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Page added on January 4, 2012
Violence erupts in Nigeria over petrol prices
Protesters furious over spiralling petrol prices started fires on a motorway and at least one person was killed in the unrest after Nigeria’s government scrapped a subsidy that had kept fuel costs down for more than 20 years.
One union leader described the government’s hugely unpopular move as “immoral and politically suicidal” and urged Nigerians to resist “with everything they have”. But yesterday’s protest showed that, once unleashed, the pent-up anger of the masses could be hard to curtail.
Angry crowds vandalised petrol stations, intimidated owners into keeping their pumps unused and attacked a soldier, showing how easily the fragile peace in Africa’s most populous nation could lead to chaos.
One man threw cans of engine oil off the racks at a petrol station and tried to damage pumps. After union leader and chairman of the Joint Action Front, Dipo Fashina, asked the man to stop vandalising the station, he did, but later started one of the first bonfires of the protest in the middle of the motorway.
Other activists marched to the protest songs of the late Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who fought against the injustices of military rule in Nigeria. His musician son Seun walked shirtless among the demonstrators, as his father used to, and also made attempts to keep things civil.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene in Lagos said the protest had started with activists wielding signs and walking down a major route, but before long angry protesters lit bonfires and vandalised at least three petrol stations.
In the central city of Ilorin, another violent protest where policemen fired tear gas left a man dead. The National Labour Congress accused the police of shooting the “anti-fuel hike protester”.
But Kwara state police spokesman Dabo Ezekiel said the man was stabbed by motorcycle-taxi drivers angry because they believed he was against their cause. Mr Ezekiel could not say what triggered the attack.
The Nigerian government’s quiet announcement over the long New Year weekend that the popular subsidy was being ended triggered a wave of protests in Africa’s most populous nation of 160 million.
The government says it will use £5.1 billion in savings to make much-needed infrastructure improvements, but previous attempts to even tamper with the subsidy have been met with nationwide protests.
Yesterday the rapidly growing group of Lagos protesters were going from petrol station to station, telling owners not to sell fuel at the increased prices of about £2.24 a gallon (60p a litre).
That is more than double what consumers paid only days ago for the fuel desperately needed to power the generators that keep many businesses running in Nigeria, where the national electricity supply can be described as sporadic at best.
President Goodluck Jonathan announced on Monday that he had set up a committee to ensure that the savings from the subsidy’s end would be invested effectively to improve the quality of life of Nigerians.
Few, though, have seen any benefit from the country’s vast oil wealth over decades of production, and a culture of distrust of government permeates Nigerian society.
And the unrest over rising petrol prices is only further adding to Nigeria’s security woes. Mr Jonathan already declared a state of emergency over the weekend in parts of the country hit by a growing Islamic insurgency that is fuelled in part by widespread poverty.
And the petrol price hike is likely to result in even higher prices in the landlocked and violence-plagued north, as Nigeria’s refined oil is mainly imported through ports in the country’s south.
The new petrol price is just over double Sunday’s price of about £1.08 a gallon (29p a litre). Most Nigerians subsist on just £1.28 a day and the rising petrol prices are expected to force food prices to spiral as well.
5 Comments on "Violence erupts in Nigeria over petrol prices"
DC on Wed, 4th Jan 2012 3:57 pm
Eventually, the free-ride big oil has enjoyed for a over a century at the worlds expense, will have to come to an end. At some point, everyone will have to pay the real price of fossil-fuels. It wont happen easily, and probably not soon enough, but happen it will. So, will there be rioting in the streets when it our turn to pay the piper? I wonder how obese North amerikans plan to get up off there couches and march 30 miles to the nearest …..what? govt building to protest. Our car dependant cities are actually designed to make protests nearly impossible. If you cant drive 50 miles to the nearest protest rally to protest the fact you cant really drive anymore, then youll have to yell at your TV I guess.
Whats really Ironic here is, had nigeria actually controlled the resource, and not Shell, Nigeria would probably be fairly well off by world standards and would be able to afford things like, I donno, law and order, public transit and so on. Shells theft of the that nations wealth, minus bribes for the ruling elite, mean Nigeria has little to show for its oil wealth, just miseray, pollution and civil war.
jaime on Wed, 4th Jan 2012 9:20 pm
Is this s$*%? hitting the fan,that every one is talking about?
Kenz300 on Wed, 4th Jan 2012 10:13 pm
The oil embargo of the 1970’s produced high prices, long gas lines, rationing of fuel, higher unemployment and business failures. Not a pleasant prospect. People are not prepared for the disruption and impact on daily life a spike in oil prices would cause. Every individual, business and politician needs to develop a plan for greater energy self sufficiency. How will you react if the price of gasoline goes up to $6 or $7 or $10 a gallon in the US?
Do you live too far away to walk or ride a bicycle to work? Those electric vehicles may be a much more viable option if that happens.
DC on Thu, 5th Jan 2012 12:02 am
Ken…for the last time, EVs, for all there virtues, are still cars. And the biggest problem with cars, are cars themselves. But even more problematic for you, EVs are made form…get ready for it…OIL! EVS are not manufactured from Solar or Wind generated electricy, there 100% made from oil. And EVs are allready far more costly now@the artifically low gas prices amerikans pay. Just how much do you think an EV will cost to produce when gas does hit tht 5-7-10 dollar range?
Hint:not cheaper, if anyone will be makeing them at all. If gas is $10.00 a gal, it still be hugely cost effective to produce and distibute bikes, but EVs, Bio-fool or the even more ridiculous Hydrogen Fool-Cell vehicle fantasy….Not a chance. A 10 dollar a gal economy will be the end of mass-consumer society as we know and love it. Severe rationing by price will mean the wealthy will keep driveing, and consumeing yes, but the bottom will essentially fall out of the system, leaveing a lot of poeple in the lurch. There will be no EVs for them…period.
kijanawawatu on Fri, 6th Jan 2012 10:06 pm
I really don know what Nigerians are whining about. They should come to kenya where we pay $1.50 per litre and we move on in our day to day activities normally.
The difference between the two countries is that Nigeria is an OPEC country while Kenya imports petroleum. But instead on Nigerians concentrating on developing their country, they are busy fighting religious wars as their ass corrupt leaders and western fuel companies defile their oil wealth. WAKE UP