Chaos theory

As things go, there's nothing else in the news to talk about other than the nationwide protests over the removal of fuel subsidies. The noise being made has reached such a crescendo that the government in a fit of panic(?) has started to go on the offensive, albeit slowly. Some top government functionaries have also started began to defend themselves.

Yesterday, both the Minister of Finance and the governor of the Central Bank appeared on a television programme and somewhere along the lines, we were told that the governors of our states are the people behind the heavy new year present that we received.

However, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala did offer us a present in the sense that she announced that transporters had agreed with the government to reduce fares despite the fuel increases. Given that the vast majority of transporters in the country are private concerns who are set up to run for profit, we wonder quite how that will happen. Unless of course, the government wants to subsidise transport costs. Oops! That word again, subsidy...

The government on its own part has adopted a rather tough stance in the whole matter, what with the Head of Service reducing all of our federal civil servants to primary school pupils who have to sign a register and appear at work. Bobs, na wa o!

Sadly though, we do not harbour too much hope about the sustainability of this mass action. You see, the unfortunate reality is that Nigerians in general live a subsistence existence, day-to-day, and the urge to go out and find the day's daily bread is equally as important as the urge to tell the government to roll back a rather punishing policy. In reality, the urge for daily bread is even more important as the occupants of Abuja's satellite towns are proving.

Meanwhile in the day's funniest piece of news, the government has decided to investigate the activities of this elusive cabal. Something they should have done in the first place. The arrangement of carts and horses comes to mind here...