By
Olatunji Abolore Quddus
Sir: I am writing to express my deep confusion, and frankly, my disappointment at the graveyard silence following the recent jump in petrol prices to N1,400 per litre. Just a few years ago, a N20 increase would have brought this country to a standstill.
Today, we are staring at a price hike that has tripled the cost of everything from a bag of sachet water to the “danfo” fare from Oshodi to Mushin, yet the streets are calm.
What happened to the “Sango” fire nature in our Labour unions who calls out workers for a strike action? Where are the human rights activists who used to occupy the television stations and the streets whenever the common man was being squeezed?
It feels like there is a “holy silence” because the fuel is coming from a local refinery instead of being imported by NNPCL. While we all want a local refinery to succeed, “made in Nigeria” should not mean “more expensive for Nigerians.” We were told that refining our own crude would save us from the madness of the Dollar, but here we are, tied to global oil prices and U.S.-Iran conflicts as if we don’t have the oil sitting under our own feet in the Delta.
The NLC and other bodies seem more interested in writing long press releases than in actually fighting for the poor. They talk about N154,000 minimum wage, but even if that is passed today, the N1,400 fuel price will swallow it before the month ends.
We cannot continue to suffer in silence just because we don’t want to “discourage” private investors. A hungry man doesn’t care about “market forces” or “deregulation.” He cares about how to get his children to school without spending his entire day’s profit on transport.
It is time for the NLC and our civil society groups to wake up. Silence in the face of this kind of hardship is not “patriotism”—it is abandonment.
Olatunji Abolore Quddus, a human resources practitioner, wrote from Lagos.
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