In solidarity with anti-fuel price hike protesters at home, Nigerians and their friends in the United States will on Monday and Tuesday hold rallies in Washington, DC and New York.
In solidarity with anti-fuel price hike protesters at home, Nigerians and their friends in the United States will on Monday and Tuesday hold rallies in Washington, DC and New York.
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On Monday, January 9, as the Labour Movement-inspired rallies kick off across Nigeria, organizers of the Washington, DC protest said their action will take place at the World Bank USA headquarters to “show solidarity with our Nigerian allies who are risking their lives in taking on Big Oil and the 1%.
Announcing the protest, the US activists described the “new oil disaster” harming Nigerians, pointing out that the 1% of Nigeria’s elite have spent decades siphoning off Nigeria's oil wealth from the impoverished Niger Delta region, leaving nothing but pollution, death and destruction in their wake.
“Now, despite record oil prices, the Nigerian government claims there is not enough money to pay for basic infrastructure in the country,” their statement said. “At the urging of the World Bank and IMF, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has jacked up the price of oil by over 150% in order to pay for this infrastructure. Yet the 99% of Nigerians who live on less than $2300 per year can't afford to pay this price for oil, and have taken to the streets in protest. One protester has been killed so far by police.”
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Also announcing the New York rally, scheduled for January 10 at the Nigeria Consulate, the Nigerian Democratic Liberty Forum (NDLF), criticized the “ill advised, inhuman and sadistic 117% increase in price of fuel”, which it said exposed the government’s determination to annihilate the Nigerian poor.
A government which is incapable of rescuing its people from the abyss of economic ruins, it said, should not exacerbate the hapless situation of the suffering masses.
The Washington demonstration will hold outside the World Bank at 1818 H Street, while New York will be at 828 2nd Avenue New York.
Both events start at noon.
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