Nigerian police deployed tear gas on Thursday, August 1, 2024, to disperse protesters in the capital, Abuja, and the northern city of Kano, as thousands rallied across the country against the rising cost of living. Africa’s most populous nation faces soaring inflation and a sharply devalued naira, following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to end a costly fuel subsidy and liberalize the currency over a year ago to bolster the economy.
The protest movement, tagged #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, gained momentum through an online campaign, although officials cautioned against emulating recent violent protests in Kenya, where demonstrators forced the government to abandon new taxes.
Many Nigerians are struggling with the high cost of living—food inflation stands at 40 percent, and fuel prices have tripled compared to last year. However, concerns about security have made some wary of joining the protests. In Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, protesters set fire to tires outside the state governor’s office, prompting police to respond with tear gas, an AFP correspondent reported.
“We are hungry—even the police are hungry, the army is hungry,” said Jite Omoze, a 38-year-old factory worker. “I have two children and a wife, but I can’t feed them anymore,” he added, urging the government to reduce fuel prices.
Later, protesters torched and ransacked a digital center of the Nigeria Communications Commission near the governor’s office, with police firing shots in the air to disperse the crowd. Authorities reported incidents of looting and arson in the city and arrested 13 individuals.
In Abuja, security forces blocked roads leading to Eagle Square—one of the planned protest sites—using tear gas and setting up barbed wire fencing to prevent several hundred protesters from reaching the area. Tear gas was also used to disperse crowds in Mararaba on the outskirts of the capital, according to an AFP reporter.
Approximately 1,000 people marched peacefully in the mainland area of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, chanting “Tinubu Ole,” the Yoruba word for thief. Local media reported hundreds of protesters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, Bauchi state, and several other regions across the country.
“Hunger has brought me out to protest,” said 24-year-old Asamau Peace Adams outside the National Stadium in Abuja before tear gas was deployed. “It’s all down to bad governance.”
On the eve of the protests, government officials urged young activists to reject the rallies and allow time for President Tinubu’s reforms to take effect. However, protest leaders, a coalition of civil society groups, pledged to continue with the demonstrations despite legal attempts to confine them to public parks and stadiums.
The government outlined measures to alleviate economic hardship, including raising minimum salary levels, distributing grains to states, and providing aid to the neediest. “The government of President Tinubu recognizes the right to peaceful protest, but circumspection and vigilance should be our watchwords,” said Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume.
The last major protest in Nigeria occurred in 2020, when young activists demonstrated against the brutality of the SARS anti-robbery squad, which escalated into some of the largest protests in Nigeria’s modern history. Those rallies ended in bloodshed in Lagos, with rights groups accusing the army of firing on peaceful protesters. The military claimed troops used blanks to disperse a crowd defying a curfew, but Amnesty International reported at least ten fatalities.
Nigeria’s current protests follow a wave of anti-government demonstrations in Kenya, which led President William Ruto to repeal new taxes and appoint a new cabinet amidst the worst crisis in his nearly two-year tenure. In Uganda, officials recently arrested dozens who participated in banned anti-corruption protests organized online by young activists inspired by Kenya’s movements.
(AFP)
