6 - From Subalterns to Independent Actors? Youth, Social Media and the Fuel Subsidy Protests of January 2012 in Nigeria
Corresponding Author(s) : Christopher Akor
Africa Development,
Vol. 42 No. 2 (2017): Africa Development: Special Issue on Study on Oblique Identity Dynamics
Abstract
This article explores issues around the changing nature of social networks and social movements involving youth in Nigeria. Using the youth-driven 2012 fuel subsidy protests, the article raises two fundamental questions. First, do the youth-led protests represent a genuine shift for the youth from being mere subalterns to neo-patrimonial power groups to a more assertive role, which seeks to challenge the power structure in the country, or are they simply frustrated expressions of marginality? Second, in what ways have social media affected social networks and movements and their capacity for mobilization in Nigeria? It appears that the bourgeoning youth population in Nigeria has led to a realization by youth groups of their power to substantially affect the course and conduct of governance in the country. On 1 January 2012, the Nigerian government unilaterally decided to remove the subsidy on petrol leading to a 120 per cent increase in the price of the product. The move provided opportunities for youth resistance through social media. This article uses insights from this protest to explore these questions and show the fluid nature of youth social networks and movements.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Abang, M., 2012, ‘I Was Not Part of Occupy Nigeria Because of Government Palliatives – NANS President’, Citizens Platform, 23 April, http://citizensplatform.net/2012/04/i-was-not-part-of-occupynigeria-because-of-government-palliatives-nans-president/, accessed 25 May 2013.
- Abati, R., 2012, ‘The Jonathan They Do Not Know’, Premium Times, 19 August, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/97682-jonathan-is-not-a-drunk-says-reuben-abati. html, accessed 25 May 2013.
- Abbink, J., 2005, ‘Being Young in Africa: The Politics of Despair and Renewal’, in Abbink,J. and Van Kessel, I., eds., Vanguard or Vandals: Youth, Politics and Conflict in Africa, Brill: Leiden.
- Adebanwi, W., 2005, ‘The Carpenter’s Revolt: Youth Violence and the Reinvention of Culture in Nigeria’, Journal of Modern African Studies 43 (3): 339–65.
- Adebanwi, W. and Obadare, E., eds., 2013, Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: Critical Interpretations, New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Akintola, B., 2010, ‘The Perils of Protest: State Repression and Student Mobilization in Nigeria’, in Adebanwi, W. and Obadare, E. eds., Encountering the Nigerian State, New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Bray, R. et al., 2010, Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-apartheid Cape Town, Cape Town: HSRC Press.
- Chabal, P. and Daloz, J., 1999, Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument, Oxford: James Currey.
- Cruise O’Brian, D.B., 1996, ‘A Lost Generation? Youth Identity and State Decay in West Africa’, in Werbner, R. and Ranger, T., eds., Postcolonial Identities in Africa, London: Zed.
- De Boeck F. and Alcinda, H., eds., 2005, Makers and Breakers: Made and Broken: Children and Youth as Emerging Categories in Postcolonial Africa, Oxford: James Currey.
- Dudley, B.J., 1982, An Introduction to Nigerian Government and Politics, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Ekeh, P., 1975, ‘Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 17 (1): 91–112.
- Erdmann, G., 2013, ‘Neopatrimonialism and Political Regimes’, in Cheeseman, N., Anderson, D. and Scheibler, A., eds., Routledge Handbook of African Politics, Abingdon and New York NY: Routledge.
- Ering, S.O. and Akpan, F.U., 2012, ‘The Politics of Fuel Subsidy, Populist Resistance and its Socio-Economic Implications for Nigeria’, Global Journal of Human Social Science 12 (7).
- Gore, C. and Pratten, D, 2003, ‘The Politics of Plunder: The Rhetoric of Order and Disorder in Southern Nigeria’, African Affairs 102 (407): 211–40.
- Guyer, J.I. and Denzer, L. ‘Prebendalism and the People: The Price of Petrol at the Pump’, in Adebanwi, W. and Obadare, E., Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: Critical interpretations, New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Harneit-Sievers, A., 2002, ‘Review: Federalism and Ethnic Studies in Nigeria by RotimiSuberu’, Africa Today 49 (3): 138–40.
- Iwilade, A., 2013, ‘Crisis as Opportunity: Youth, Social Media and the Renegotiation of Power in Africa’, Journal of Youth Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2013.772572.
- Joseph, R. A., 1987, Democracy and Prebenclal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Maier, K., 2002, This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis, New York NY: Basic Books. Nolte, I., 2004, ‘Identity and Violence: The Politics of Youth in Ijebu-Remo, Nigeria’,Journal of Modern African Studies 42 (1): 61–89.
- Obi, C., 2006, Youth and Generational Dimensions to the Struggle for Resource Control in the Niger Delta: Prospects for the Nation-State Project in Nigeria, Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Odebola, N. et al., 2012, ‘Lagos Fuel Protests Sponsored – Jonathan’, The Punch Newspaper, 19 September, http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-fuel-subsidy-protests-sponsored-jonathan/, accessed 25 May 2013.
- Odenyi, P., 2012, ‘Fuel Subsidy Removal, Ill-Timed – IBB’, Vanguard Newspaper, 2 January,
- http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/ibb-condemns-fuel-subsidy-removal-says-its- ill-timed/, accessed 25 May 2013.
- Nwoko, K.C., 2009, ‘Trade Unionism and Governance in Nigeria: A Paradigm Shift from Labour Activism to Political Opposition’, Information, Society and Justice 2 (2): 139–52.
- Okafor, C.O., 2009, ‘Remarkable Returns: The Influence of a Labour-led Socioeconomic Rights Movement on Legislative Reasoning, Process and Action in Nigeria, 1999– 2007’, Journal of Modern African Studies 47 (2): 241–66.
- Okafor, C.O., 2010, ‘Between Elite Interests and Pro-Poor Resistance: The Nigerian Courts and Labour-Led Anti-Fuel Price Hike Struggles (1999–2007)’, Journal of African Law 54 (1): 95–118.
- Okpaga, A., Ugwu, S.C. and Eme, O.I., 2012, ‘Deregulation and Anti-subsidy Removal Strikes in Nigeria’, Arabian Journal of Business Management Review (OMAN Chapter) 1 (7): 69–83.
- Smith S., 2011, ‘Youth in Africa: Rebels Without a Cause but not Without Effect’, SIAS Review 31 (2): 97–110.
- Van Zyk Slabbert, F. et al., 1994, Youth in the New South Africa, Pretoria: HSRC Press. Watts, M., 2007, ‘Petro-Insurgency or Criminal Syndicate? Conflict and Violence in the Niger Delta’, Review of African Political Economy 34 (114): 637–60.
References
Abang, M., 2012, ‘I Was Not Part of Occupy Nigeria Because of Government Palliatives – NANS President’, Citizens Platform, 23 April, http://citizensplatform.net/2012/04/i-was-not-part-of-occupynigeria-because-of-government-palliatives-nans-president/, accessed 25 May 2013.
Abati, R., 2012, ‘The Jonathan They Do Not Know’, Premium Times, 19 August, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/97682-jonathan-is-not-a-drunk-says-reuben-abati. html, accessed 25 May 2013.
Abbink, J., 2005, ‘Being Young in Africa: The Politics of Despair and Renewal’, in Abbink,J. and Van Kessel, I., eds., Vanguard or Vandals: Youth, Politics and Conflict in Africa, Brill: Leiden.
Adebanwi, W., 2005, ‘The Carpenter’s Revolt: Youth Violence and the Reinvention of Culture in Nigeria’, Journal of Modern African Studies 43 (3): 339–65.
Adebanwi, W. and Obadare, E., eds., 2013, Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: Critical Interpretations, New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Akintola, B., 2010, ‘The Perils of Protest: State Repression and Student Mobilization in Nigeria’, in Adebanwi, W. and Obadare, E. eds., Encountering the Nigerian State, New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bray, R. et al., 2010, Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-apartheid Cape Town, Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Chabal, P. and Daloz, J., 1999, Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument, Oxford: James Currey.
Cruise O’Brian, D.B., 1996, ‘A Lost Generation? Youth Identity and State Decay in West Africa’, in Werbner, R. and Ranger, T., eds., Postcolonial Identities in Africa, London: Zed.
De Boeck F. and Alcinda, H., eds., 2005, Makers and Breakers: Made and Broken: Children and Youth as Emerging Categories in Postcolonial Africa, Oxford: James Currey.
Dudley, B.J., 1982, An Introduction to Nigerian Government and Politics, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Ekeh, P., 1975, ‘Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 17 (1): 91–112.
Erdmann, G., 2013, ‘Neopatrimonialism and Political Regimes’, in Cheeseman, N., Anderson, D. and Scheibler, A., eds., Routledge Handbook of African Politics, Abingdon and New York NY: Routledge.
Ering, S.O. and Akpan, F.U., 2012, ‘The Politics of Fuel Subsidy, Populist Resistance and its Socio-Economic Implications for Nigeria’, Global Journal of Human Social Science 12 (7).
Gore, C. and Pratten, D, 2003, ‘The Politics of Plunder: The Rhetoric of Order and Disorder in Southern Nigeria’, African Affairs 102 (407): 211–40.
Guyer, J.I. and Denzer, L. ‘Prebendalism and the People: The Price of Petrol at the Pump’, in Adebanwi, W. and Obadare, E., Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: Critical interpretations, New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harneit-Sievers, A., 2002, ‘Review: Federalism and Ethnic Studies in Nigeria by RotimiSuberu’, Africa Today 49 (3): 138–40.
Iwilade, A., 2013, ‘Crisis as Opportunity: Youth, Social Media and the Renegotiation of Power in Africa’, Journal of Youth Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2013.772572.
Joseph, R. A., 1987, Democracy and Prebenclal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Maier, K., 2002, This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis, New York NY: Basic Books. Nolte, I., 2004, ‘Identity and Violence: The Politics of Youth in Ijebu-Remo, Nigeria’,Journal of Modern African Studies 42 (1): 61–89.
Obi, C., 2006, Youth and Generational Dimensions to the Struggle for Resource Control in the Niger Delta: Prospects for the Nation-State Project in Nigeria, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Odebola, N. et al., 2012, ‘Lagos Fuel Protests Sponsored – Jonathan’, The Punch Newspaper, 19 September, http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-fuel-subsidy-protests-sponsored-jonathan/, accessed 25 May 2013.
Odenyi, P., 2012, ‘Fuel Subsidy Removal, Ill-Timed – IBB’, Vanguard Newspaper, 2 January,
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/ibb-condemns-fuel-subsidy-removal-says-its- ill-timed/, accessed 25 May 2013.
Nwoko, K.C., 2009, ‘Trade Unionism and Governance in Nigeria: A Paradigm Shift from Labour Activism to Political Opposition’, Information, Society and Justice 2 (2): 139–52.
Okafor, C.O., 2009, ‘Remarkable Returns: The Influence of a Labour-led Socioeconomic Rights Movement on Legislative Reasoning, Process and Action in Nigeria, 1999– 2007’, Journal of Modern African Studies 47 (2): 241–66.
Okafor, C.O., 2010, ‘Between Elite Interests and Pro-Poor Resistance: The Nigerian Courts and Labour-Led Anti-Fuel Price Hike Struggles (1999–2007)’, Journal of African Law 54 (1): 95–118.
Okpaga, A., Ugwu, S.C. and Eme, O.I., 2012, ‘Deregulation and Anti-subsidy Removal Strikes in Nigeria’, Arabian Journal of Business Management Review (OMAN Chapter) 1 (7): 69–83.
Smith S., 2011, ‘Youth in Africa: Rebels Without a Cause but not Without Effect’, SIAS Review 31 (2): 97–110.
Van Zyk Slabbert, F. et al., 1994, Youth in the New South Africa, Pretoria: HSRC Press. Watts, M., 2007, ‘Petro-Insurgency or Criminal Syndicate? Conflict and Violence in the Niger Delta’, Review of African Political Economy 34 (114): 637–60.