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Over the years, successive federal governments had never given serious thought to how Nigerians are likely to react to perceived anti-people policies and the timing of their implementation. This was, perhaps, the thinking of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when his government chose January 1, 2012 as the commencement date for petrol price increase from N65.00 per litre to N141.00 per litre. Most petrol dealers took advantage of the situation to sell the product at between N150.00 and N250.00 per litre. Consequently, the cost of intra- and inter-city transportation went up by more than 200 percent across the country. The rise in the cost of transportation had a multiplier effect on the costs of goods and services. This unexpected development portrayed the Jonathan administration as very insensitive.

The element of surprise which the government thought would be to its advantage by fast-forwarding the implementation date to January 1, instead of March ending, became a liability. Most Nigerians interpreted it as an act of bad faith, especially after both chambers of the National Assembly had extended the life span of the 2011 federal budget in respect of capital votes to March 31, 2012. The labour groups were also taken aback by government’s decision and promptly denounced it as an act of  betrayal since, according to them, negotiations were still on-going on the issue. Acts of  betrayal had always been the stock-in-trade of previous federal governments whenever there is any negotiation with the labour groups over petroleum products’ price increases. Always without waiting for the negotiation it initiated to be completed, the federal government would arbitrarily announce a price increase and then try to use the court to stop the labour groups from protesting. That was the beaten path which the Jonathan administration followed when it went to the National Industrial Court and got an order to stop the labour and civil society groups from leading a nationwide protest against the petrol subsidy removal. This antic also aggravated the anger of the people as well as strengthened their resolve to ignore the court order. The lesson to be learnt here is that Nigerians are not as docile as their leaders think. Whenever they (Nigerians) are sufficiently provoked, no court or threats of treason charges  can deter them from openly ventilating their anger over policies they perceive not to be  in their own interest.

Critics of the government said the choice of January 1, as the commencement date for the subsidy removal policy showed a lot of indiscretion and absolute lack of empathy for the people’s plight by the federal government and its advisers. January of every year is generally a very difficult month for most Nigerians, especially Christians, because they spend lavishly on Christmas and New Year festivities. Consequently, many families depend on shoe-string budgets to  survive the month. They have to feed and also send their wards back to school. Again, during the festive period, there is usually a heavy traffic of Nigerians to and from different parts of the country for the celebration. But many of them found it difficult to return to their bases because the astronomical increase in the price of petrol had shot up transport fares far beyond their budgets.  I was told that at some of the motor parks in Uyo,  some passengers who had to travel because they had to resume work in their offices in Abuja or Lagos the following day, had to auction some of their personal items  like phones, wrist watches and shoes among others ,to make up for their transport  fares. To such people, the unexpected  jump in transport fares and the resultant inconveniences were a source of anger against the federal government.

Contrary to federal government’s claim, the massive daily crowds at the various rally centres across the country were not rented. It was a spontaneous expression of the people’s anger against the failure of government at all levels. This feeling was vividly captured in most of the speeches made at the various rallies. Some of the issues that reverberated at most of the rallies were the lack of political will on the part of the president to tackle corruption which has grown into a national institution, mismanagement of public funds, especially those that accrued  from previous increases in the prices of petroleum products, monumental wastes in government, mounting costs of governance at all levels, general insecurity in the country and the growing youth un- employment.

The depth of the public anger rattled the president who had to make two nationwide broadcasts within one week in an attempt to calm frayed nerves. In one of  the broadcasts, Jonathan announced some cost-saving measures of  his government which included a 25 percent cut in the basic salaries of public office holders in the executive branch of government. But critics said these were purely cosmetic since the cuts did not affect  their allowances and the perks of office. Perhaps, that explained why he deliberately avoided telling Nigerians how much the country would save through such cuts.  At least, it was a positive development for the country. However, what  happened in the country between January 9 and 13, can be said to be a divine blessing  in disguise because it enabled  President Jonathan  to gauge the depth of anger in the land over the  helplessness of his government to address the issues highlighted at the public rallies. It spurred him into action. For instance, he started to address the security problem by replacing Hafix Ringim with Mohammed D. Abubakar as the new inspector-general of police. He also sacked  all deputy inspectors-general  of police and also  empanelled  a committee to re-organise the police force. But it remains to be seen how  far  he is determined to go to confront the maladies that have reduced Nigeria to a  poor country of very few rich people. Nigerians are watching him. How he uses the funds accruing from the petrol subsidy removal will determine how  the people will react to future price increases.

To be  concluded

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