The Global Situation: We are living through very hard, but equally interesting times; through a period of another historic crises of the global capitalist [free market] economy; a crisis so deep that although it began as a global financial crisis, it has now engulfed the entire global capitalist/market economy, and the political and socio-cultural systems supported by this economy.
The Global Situation: We are living through very hard, but equally interesting times; through a period of another historic crises of the global capitalist [free market] economy; a crisis so deep that although it began as a global financial crisis, it has now engulfed the entire global capitalist/market economy, and the political and socio-cultural systems supported by this economy.
In its present phase, the crisis is at once a global economic, as well, as a global political and socio-cultural crisis. Not only Huge corporations and financial institutions are going bankrupt and needing large scale bailouts; but so also are whole countries [Greece, Ireland, Ice Land, Spain, Italy etc] going bankrupt and needing bailouts of historic proportions.
Furthermore, as economic crisis have deepened, so have the political crisis, so much so that from one country to another, governing parties are losing their majorities, and opposition parties, are gaining majorities that are not enough to form a government without going into coalitions. Elsewhere across the globe, and away from Europe, Asia, and the Americas, in North Africa and the Middle East, more dramatic political crisis is unfolding, precipitating historic mass uprisings and revolutionary upheavals, unprecedented in the life of a generation. In the MENA region, at this moment, three long standing regimes have been deposed [Tunisia, Egypt & Libya], two intense civil wars are ongoing [Syria & Yemen], and tension is rising and building up in the other countries forcing monarchs and ruling parties to propose different types of reforms to douse the rising popular anger [Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria].
A central characteristic of the response of ruling classes and elites right across the world to the global crisis, has been to try to bailout [subsidise big business and the banks], while passing on the burden of recovery and stabilization to the working and toiling peoples, through cuts in social spending [withdrawal of subsidies to the majority], increases in cost of services, and imposition of new levies among others.
Nevertheless, as they have tried to increase the burden of hardships on the majority, so have the resistance of the majority intensified. The result today is the revolutionary upheaval in the MENA, the waves of strikes across Europe and the Americas, and the growing Occupy movement.
The Situation In Nigeria:
Here at home in Nigeria, the global economic crisis has been compounded by the monumental corruption of the ruling class, its administrative and managerial ineptitude, and its political and governance incompetence.
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The Nigerian ruling class has been content to loot the treasury, and to place its pecuniary interests far above the collective interest of the Nation and her people.
Nowhere is this more glaring than in the energy sector, with respect to electricity generation and distribution, and petroleum products refining and distribution. This ruling class prefers to continue to pretend to be helpless before a cabal/cartel of its own making, one that enjoys its patronage that controls generator importation and fuel importation.
Because of its own selfish interests, this ruling class will spend billions of dollars on the importation of generators, basic foodstuff, and refined petroleum products; rather than invest in power generation and distribution in the country, crude refining and distribution capacity within the country, and in the value chains of basic food in country.
They undertake these unconscionable acts with such impunity, because they are more interested in lining their pockets than in making the country work for her citizens.
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Now they claim there is a subsidy on refined petroleum products, because they have failed to revive the refineries at home or build new ones after spending close to 100 billion Naira on Turn Around Maintenances that have turned nothing around in the sector, except the bank accounts of those responsible for this grand theft, who are known, yet still walk the streets of our country free!
Why is Nigeria the only member country of OPEC with the highest cost of petrol per litre? Why is Nigeria the only member of OPEC that imports over 80% of its refined petroleum products?
The result of decades of gross incompetence, crass impunity with respect to corruption, and grand ineptitude in overall management of the economy includes the wiping out of a vibrant Textile industry; the loss of 1.8 million jobs in manufacturing alone between 2001 and 2010 as a result of the closure of 1,000 manufacturing concerns; as well as a poverty level that has stagnated around 60% over the last ten years; and a youth unemployment rate of more than 45%!
Given the parlous nature of the power/electricity sector, we know that virtually every sector of the economy is now directly dependent on fuel to run generators to generate power for industrial, commercial, agriculture production and processing, transportation and domestic use. It therefore stands to reason that any increase in the pump price of fuel/petrol, even a marginal increase, not to talk of the proposed 130% increase, will be quite devastating for the economy and crushing for the standard and conditions of living of the people. Cost of production and overheads will increase across the board; transportation and logistics cost for moving goods and services, as well as for moving humans, will also increase astronomically. The overall impact of all of these will be higher costs for food, basic services [education, healthcare], declining standard of living, increased absolute & relative poverty, rising joblessness and homelessness, as well as increased crime and insecurity.
This is why it is incumbent on us, this generation of Nigerians to resist these insensitive and anti people policy of Fuel subsidy removal, and the privatisation [theft of public wealth by a few connected members of the political elites and their foreign backers] and deregulation [the falsehood that market regulates itself, and there is no need for the active developmental intervention of a transformative state – the response of Europe to the euro zone crisis, of the US, UK, German, French, Chinese & other governments to the global crisis; all prove the lie of this assertion] macro -economic frameworks on which it is based.
Our Demands:
• absolutely no increases in prices of petroleum products and electricity tariffs
• development and prompt implementation of a three year strategic and operational plan to acquire domestic refining capacity to meet domestic needs for petroleum products and also export; as well as to double current power generation and distribution capacity.
• comprehensive investigation into the power and petroleum sector [energy sector] to identify and punish all those responsible for the failures/wastage/leakages/corruption in the sector, that has led to the non performance of the tens of billions of naira pumped into the sector since 1999
• a referendum on the appropriate economic direction for the country, including such issues as privatization, deregulation, provision of affordable basic services and infrastructures
Course of action:
Failure to meet these demands will lead to the following actions being taken:
1. Beginning December 2011 preparatory direct mass action initiatives across the country wherever people are organized and ready to take tentative actions
2. Beginning January 2012, a generalized, prolonged and permanent street protest until all demands are met in a signed agreement with the acknowledged representatives of the popular organizations of the people
Issued by the we the people campaign
This campaign is supported by United Action For Democracy [UAD]
Jaye Gaskia- National Convener Kenn Henshaw- General Secretary
We call on organizations of the people of nigeria to join us in endorsing these demands and in prosecuting the necessary actions to realize them.
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