Fuel price meeting again, we have seen this film before

I was sitting on my veranda this morning with my Tribune and my tea, and my son came out to tell me about this fuel price meeting. The stakeholders are giving more details after meeting with the government. I just laughed quietly and shook my head.

In my time in the civil service, I attended many such meetings. They call you, they give you tea, they tell you things will get better. Then the price goes up again. It is the same pattern since the structural adjustment days. The Yoruba say, a dog that is going to run will not wait for its tail to dry. The government will do what it wants to do. The meeting is just for form.

My wife said I should not worry myself. She said we have survived worse. And she is right. But I look at these young people trying to start their lives, and my heart feels heavy. A full tank of fuel now costs what some of them earn in a week. How do they manage? I don't have the answer. I only know that patience is not the same as acceptance.