LAGOS, Nigeria -At least seven people have been killed in Nigeria during nationwide protests against the rising cost of living and bad governance. Thousands of protestors have held demonstrations in several Nigerian cities. In some cities, the demonstrations were met with a heavy police presence.
Six people were killed in the city of Minna, northern Nigeria, when police moved to dismantle a roadblock protesters had erected, blocking a major expressway. Another person was killed in the populous northern state of Kano, as police clashed with demonstrators there. On social media, there were other unconfirmed reports of killings and tear gas used to disperse protests in the capital, Abuja, drawing condemnation from rights groups.
The demonstrations across Nigeria have been organized for the first 10 days of August, in response to harsh economic conditions in Africa’s most populous country. A brutal combination of unprecedented fuel prices, high food inflation, rising electricity tariffs a collapse in the value of the naira, has led to one of the worst economic crises for decades.
In Lagos, much of the city usually bustling with activity and traffic, was eerily quiet, with several shops closed, and a larger police and military presence visible across the city. On Thursday, close to a thousand demonstrators gathered at a main expressway in Ketu, a commercial hub in Lagos, defying police orders to move into a designated area. Ibrahim Suleiman, a trader in Lagos, held a placard reading “end bad governance” and “hunger is killing us”.
“I’m here to fight for my rights. My children don’t go to school, we can’t afford it anymore,” he said. “We’re hungry. A can of beans is 2,200 naira ($1.32) garri is 4,000,” he said referring to a common staple made from cassava, that has more than doubled in price this year.
For weeks Nigerian government ministers, lawmakers, governors and police and security chiefs have tried to prevent nationwide protests from taking place, warning against demonstrations similar to protests held inKenyaover the last month. Officials urged for patience, offered concessions and made threats, sparking criticism from civil society groups.
Nigeria’s economic crisishas deepened over the last year since the government elected in May 2023, adopted a series of economic reforms. It removed a controversial fuel subsidy and loosened currency controls. The reforms were praised by bodies like the IMF and World Bank, and economists who argued they were painful but necessary. But the impact of the policies has been severe for millions, exacerbating poverty and leading to near unprecedented rates of malnutrition and food insecurity according to aid groups.
Inflation has soared to 34 percent, the highest annual rate in almost 30 years, and food inflation at 40 percent. Rising insecurity in northwest and central Nigeria has also displaced farmers from their farmland, leading to rising food prices.
In recent weeks, Nigeria’s government has distributed food aid, often locally referred to as “palliatives” such as bags of rice, sent to various communities to help the vulnerable. Some Nigerian states have also sold rice at subsidized costs.
But the schemes which are widely held as inefficient and only reach a small fraction of those in need, have provoked anger. 29-year-old Samuel Ali at the protest in Lagos said, “We don’t need palliatives, we’re not beggars. All we want is good governance and jobs. Allow us to work and earn money. “Rice spoils. Garri spoils. We don’t want your food, we want a better country – enough is enough! ”
On Monday, President Bola Tinubu signed a new minimum wage into law, doubling it to 70,000 naira ($42), after months long negotiations with Nigeria’s labor unions. Yet many of the country's more than 200 million people are either self-employed or without jobs, and a number of Nigerian states have said they will be unable to pay the higher wage. Many also feel it doesn’t go far enough.
Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Since late June, protesters in Kenya have marched against the government. Some demonstrations have turned deadly as police fired into crowds. Dozens of people have died. Now, discontent is growing elsewhere on the continent, like Africa's most populous country, Nigeria. Thousands of protesters marched in several Nigerian cities today. They're planning a week of demonstrations responding to harsh economic conditions. So far, at least seven people have died there. NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu was at one protest in Lagos.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: A few hundred protesters have gathered here on a main expressway in Lagos, and this is just one of several demonstrations happening across the city and the country, organized today in response to the economic crisis in Nigeria, which is one of the worst in decades. Food inflation is more than 40% and is rising. Fuel costs have more than tripled in the last year. The cost of transport, the cost of electricity have all gone up significantly. And so many people who I have spoken to here have said enough is enough.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Non-English language spoken).
AKINWOTU: We're hungry, he shouts in Yoruba, refusing to give his name out of fear for his safety but wanting to make his voice heard. They're thieves, and we're hungry, he says. Within hours, close to a thousand have gathered, and virtually everyone at the protest echoed the same sentiment, like 40-year-old market trader Ibrahim Suleiman.
Why are you here today?
IBRAHIM SULEIMAN: To fight for my rights.
AKINWOTU: He says he no longer makes enough money to eat twice a day or pay his children's school fees.
SULEIMAN: A derica of beans, 2,200. Garri, 4,000. A derica of rice, 2,000.
AKINWOTU: He says the price of a can of beans of garri, a popular staple made from cassava and of rice, have all soared.
SULEIMAN: We've been enduring madness for too long.
AKINWOTU: Further along the march is 59-year-old Taiwo Hassan, a printer.
TAIWO HASSAN: My brother, the price of fuel jumped from 189. People are buying for 1,000 now.
AKINWOTU: The worst of the crisis began when the Nigerian government, which was elected last May, adopted a set of reforms. A fuel subsidy was officially ended, and much-criticized currency controls were loosened, but the effect has been crushing, while the government's response has been mixed. Authorities have appealed for patience.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MOHAMMED IDRIS: Mr. President has asked me to, again, I inform Nigerians that he listens to them, so there's no need for strike.
AKINWOTU: Last week, Nigeria's information minister, Mohammed Idris, said that President Bola Tinubu understood the challenges in the country. The government also doubled the minimum wage to 70,000 naira, about $42. But due to inflation, the new wage remains low, too low even to buy a 50 kilogram bag of rice.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
AKINWOTU: Back at the protest, many are also upset about a government scheme which distributes bags of food to the most-in-need communities. But many, like Taiwo Hassan, resent this.
HASSAN: You are distributing trailers of rice. For what? Then when they finish the bag of rice, what next? What next?
AKINWOTU: For many, the government's help doesn't go far enough. Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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