundred branching off to attack and

occupy the Conservative Party headquarters. This measure

brought condemnation from the establishment and a divide

within the student movement over the appropriateness of such

tactics. The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC)

called for a mass walk-out and demonstration on 24 November,

with occupations taking place at campuses throughout the UK. A

march in central London was kettled in Whitehall, resulting in

violent confrontation with protesters. Further demonstrations

were held in central London in 30 November, when police

9

clashed with protesters and kettled them in Trafalgar Square,

while other protests took place throughout the country.

Another central London protest took place on 9 December, the

day that the proposed reforms were passed into law, with

protesters clashing with police and being kettled

in Parliament Square.

The student protests were unsuccessful in their aim of

preventing the government's reforms. The demonstrations had

been highly controversial in the UK, being condemned for

instances of violence and vandalism by the establishment. The

behaviour of the Metropolitan Police in dealing with the

protests were also widely criticised for instances of

untruthfulness and excessive use of force

The Middle-East and North Africa also experienced popular

and major uprisings in 2011, first with the uprising in

Tunisia in response to the self immolation of Mohammed

Bouazizi. These protests were as a result of social imbalances

as well as violation of fundamental human rights of the

citizens in the Middle-East. In Tunisia for example, the

citizens protested against "corruption, poverty and political

repression and this single action forced Zinw-al-Abidine Ben

Ali to step down in January 2011 The success of the uprising,

which came to be known in the media as the "Jasmine

Revolution", inspired a wave of similar protests throughout

the Middle-East and North Africa.

In Africa, a few countries are notable for frequent

demonstration and strikes. Kenya and Nigeria, both of which

10

have plentiful and active civil society groups and relatively

free medias, yield reports of scores of incidents each

month. For example, the ministry of interior in Senegal-

which has a much smaller population registered 3,295

demonstrations in 2011. The South African Police, who

diligently record such data, reported an annual average of

9,300 "Crowd Management Incidents" between 2004/05 and

2011/12, a category that included mostly protest but also some

sporting events (Harsch, 2013)

In the case of South Africa which have experienced

numerous protest during the apartheid regime, the most

conspicuous and most pathetic protest was the June 16, 1976

student protest in Soweto. Then, the Black high school

student students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans

medium Degree of 1974 which forced all the black schools to

use Afrikkans and English in 50-50 mix as language of

instruction. The resentment grew until April 30, 1976 when

children of Orlando West Juniour school in Soweto went on

strike refusing to go to schools. Their rebellion spread to

other school in Soweto.

In this course, an estimated 20,000 students took part

in the protests, roughly 700 student brutally killed by the

police and another 4,000 were seriously injured as a

result of sporadic shootings by the police acting on the

instructions of the totalitarian apartheid government.

During the democratic regime in South Africa also after the

long awaited demise of the Apartheid regime in 1991, some

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cases of the brutality similar to the Soweto brutality were

also recorded.

Theoretical Framework

The causes of social protest in human society is

attributed to so many issues such as obnoxious government

policies as well as structural violence against the people.

The theoretical framework used in this paper therefore is

relative Deprivation theory propounded by Dollard et.al. It

was propounded in an efforts to link socio-economic and

political inequalities in a society to rebellions and

insurrection. As individual and group base theory of

aggression, Dollard et.al argued that when expectations

outstrips achievements regardless of the absolute level of

economic consumption or level of political rights,

frustration is generated which turns to anger and violence.

From the standpoint of the assumptions of Relative

Deprivation theory therefore, most of the social protests in

Nigeria e.g. Anti-fuel pump price increase 2012, Ali Must Go

student protest 1980, even the Niger-Delta crisis and the

Boko-Haram insurgency are caused by the abysmal failure of

Nigerian Government to address critical challenges of

development and obnoxious government policy decisions. The

implication of the theory on social protest is that, it could

distort any meaningful effort by government to achieve socio-

economic, security and political development in Nigeria.

Relative deprivation theory therefore provides appropriate

strategic framework to contain social protest in Nigeria.

12

Background to the January 2012 Fuel Subsidy Protest

Fuel-related crises have become common in Nigeria, where

large crude oil deposits abound, which is an exporter of the

commodity. It is pathetic to observe that no other member of

the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) or a

country that does not produce oil, shares similar ugly

experience with Nigeria (Badmus, 2009:25). This undesirable

situation led to the introduction of the controversial issue

of subsidy in the downstream oil sector, which nearly tore

Nigeria into pieces, still threatens its peace and democratic

structure. Economically, subsidy exists when government

assists consumers of a given commodity to pay less than the

prevailing market price of the commodity. In respect of fuel

subsidy, it means that consumers would pay less than the price

per litre of petroleum product. On the other hand, fuel

subsidy refers to the difference between the actual market

price per litre of petroleum products and what the final

consumers pay for it. Today, the difference, which is borne by

the government, is due to some 'import-induced costs'. These

costs, according to Afonne (2011) are responsible for the high

prices of petroleum products in Nigeria. Since petroleum

industry became the dominant sector in Nigeria, the volume of

agricultural exports have declined sharply, with production of

agro-allied products faced with a drastic decline.

Consequently, agricultural import has increased dramatically.

On January 1,2012 Nigerians take to the streets in what

has been described as an 'indefinite strike' against the

controversial removal of the fuel subsidy, many experts have 13

warned that such a move will further compound the volatile

security conditions in Africa's most populous country. The

abrupt termination of the fuel subsidy on New Year's Day took

Nigerians by surprise as they marked the beginning of 2012.

Hence, the attracted reactions and crisis between the federal

government and the Nigerian masses, organized labour and the

civil society groups in Nigeria.

The crisis that led to the death of about 23 people

across Nigeria started as a protest movement that began in

Nigeria on Monday, 2 January 2012 in response to the fuel

subsidy removal by the Federal Government of President

Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday, 1 January 2012. Protests took

place across the country, including in the cities of Kano,

Ibadan, Ilorin, Port- Harcourt, Ojota ( -part of greater Lagos

), Abuja, and at the Nigerian High Commission in London. At

least 22 people were killed in Nigeria, all shot dead by the

Nigeria Police Force. The protests were characterised by civil

disobedience, civil resistance, strike actions, demonstrations

and online activism (Wikipedia.com). The use of social media

services such as Twitter and Facebook became a prominent

feature

With the majority of Nigerians living on less than $2 per

day, cheap petrol is viewed by many Nigerians as the only

tangible benefit they receive from the state, hence the

widespread disapproval. In addition, the economy is heavily

reliant on crude oil (amongst other reasons, due to absence of

essential infrastructure and services such as constant

electricity). A consequence of this is that other seemingly 14

unrelated items are tied to the price of fuel as has occurred

from previous price hikes. Due to the absence of stable

electricity, gasoline generators are a common energy

alternative for small businesses and residences.

Protesters shut petrol stations and formed human barriers

along motorways. Nigeria's main trade unions also announced an

indefinite strike and mass demonstrations from Monday, 9

January 2012 unless the removal of fuel subsidy was reversed.

"We have the total backing of all Nigerian workers on this

strike and mass protest," the Nigeria Labour Congress's Chris

Uyot told the BBC.

The subsidy removal bears a number of unique qualities,

which was the source of consternations among Nigerians. It is

the first time in its nearly 40 years that the subsidy has

been completely scrapped from the budget. Second, the effect

of the subsidy removal more than doubled the price of petrol

from 65 Naira/litre to 141 Naira/ litre, making it the highest

price hike in Nigerian history. Third, many Nigerians accused

President Jonathan for not being transparent and for

unilaterally imposing the subsidy removal. Opponents of the

subsidy removal also purported that it is one of the few

benefits that ordinary Nigerians get from the petroleum

resources and that its removal will only increase the wealth

of corrupt officials.

The government, on the other hand, defended the subsidy

removal as an inevitable measure to uplift the economy by

reinvesting the 7.5 billion Naira per year that government is

15

spending on the subsidy. Supporters of the subsidy removal

also argued that any negative effects on the people are only

temporary, and that the subsidy had encouraged corruption and

benefited mostly wealthy oil companies. To reduce the shocks

on the subsidy removal, the government has put in place

Subsidy Re-investment Program and Empowerment Programme (SURE-

P) which involve a number of measures including mass transit

buses, and a 10 billion Naira revolving loan for transport

companies, construction of some major roads, amongst others

Discussions

Objective 1 : Identify the Causes of the Fuel Subsidy Protest

The nationwide crisis occasioned by the precipitous

action of the  Goodluck Jonathan Government removing the ‘fuel

subsidy’ in January when he had declared that this would not

happen until April, which would have given the country time to

discuss and consult on the issue. Instead, by announcing the

removal of the subsidy (even when the National Assembly voted

to delay its effect) the country is wracked by protests,

strikes, demonstrations and acts of minor violence. The

breach of trust by the agreement and trust by the President

when he had earlier insisted that the removal will start at a

later period was one of the major reasons as Nigerians were

caught unaware of the policy

The increase would provoke hyper inflation of prices in

the consumer products market and thus compounded poverty-for

instance also aggrieved the masses to protest. According to

daily nation, the fare from illorin-Abuja ranged between

16

N3,500-N4,000, for buses and N5,000 for cars, the old price

was N2,000. Illorin to Lagos cost N8,500 as against the old

N5,500 Kano to Ibadan rose from N4,500 to N7,750 Kano to

Bayelsa which was N8,500 is now N17,000. Hence, Nigerians who

were at various villages and town enjoying the New year

holidays were stranded as the cost of transportation has

increased at a supersonic progression

The removal of the fuel subsidy has equally affected the

cost of commodities at various markets in the metropolis, even

commercial motorcyclists instantly adjusted their fares as

soon as the subsidy removal was announced. The prices of goods

and services rose, there is no assurance that the landlords

will not increase rents when they have families to feed too.

PHCN, schools, hospitals, organizations and other employers

might want to pay their workers more to enable them cope with

the even higher cost of living.Owing to this policy, they also

experienced the increase of school fees, electrical tariff,

hospital bills etc this means that more children will drop out

of school owning to their parents inability to pay their

tuition fees, more of the sick will die in the hospital or

home because they are unable to afford the hospital bills or

medicines as food takes priority causing untold hardship for

the citizens (www.sundaytribune.com)

The removal further isolated the government from the

people and caused so much agitation, violent demonstration in

Nigeria that may in turn provide more support for Boko Haram,

particularly by those seeking revenge or to hit back at the

government. To worsen the situation the salaries and wages of 17

workers have remained constant not even the so-called minimum

wage of N18,000 for workers has been implemented at least to

alleviate the plight of inflation for the ordinary citizens

vanguard (2012).

Also considered critical to the cause of the e fuel subsidy

issue is the provision of employment for teeming Nigerian

graduates being churned out yearly by tertiary institutions,

unemployment has resulted in so much brain-drain that there

are so many Nigerians working in and contributing to the

development of other countries. But since it is not everybody

that has the ability to leave the shores of the country,

unemployment has continued to rise in the country. According

to Saladden (2011:) the national unemployment rate rose from

4.3% in 1970 to 6.4% in 1980. 40% in 1992 and 41.6% in 2011.

The high rate of unemployment recorded last year is attributed

largely to depression in the economy. As identified earlier,

over the years, hundreds of factories that hitherto provided

employment to graduates and artisan have collapse. This is

because energy supply which serves as the main engine of

production has been comatose, many artisan like welders,

aluminium window filters, tailor, who cannot afford power

generators are today out of work. In desperation, many

Nigerian youths have taken to riding commercial motorcycle and

tricycle while others went into street hawking just to keep

body and soul together.

Objective 2: Investigate the Role of the Nigeria Police in

the Fuel Subsidy Protest

18

The purpose of police responses to the public protest

is to maintain law and order but ironically the activities of

the Nigeria Police force during the January, 2012 fuel

subsidy removal protest was undemocratic oppressive,

suppressive mechanism through the use of guns, tear gas, live

bullets and armoured tanks.

During the protest, the role played by the men of the

Nigeria Police Force were very brutal. On Monday, January 2,

2012, the Police fired tear gas to disperse some 200

protesters who have gathered at the eagle square chanting

“Remove Corruption not Subsidy”. There have been protests in

numerous parts of the country including Lagos, Ibadan,

Lokoja, Ilorin, Nasarawa and Kano where about two dozens were

arrested by the police as they gathered.

One protester named Muyideen Mustapha was the first

person to be killed in Kwara State by Officers of the Nigeria

Police on January 2, 2012 in the Post-Office area of Ilorin in

which the police was said to have shot into the crowd to

disperse protesters. Furthermore, about 18 people were also

injured and there were further reports of three people being

killed in Kano. On January 9, a Divisional Police Officer

attached to Lagos state Command shot an killed a young man

named, Ademola Aderinde at Ogba during the protests in Lagos

(Aluko, 2012).

Having analysed the roles of the Nigeria Police Force in

the Fuel subsidy protest, one would see that the Nigerian

police displayed brutality and undemocratic principle of

19

policing modern democracies. Their intolerants of public

dissent and public protests show their moral bankruptcy and

ambiguousness

Objective 3: Assess the management responses of the Nigerian

State to the fuel subsidy removal protest

Conflict resolution as stated earlier has to do with the

methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful

ending of conflict and retribution. Thus, concept of conflict

resolution can be thought to encompass the use of non-violent

resistance measures by conflicting parties in an attempt to

promote effective resolution (Robert & Timothy, 2009). In

resolving conflict, so many alternatives are available.

However, in the case of the fuel subsidy protest crisis,

negotiation was adopted by the Federal Government and the

Organised labour.

The conflict which started with the a brusque manner that

caught everybody, including members of the National Assembly

unawares, the Federal Government, on New Year’s Day announced

its decision to stop with immediate effect the subsidy on

petroleum products. The immediate implication of this awkward

New Year announcement was the sudden rise in the price of

premium Motor Spirit PMS, popularly called petrol, from N65 to

between N141 and N150, a sour taste in the mouth of most

citizens. Naturally, the obviously unpopular decision

immediately set off a whiff of national anger, with the

leadership of organized labour represented by the Nigeria

20

Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC),

vowing to shut down the country by January 9 if the federal

government failed to retrace its step. It was not as if labour

was totally opposed to the deregulation of the petroleum down

stream sector, but its anger appeared to have stemmed from the

fact that the government did not conclude consultations on the

modalities and timing of the implementation of such a critical

decisions/policy were still on going.

As the one week ultimatum issued by labour for the

government to rescind its decision lapsed without the latter

reversing the decision, on Monday January 9 the nation was

engulfed in a crippling national strike. Government offices

throughout the nation were closed and private businesses

grounded in most cities of the federation. Street protests

were also held across the country. Labour unions and civil

society vowed never to retreat until government brought back

the price of petrol to its former N65 per litre. On its part,

the government insisted that the subsidy removal was

irrevocable. Such was the hard line stance adopted by the two

disputants which dimmed any meaningful settlement of the

crisis by the day. The National Assembly’s intervention was

critical and relevant at the juncture.

Hence in a form of mediation, the National Assembly,

specifically the senate called for series of meetings between

the Organised Labour and the executive arms of the

Government. Emerging from the mediation meeting , President of

the Nigeria labour Congress, Comrade Abdul waheed Omar said,

“When windows are opening, nobody will like to miss that” 21

(Eme, et. al, 2012) and expressed appreciation to the Senate

President for his intervention.

January 10, marked the crescendo of the senators’

sustained move to help end the labour/ government face off as

they initiated and held three different meetings, one with

labour and another with the federal government and lastly a

combined involving the two parties. The dispute was close to

resolution as each of the disputants during the three-prong

meeting showed sufficient readiness to make concessions and

shift some grounds. It began with the early morning meeting

between Mark and his team on one hand and President Jonathan

and his team on the other. After the meeting, the lawmakers

held another meeting with the labour at noon during which the

latter was briefed on the outcome of the early morning meeting

which the senators had with the President’s team.

In the last reconciliatory move, the federal government

and the organised labour met in a facilitated negotiation by

the Senate resulting in the resolution of the conflict

through compromise. The federal government reverted the

price from 141 naira per litre to 97 Naira per litre of PMS.

Furthermore, President Goodluck Jonathan in his speech

enunciated several policy actions, which, would ameliorate the

pains of the eventual total removal of subsidy in the country.

Hence, the conflict was resolved and strikes as well as

protests were called off across the nation. Business and

normalcy returned to the country. Thus, there is still deep

seated animosity against the federal government by the people

22

and the organised labour (NLC/TUC/ CSO), as the federal

Government is still insisting on the total removal of the

subsidy while the masses argued that necessary measures must

be put in place to cushion the effects of the subsidy

removal.

Conclusion

The structural imbalances such as poverty, injustice,

unequal distribution of state resources, unequal access to

political power amongst others lead to the citizen being

frustrated, they get angry and aggression sets in, and

eventually leads to protests that are sometimes violent. This

is evident in most countries of the bottom billion (as Paul

Collier may refer to African countries) as well as the Middle-

East and the developed world. Protest are not without

consequences as protesters and passerby are often killed by

the brutality of the police. However, protests are found to

have altered the social structures of communities and

societies around the world. People have benefitted from

positive changes in policies in colonial and post-colonial

societies ranging from abrogation of segregation laws to

provisions of housing, road infrastructure, changes in pump

prices of petroleum products, school fees amongst others.

However, the wind of protests in a country or continent

especially with the advancement in technology provides an

ample opportunity to countries/ leaders that are also

experiencing the problems of societal imbalances to learn

lessons from others like those in the Arab springs

23

especially Tunisia. Regimes that becomes adamant to the

yearning and aspirations of their people could generate

very serious protests that would eventually boot them out of

power.

References

24

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Metropolis. Unpublished Masters Project, submitted to

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Gillham PF and Marx (2000) Complexity and Irony in Policing

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November 29, No. 1710

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Melanie Lidman (11 August 2011). "Scale of social justice

protests surprises experts". The Jerusalem Post.

Retrieved 17 August 2011.

Moran Azulay (3 October 2011). "Trajtenberg vote fiasco

prelude to elections". Yediot Ahronot Newspaper.

Retrieved 5 October 2011.

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Unite". Haaretz. Retrieved 18 December 2014.

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