Members of the House of Representatives last Sunday lived up to expectations as the true representatives of the Nigerian people when they reconvened from their Christmas and new year holidays, to sit in an emergency session to urgently address the impending strike announced by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its allied bodies, to protest the sudden removal of the subsidy on fuel by the federal government.

That the removal of subsidy on petrol by the Federal Government on New Year Day has brought a lot of hardship on Nigerians hardly needs restating. What with tales of woe, especially by those who travelled for the festivities and got stranded because they could no longer pay their way back to their destinations among other problems?

Most residents of Rivers state were taken aback shortly after the nationwide strike commenced in Port Harcourt . The news said the state government had struck a deal with the state branch of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria , IPMAN to offset part of the cost of ensuring petrol sold for N137 per litre in the state.

I LOVE trains. I grew up using them. Every men tion of them floods me with memories, among them a speck of coal (coal powered the trains then) which fell into my eyes and left me with an uncomfortable red eye for days.

The massive protests this week show that Nigerians can do whatever they want if they really want to do it. The streets were deserted, offices, shops and markets shut while agitated crowd gathered at major points across the country to express their grivances.