Abati: Egypt/Tunisia: It could happen here

Guardian

4 February 2011

Abati: Egypt/Tunisia: It could happen here

By Reuben Abati Opinion - Columnists

IT all started in Tunisia with an aggrieved vegetable and fruits seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, setting himself ablaze in protest against bureaucratic dictatorship. Bouazizi will now be remembered forever as a martyr whose death drew fresh attention to fault lines in governance in the Arab world. Bouazizi died because he was fed up with government officials asking him to pay bribe and all kinds of charges, ostensibly to go into the purse of a state that has not been able to offer him a life, or perhaps into the pockets of cruel state officials.  One of the four agents who accosted Bouazizi slapped him, another kicked him in the face, he begged but they would not listen to him. His goods were seized.

He went to the town hall and asked for the return of his goods, he was refused; he also later went to the main government where he was again, rebuffed. He insisted on seeing the governor. The police said No. He cried and begged. Nobody listened to him. Bouazizi at that point resolved that there was no point remaining alive. His frustration took him to the tipping point. He left government premises. Then, he went and bought a bottle of petrol with which he set himself ablaze. He was not the only unemployed person in his family, or in Tunisia, but his encounter with the Tunisian state alienated him further and turned him into a lighting rod for revolt.  “We are all unemployed”, his sister said. Unemployment rate in Tunisia is 13.3%. Sounds like Nigeria? Yes, in every material particular, except that the unemployment rate in Nigeria is even higher, the figure in Nigeria is about 19.7%. Almost half of 15 to 24 year olds living in urban areas in Nigeria are jobless. More than 70% of the population lives on less than a dollar per day.

+++ 

It is worth noting that Tunisia and Egypt are far more efficient states than Nigeria, and many other countries in sub-saharan Africa. Unemployment rate may be high in Tunisia and Egypt, but the people enjoy regular electricity and the quality of life is fair. In Tunisia, there is even a social insurance system that provides maternity payments, family benefits as well as disability and old age insurance. Pensioners in Tunisia are paid on time; there is also unemployment benefit, the women enjoy civil and political rights. The country recognises equal pay for equal work! The major problem is prevailing poor human rights practices in the shape of arbitrary arrests and the torture of detained persons, and poverty - the cause of significant alienation. The quality of life and the economy in Egypt and other countries of the Middle East where protest is raging are also far better than what obtains in sub-saharan Africa. If people who enjoy all these privileges can still go onto the streets, then, Nigerians must be a special breed indeed.

Bouazizi killed himself because no government official was willing to listen to his grievances. Nigerians are used to that. In fact, they do not expect any kindness from public officials. Bouazizi refused to give bribe.  In Nigeria, the people are willing to offer bribe to civil servants and public officials. Tunisian policemen brutalized the

Tunisian street

vendor and he felt he should lodge an official protest. In Nigeria, the people are used to being beaten by policemen and other uniformed officers, rarely do we have such a case as that of the lady who took the Nigerian Navy to court when naval ratings brutalized  her. In Egypt, the soldiers have refused to shoot the people on sight; in Nigeria, the conduct of the military remains unpredictable in a season of turmoil.

There may be no doubt that Nigerians have shown a remarkable capacity for resistance in the past and the history of protest in our land is rich and varied. Recent examples will include the protest against military rule, and the principled objection to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s attempt to extend his tenure in office. The revolt in the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria also point to distortions within the Nigerian system, and the anger of an aggrieved segment of the populace.  However, local protests are not always targeted at misgovernance or the people’s yearning for change and progress; often they are coloured by religion and ethnicity making cases of sustained objections occasional and episodic.