By force Rest!

I typed this post yesterday but as i was posting it, the office gen decided it was time to 'quench'. I no blame the gen joo, e dey try! morning to evening , every day the gen dey work as the people wey dey hold light (PHCN)no wan release am na. Anyway i will still post it. Here goes:

Hooray! The NLC strike is over!! The three days of ‘By Force Rest’ by the Nigerian Labour Congress has been called off. Nigerians really needed the rest sha as many of us are really stressed out. Who doesn’t know that living in this our dear Naija is a daily struggle- Struggle to eat for the common man, Struggle to get around(transportation), Struggle with the crazy traffic and bad roads, Struggle with PHCN(Former NEPA), Struggle with almost everything!

As people used to struggling, we had to struggle with the government this time for a reversal of VAT to the former 5%, a litre of petrol from N75 to N65 and implementation of the salary increase for Government workers. The struggle which was in the shape of a nationwide strike took off last Wednesday and lasted till Saturday when it was called off by the labour union after they had reached an agreement with the government. The government decided to revert to the old VAT of 5% but fuel pump price was reduced to N70 per litre instead of the initial N65 the people were agitating for but wait for this, a new clause was added: Government will not be increasing fuel pump price for the next 1 year!

Some people are arguing that the NLC strike was unnecessary as government had already made the same concessions by Tuesday (before the strike) but that NLC refused saying it was either they reverted to N65 for a litre of fuel or the strike would go on. Now they had called off the strike and the price is still N70 which is like going back to where we started, abi? All the same, I still think the NLC should be given some kudos, at least they made the government understand that the people were not going to be taken for granted and that the power still belonged to the people(or does it?) and don’t forget the formal agreement signed by the government that they wont be increasing anything during the next 12 months.

Now to the strike proper, I wish Lagos roads would just be the way they were during those 3 days. Kai! The roads were sooo free that a normal 45mins drive could be done in like 15mins or even less. Driving became pleasurable once again (it hasn’t been for me for a while now). The fortunate few who had some fuel from before the strike (like me) and those who could afford the black market price of N300 per litre had a field day on lagos roads. Others who weren’t so fortunate had to stay at home and ‘rest by force’. The banks were not working so every little kobo was cherished like no man’s business; No one knew how long the strike would last. Even the ATMs were all telling the same story-“No money available”.

Anyhow it’s good to be back at work and even though its back to stress too, it’s still better that being idle all day. You know what they say about the idle mind. I don’t want to be no devils workshop. Ooops! I forgot I have a desk full of uncleared work and deadlines to meet, I got to go peeps. See ya soon.

p.s: I have been eating like a glutton this past few days, every morning I wake up and say to my self: “I am starting my Induction diet all over today” but before the end of the day, am back to eating anything in sight. Been a bit depressed lately but that’s not an excuse. I have started my induction diet today again (I just hope eating 3 pieces of plantain this morning wont spoil it), Calabar girl, I can just hear you saying “It will”. Anyway for the rest of the day and the next 13 days, it’s me and protein o! I have lost some weight though but I still wanna lose some more. Cheer me on guys.