UPDATE, 2/9/2012: Yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed his rival in last year’s presidential election, Nuhu Ribadu, as chairman of a new oil task force dedicated to tracking revenues paid to the government, and monitoring crude oil production and exports. Mr. Ribadu is formerly the chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and accepted the post at the helm of the 21-man Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force despite his political affiliations because of the “national consensus” on the “deadly impact of corruption.”

What is the fuel subsidy?
Though Nigeria produces more than 2 million barrels of oil a day, the vast majority of Nigerians see limited benefits from their country’s natural resources. Nigeria has four oil refineries that only operate at about 23 percent of their potential capacity — and as a result, the government has had to import refined products such as petrol to meet the needs of citizens. The government paid the importers in order to control the price, kept low at $1.70 a gallon, thus ensuring that Nigerians were able, until January 1st, to enjoy the low fuel price as one of the benefits of the crude oil they produce.

Why did the government remove it?
On the first day of the year, President Goodluck Jonathan removed the hefty fuel subsidy. Though the subsidy keeps fuel prices low for Nigerians, the cost of the subsidy comes out of government coffers. The $8 billion per year the government was spending on the fuel subsidy is equivalent to more than 25 percent of the government’s annual budget. Many observers argue that subsidies do not ultimately benefit the poor and the money could be better spent in social sectors such as education or public health.

SEE ALSO: Occupy Nigeria

What was the response to its removal?
The removal of the fuel subsidy, and the immediate increase in the price of fuel, transportation and food, came abruptly, and disregarded ongoing negotiations with the labor unions and civil society. The cost of a gallon of gas increased from $1.70 to $3.50 overnight. Tens of thousands of Nigerians protested the removal of the subsidy and Nigeria’s major labor unions organized strikes shutting down businesses, schools and air travel for 8 days. The fundamental grievance Nigerians had with the removal of the subsidy was not just the resultant increase in fuel prices but also that the subsidy regime was a well-oiled corruption machine that should have been addressed before the subsidy itself was removed.

Why was the removal partially reinstated?
The Nigerian President restored part of the fuel subsidy on January 16. This brought the price of a gallon of gas down to $2.27, and ended the biggest protests in Nigeria’s history. The deal also forestalled a plan by the trade unions to halt the country’s oil production, a move which would have hurt Nigeria’s economy.

What does the episode say about governance in Nigeria?
Though the President announced that the removal of the fuel subsidy would give the government the means to fix the country’s many basic infrastructure problems, most Nigerians remain skeptical that these noble objectives will ever be realized. This is because there was no way to ensure that the money would go to meet these goals. Nigeria has been plagued for decades by corruption and mismanagement especially in the oil sector.

The abrupt nature of the removal of the subsidy which was seen by some as act of insensitivity by a government that is out of touch with the economic struggles of the majority of the Nigerian people. Even with a more gradual plan, transparency and accountability would be necessary to ensure Nigerians know that the funds are being properly channeled to projects and social development programs that would benefit the poor. While the partial reinstatement of the subsidy has quelled the protests and kept the economy going, the root causes of the protests remain unresolved.

What is different about these protests?
A bulging middle class with access to the internet took to social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter to swell the protests, which organized under an “#OccupyNigeria” banner based on similar movements in Europe and the US. These platforms, and the general message that the government was not listening to the voices of the Nigerian people, gave the middle-class a channel through which to make their voices heard and engage with other protesters.

Nigeria has had a turbulent start to 2012, with fuel subsidy protests and deadly bombings by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Keep an eye out for updates on the landscape of governance in Nigeria on the ONE Blog.

Furious Nigerians have since taken to the streets, staging ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protests and mass demonstrations across the country.

Police have responded forcefully with many arrests. At least one person has died amid the unrest: 23-year-old student Muyideen Mustafa was allegedly hit by a police bullet in Ilorin, Kwara State.

A police spokesman in Kano State also confirmed to CNN that they fired teargas into a crowd staging a midnight protest Wednesday in order to disperse a largely peaceful demonstration by Muslims and Christians.

For more information on the clashes, CNN has been following this story pretty closely and up-to-the-minute. And for a digestible rundown on the background leading up to the Nigerian government’s decision to eliminate the fuel subsidy, I’d recommend this useful Wikipedia entry.

The Nigerian elections were scheduled to commence on Saturday, April 2nd with the parliamentary elections preceding the April 9th presidential elections and the April 16th gubernatorial elections.

The elections started hours late and after millions of people successfully cast their votes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a directive to all wards to stop voting. The official reason stated for postponing the elections was said to be a delay in getting the ballot papers to all the wards, especially in remote areas of the country, because of their late arrival into the country.

Saturday April 4th (along with the next few Saturdays) had been declared curfew days in order to try to maintain security and curtail electoral fraud; in the past, ballot boxes have mysteriously disappeared from polling stations. With fewer cars on the road, INEC felt they would have more control of the voting outcomes. This also brought the country to a standstill over the weekend as most people were confined to their homes and walked to their nearest voting wards.

The initial directive stated that the new dates for parliamentary elections would be April 4th, but late on April 3rd, news started filtering in announcing that the election schedule had been re-calibrated and would instead commence on April 9th (parliament), April 16th (presidential) and April 26th (gubernatorial). Some of the questions that trail this disastrous start to the elections is what is to become of the voting papers that registered the votes of millions of people on Saturday April 2nd? Can INEC ensure that this papers will not be used by any party to manipulate voting outcomes when they do in fact begin?

The Head of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, came into the job with an impeccable reputation and most feel he will do his best to implement credible elections. This remains to be seen as the next few weeks will reveal more.

These elections have started out peaceful but rocky. Despite outbreaks of violence in a few wards, in most areas, voting was orderly and surprisingly calm despite the long lines and the delays while people waited for voting to commence. As long as there are no indications of manipulation favoring one party over another, it is in fact possible that these elections will be successful and free of violence.

Once again, Nigerians have been ranked the happiest, most optimistic and most hopeful in the world. As one of many Nigerians dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, it’s easy to disagree, especially given how the country and its people are portrayed in the media. Nigerians have spent the majority of our 50 years of independence under military self-rule and the country ranks among the highest in corruption indicators every year. We’ve been beset by militant religious and ethnic strife in some regions, and of course, we’ve failed the democratic electoral process three times in a row.

So, why are we so happy?

The answer may defy conventional wisdom. Despite assertions made by scholars about colonial boundaries forcing ethnic groups into national conglomerations that can’t coalesce, the nation-building exercise is working in Nigeria. We believe in our country. If Nigeria hasn’t lived up to its potential, it’s not because the country is unsustainable. It’s because Nigerians haven’t lived up to Nigeria’s potential. I think Nigerians are innately, if unconsciously, connected to our national identity. We love the idea of Nigeria. We still feel that we are a young nation with the power to shape our future. We are a patriotic people, but we don’t measure our commitment to the country by a willingness to sacrifice our lives for it — we do so by our willingness to be identified as Nigerians. One of our leaders once said, “I won’t die for Nigeria, but I’ll live for Nigeria.”

And we do have reason to celebrate. We are a big fish in the small pond that the world has designated Africa. Nigeria has, by far, the largest population on the continent. We have a formidable army which we are not afraid to use for peacekeeping activities and we are a recognized stabilizing force on the continent. Of course, we have the always entertaining and talented national Super Eagles football team, which alternately frustrates and uplifts the whole continent. We are also a very adventurous people who contribute to the communities we join everywhere in the world — check yourlocal university faculty, hospital, hotel, law firm or market, and you willfind a Nigerian. This is because we don’t love Nigeria to the exclusion of all else. We love to travel and live. At home, we Telenovellas and Bollywood movies, and language is not an issue. We love American jeans, Arabian scents and Chinese goods.

Nigerians are very tuned into our funny bone. Sometimes humor is all that holds us to together.We are a country that imports what we have, oil, and exports what we need to acquire the most: democracy. We are constant victims of, and internationally defined by, fraud. So much so that we renamed the word forthe section of our criminal code related to it: 419. Yet, we laugh at419ers when they get away with it and we laugh when they get caught.

Like America, Nigeria is not just a country to us, it’s an idea. And every Nigerian has a Nigerian dream. We are a people that believe in ourselves, individually and collectively. Every one of us believes that the future is ours — that we, and the country, can “make it.” And this belief sustains us and makes us happy, even as we remain unaware of it.

This week in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, the critically important party conventions to decide the candidates for the April 2011 elections have been underway.

The incumbent party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), proceeded first on January 13th. The convention took place in the middle of Abuja, the capital city, amidst tight security aimed at preventing a repeat of the Christmas day bombings that resulted in the deaths of several Nigerians out celebrating the holidays. The Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta (MEND) rebel group claimed responsibility for those attacks and had warned that they would continue to disrupt any attempts to convene political events.

The PDP conventions did go on peacefully, with voting by more than 3,000 delegates representing the 36 states of the country. The last tallies were not called until early on January 14th with the results favoring incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. His main opponent, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, secured only 700 of the more than 3,000 votes cast.

The main opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), followed the PDP’s convention with their Lagos-held event, which drew many of the leaders from the Southern States, where the ACN has developed their
stronghold, as well as a few northern leaders. The front contender in their convention was Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, popularly known for his role as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) until he was forced to leave following his very successful but controversial efforts to tackle corruption in the government. Shortly after the convention started, the two other candidates withdrew their candidacy, leaving Ribadu to stand as the sole contender and eventually supporting his nomination as the 2011 ACN nominee for the presidential elections.

Last week, the former Head of State Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was elected as the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at its national convention. There was no opposition against him. This is the third time in a row that the former military Head of State is contesting for the presidency of the country. In the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections, he contested on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP. It is being speculated that the ACN and CPC will eventually strike a deal and form a coalition against the PDP. This could ultimately prove to be a very real threat to the PDP.

The last major convention scheduled, for the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), will take place tomorrow, Saturday, January 15th, and contenders will include a former presidential candidate, Othman Tofa, the northern Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau and the wealthy politician, Harry Akande.

The response to the results of the conventions held so far have been mixed. Many feel that delegate votes are being bought while others have applauded the transparent manner in which the conventions are being conducted, televised from start to finish. If one were to take a pessimistic view you could say that when you buy votes, you save the trouble of stuffing the ballot box and can conduct “transparent elections”. Without any evidence to substantiate these claims, I’ll take the optimistic view and congratulate the parties for successfully conducted party conventions.

Finally, Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, has decided to set up a Sovereign Wealth Fund, safeguarding some of its riches for future generations. Since the discovery of large petroleum deposits in the late 1950s, there have been several attempts to put aside some of the unexpected bounty that comes from rising oil prices. The most recent version of these initiatives was the aptly named the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

At the end of 2007, there was $20 billion in the ECA, but sadly it has dwindled down to barely $400 million in recent months. The depletion was due to state governments claiming their share of the account in order to stabilize their local economies, which were affected by the financial crisis. There was no constitutional barrier to prevent the raiding of the account.

Nigeria’s new Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs, announced in September that a Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund draft bill has been submitted to the National Assembly. The fund has already been seeded with $1 billion of capital.

This is very good news for the future generations of Nigeria since little of the $1.6 trillion the country has earned from petroleum resources has been conserved. It is important that the bill be passed because this will give the fund the necessary legitimacy to protect its assets from getting into the wrong hands and from the vagaries of changing regimes.

Osahon Akpata was born and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. After completing his undergraduate degree in accounting and finance in England, he moved to the US where he has had an extensive career in finance and marketing. Osahon is currently enrolled for an MBA at Columbia University in New York City. He is working on a project evaluating Nigeria’s proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund as part of his coursework.

Great news on the transparency and corruption front: Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan recently announced a multibillion dollar plan that would help repair and privatize the country’s corrupt national power grid.

Nigeria shouldn’t have had any problems with electricity in the first place — oil and natural gas are some of the country’s biggest resources. But the power grid was so corrupt and unreliable that people had to depend on their own generators for energy.

According to the Nigerian finance minister, moves to improve electricity production could bring economic growth of 10 percent a year by 2011. Experts also say it would help boost employment and productivity — imagine how much more work you could get done if you didn’t have to worry about the lights flickering on and off!

Although many people are doubtful whether President Jonathan will follow through (I guess it’s probably worth noting that he’s running for reelection in January), it’s still a big leap in the fight against corruption and should be recognized. Let’s not forget that Africa loses around $148 billion each year as a result of corruption alone.

While President Goodluck Jonathan probably won’t need our good luck, we wish it to him anyway. We’ll always be here to promote and support any move toward accountability, transparency and stability.

Billionaires Balk at Buffett and Gates Initiative – A brouhaha has been brewing in China amid rampant speculation that Chinese billionaires are dodging invitations to a banquet hosted by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett later this month… because they are nervous about being hit up for donations. (ABC News)

Uneasy Calm Returns to Mozambique After Last Week’s Violence – The head of news and current affairs at Mozambique television told VOA an uneasy calm has returned to the capital, Maputo, and surrounding areas hit last week by violent protests over rising prices that left at least 13 dead and hundreds injured. (VOA)

Four million poor children dying ‘of neglect’ – Save the Children says there have been four million preventable child deaths over the past 10 years because states have failed to help the poorest. (BBC)

Nigeria army in Maiduguri after ‘Boko Haram attacks’ - The army is conducting joint patrols with the police in Nigeria’s northern city of Maiduguri after a wave of killings blamed on the Islamist sect, Boko Haram. The police have also banned riding motorcycles at night as several of the shootings were carried out by people on motorbikes. Twelve people, including seven policemen, have died in the past month. (BBC)

South Africa Unions’ Strike Suspended – South Africa’s trade unions Monday suspended an almost three-week-old strike by hundreds of thousands of government workers that had closed schools and hamstrung ambitious new efforts to expand urgently needed medical services in the region’s richest but most inequitable economy. (NY Times)

China, South Africa Sign Deals To Deepen Ties In Resources, Energy — China and South Africa on Tuesday signed a raft of commercial deals in mining, finance, nuclear energy and other sectors. The deals were made during a visit to China by South African President Jacob Zuma. China is South Africa’s top trading partner, and South Africa’s economy–more developed than many others in the region–has been a focal point of a broader Chinese push into the continent aimed at securing resources and expanding China’s international clout. (Wall Street Journal)

At Least 33 People Killed in Attack on Somali Hotel — Somali insurgents disguised as police officers stormed a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday morning and opened fire, killing at least 33 people, including 6 lawmakers, in one of the deadliest attacks in months, Somali officials said. The hotel attack seems to be part of a bigger offensive that insurgents opened on Monday against government forces and shows that the insurgents have figured out how to infiltrate nearly every inch of Mogadishu, even within the parts of the city that the government claims it firmly controls. (New York Times)

Transparency on extractive industries will help beat corruption — Frank Vogl of Transparency International writes that the requirement of oil, gas and mining companies to report their financial dealings with African governments, a new provision included in the recently passed U.S. financial legislation, may now lead to a quantum leap in fighting corruption and bringing needed transparency to such industries. (Financial Times, letter by Frank Vogl)

Billions of aid dollars buy U.S. little goodwill in Pakistan — The U.S. government has provided about $18 billion in civilian and military aid to Pakistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Yet according to a Pew Research Center survey released last month, half of Pakistanis believe the United States gives little to no assistance here. For Obama administration officials, that’s a source of deep anxiety — and frustration. U.S. officials say aid money is making a positive impact, if not always a widely noticed one. (Washington Post)

Aid agency warns of ‘double disaster’ for Niger — Niger has been hit by a double disaster as recent floods compound an existing food crisis, the UK aid agency Oxfam said this week. Aid workers are struggling to help thousands of people affected by the floods which have hit many areas of West and Central Africa. Oxfam says the situation is stretching resources to the limit as it also tries to respond to the food shortages. Nearly eight million people, or half the population, are already facing hunger because of failed harvests. (BBC News)

Rwandan Rebels Raped at Least 179 Women in Congo, Humanitarian Officials Say — A mob of Rwandan rebels raped at least 179 women last month during a weekend raid on a community of villages in eastern Congo, the United Nations said Monday. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or F.D.L.R., was blamed for the attack. The F.D.L.R. is an ethnic Hutu rebel group that has been terrorizing the hills of eastern Congo for years, preying on villages in a quest for the natural resources beneath them. (New York Times)

Cholera outbreak kills 200 in Cameroon: Cholera has killed 200 people in Cameroon and aid agencies feared the outbreak could spread to neighboring regions and nations. The disease is caused by contaminated water and about 70 percent of people living in the country’s far north region, bordering Nigeria and Chad, do not have access to potable water. Sanitation is also limited in the area and recent flooding has aggravated the situation. (CNN)

Reform in Rwanda: The Financial Times argues there are two reasons Paul Kagame was re-elected to Rwandan president with 93 percent of the vote. First, Kagame has turned Rwanda into one of the least corrupt, most secure countries in Africa. Second, he eliminated any opposition. (Financial Times)

Party Says Nigeria President Can Run in Vote: Nigeria’s ruling party is allowing President Goodluck Jonathan to run in next year’s election, despite an informal agreement calling for a Muslim candidate. The unwritten agreement calls for the presidency to alternate between Christians and Muslims. (Wall Street Journal)

Sierra Leone: New Agriculture Plan Sprouts: Sierra Leone’s finance minister has announced the government will increase the agriculture budget from 7.7 percent to 9.9 percent. The budget will go to facilitating and strengthening small and medium scale farmers as well as promoting large scale farming and the development of agri-business. The budget is also intended to facilitate access to markets for selected commodities like rice, oil palm, cocoa and fisheries. (Mohamed Fofanah, AllAfrica.com)

Uganda: Donors Should Review Aid Cut : Development partners plan a 10% cut of their $360M contribution to Uganda’s budget this year because of government corruption. The New Vision argues however that donors should know that the aid cut will impact the poor more negatively than the state officials, as social services will most likely be cut because of budget constraints. (New Vision)

Kenya not out of woods despite constitution vote: Kenya’s long-awaited new constitution is facing a lengthy implementation process that could take years. The law that aims to check presidential powers and curb the corruption, political patronage, land-grabbing and tribalism faces challenges of competing politicians sharing positions on the implementation committee. The concern is whether politicians who opposed the law will try to block it if chosen to be on the committee. (James Macharia, Reuters)