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Theatre Art Department, University of Ibadan initiates new intakes...

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This is not Collin Firth playing Prince Albert, Duke of York, rather it is the story of Goodluck Jonathan's effort of trying to get 'misled youths not to disturb public peace.' Whether the Nigerian president needs a speech therapist to take him on breath control, muscle relaxation or how not to stutter especially on a day when even a child could read fears written in block letters on his face... is really none of our business, we have bigger things to worry about e.g price of petrol. As it is, Martin Luther King Jr, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela and other great orators of this world would hate to be in his shoes right now (emphasis on shoes).

The broadcast was on the evening of a Saturday which most people I know had their minds #occupied already with the New Year's gift and bracing up for the coming week. "Who are we to stop the president from having his special broadcast...don't they always have it even when we don't care to listen" A friend said while trying to convince me to watch for the fun of it. We started an argument on whether he was going to use the teleprompter or not - we chose not to waste our time guessing what the address could be about.

Please permit me to digress a little bit while I paint this scenario, Let's assume the teleprompter goes off during the live special transmission of Mr President. I'm sure he'd give an unconscious Mogbe! (a Yoruba exclamation remark meaning "I'm in trouble") before the NTA guy in the control room slams the flattest and ugliest logo in the world on our faces.

I'll skip the intro and other parts of the speech to go straight to what could have been the selling point of the entire broadcast IF it had come before January 1st.

"To save Nigeria, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices. On the part of Government, we are taking several measures aimed at cutting the size and cost of governance, including on-going and continuous effort to reduce the size of our recurrent expenditure and increase capital spending. In this regard, I have directed that overseas travels by all political office holders, including the President, should be reduced to the barest minimum. The size of delegations on foreign trips will also be drastically reduced; only trips that are absolutely necessary will be approved. For the year 2012, the basic salaries of all political office holders in the Executive arm of government will be reduced by 25%. Government is also currently reviewing the number of committees, commissions and parastatals with overlapping responsibilities. The Report on this will be submitted shortly and the recommendations will be promptly implemented. In the meantime, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies must reduce their overhead expenses."


Here's my very concise take on the statement. I have a strong phobia for the word "sacrifice" from time immemorial, Don't get me wrong, I make sacrifices, but I'd rather people suggest it to me using a thesaurus to check for similar words. By and large, I think it's unfair for the Nigerian government to ask for more sacrifices from us. Being a Nigerian comes with enormous sacrifices:

We provide our own security       http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16458743
We fix our own road                     http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/levy-yourselves-repair-roads
We are our own NEPA                        http://trendyafrica.com/?p=1581

Fortunately, GEJ has agreed (at least in a way) that removing fuel subsidy is not as important as slashing the cost of governance, genuinely fighting the image-denting issue of corruption and finding a fast and effective solution to the sectarian violence in the country. Therefore, my attempt to analyze the entire speech of Mr president will amount to a big waste of time, I already tweeted my opinions on that.

 Beyond the speech, the controversies and the apprehension of all things to expect as Nigeria remainsTh on the spotlight in the coming days, there is a common theme of struggle-for-control that both the George VI and  GEJ shared. Both also gained power owing to the misfortune of their predecessors. The monarch being the protagonist of the historical drama won the battle against stuttering, let's see how it goes around here.
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 I couldn’t join tuesday's anti-subsidy removal protest in Lagos, now I hope I can make up with this. By the time the dailies hit newsstands in the morning, my article should be on social network sites and my blog. First, let me sympathize with the family of the protester identified as Muyideen Mustafa, who was allegedly killed by members of the Nigerian Police in Ilorin, Kwara state.

A quick recap 

It was the first day of the year; the venue was a friend's place, the celebratory atmosphere - even without GEJ’s New Year gift - had been accompanied with plans, calculations and targets. There were enough to eat and so much to talk about but little did we know Mr President through the (not so popular until now) Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had greater plans that changed a whole lot already. 

The BREAKING NEWS:  “PPPRA officially announces the removal of fuel subsidy on Petroleum Motor Spirit a.k.a Petro…” was an expected attack that still had the same effect as if it was unexpected. My friends and I ran hysterically from one local station to the other, to God be the glory, we were not disappointed, Nollywood, Church programmes, Reality shows and other interesting programmes took precedence while the breaking news maintained its spot on the scroll bar for hours. Bills must be paid, right?! 

$8billion subsidy payout is expected to be spent on critical infrastructure, one of the many reasons the federal government gave for removing the subsidy on fuel, like we haven’t heard similar stories from regimes to administrations. OK! I’m sorry, that was a loud thought.

While we await updates, we started dissecting the issue. The summary:  Nigerians would adjust their lifestyles and laugh about it. We are good at relying on comic relief – the funny viral pictures; the cartoons, the dame ‘gbagaun’ jokes etc would come in handy on social network sites and smart phones, and it will only take days or weeks, max! till all is buried and cemented. That doesn't mean there wont be complains and arguments in danfos- where usually I find award-winning analysts, offices and schools - where people can tell the story of the shoeless GEJ better than his TV ad. 

One other thing that sells more like bread in this part of the world is hope and optimism. One good reason why religion is…hmm…not today’s topic.  So let’s look at hope as a government tool; some 20 years ago, a government assured my parents that certain policies were for the future generations...and that should be me and many of my friends who took to the streets yesterday. But no they would not stop there, they'd want me to entrust the future of my yet-to-be-born children on the same shaky pedestal.

Back in the room with my friends, usually human related stories such as the one that concerns the standard of living of the people would develop and generate swift reactions, we couldn’t hide our thirst for more, ‘let’s check twitter’ someone suggested...and that’s how and where a phase began.

WARNING: The tweets you are about to read are excerpts of stance and opinions of a small percentage of thousands of young and old Nigerians who started the virtual protest that transits to the streets. Meanwhile, I chose these tweets based on information available to me as at when i was writing, don’t take offense if your handle or tweets are not mentioned. My tweets are not even there.lol

The news 

@toluogunlesi See how the ‘Happy  New Years’ just vanished from lips and TLs. Thank you Goodluck #Nigeria #fuelsubsidyremoval

@seunokin GEJ has 1 unique trait amongst all Nigerian leaders& that is cluelessness! The man knows how best to annoy Nigerians #fuelsubsidy  1 Jan 5:08pm

Developing…
@idlove48 @desyst: Fuel is now being sold at a pump price of N138 1 Jan 6:04pm

@GbengaGOLD No leader has ever disrespected Nigerians on this scale in a singular move. He didn’t even have the courtesy to announce it himself.WTF Jan 2 8:48am

@toluOgunlesi “Remove Boko Haram, not fuel subsidy” -- @sansa2324 Jan 1 10:03pm

As an aside…
@hanneymusawa  As a muslim Northerner, the forces calling themselves Boko Haram DO NOT speak for me. Blumming annoying Bozo’s 2 Jan 4:17pm

The mobilization
@Ogundamisi BREAKING NEWS! LAGOS PROTEST! Begins Wed 3RD JAN 8.am at NLC Secretariat 29, Olujuwon Street opposite Tejuosho market yaba Lagos. 2 Jan 7:22pm 

No going back!
@Omojuwa I will protest! Not for anyone but because a people have been wronged and I will fight injustice all my life!

@ged I know many of us maybe arrested before we get to our meeting points…but we’ve to be ready for the task ahead. #subsidyremoval #Nigeria 2 Jan 2:36pm

@elrufai  just leaving the police SARS office & seen Dino Melaye + a dozen youth leaders being detained for ‘attempting to overthrow GEJ’S govt.!  2 Jan 9:23pm

E-coordinating
@ransanwo If you are protesting in #kaduna pls be on the watch out for thugs who may hijack the protest #occupyNigeria 3 Jan 9am

Stereotype?
@akinduro We should stop calling this #OccupyNigeria, pls. this is #SubsidyProtests ‘occupy’ is all about encampment. We all home now.  3 Jan 6pm

Still on the matter
@xeenarh official #OccupyNigeria contacts still needed in ABIA, AKWA-IBOM, ANAMBRA, BAUCH, BAYEL, BENUE,C-RIV, EBON, EKITI, JIG, KEB, NIG, SOK, ZAMF 4 Jan 3am

@yetmohO UK protest at Nigeria House London, Friday 6th jan, 1pm.  3 jan 5pm

As at the time I posted this on my blog, here are major stories on Nigerian national dailies...

http://www.punchng.com/news/reps-make-u-turn-on-subsidy-removal/ - 

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-summons-emergency-fec-meeting-as-protests-spread/106424/

watch this space


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