Nigeria’s severe economic hardship sees first street protest in 2024

Hundreds of residents in Niger state poured onto the streets of Minna on Monday, voicing their anger and frustration over the skyrocketing cost of living. It is the first street protest this year in response to the several hardship millions of Nigerians grapple with daily.

Niger, traditionally an agricultural hub, has been hard hit by the national economic crisis that has afflicted all Nigerian states with annual inflation in December at staggering 28.9%, the highest level in 27 years.

The protesters, who blocked major roads in the city, spoke of their struggles to feed their families.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that protesters took over the roundabout in the Pkakungu area of Minna to express their grievances over the issue.

Efforts by the police to stop the protest and disperse the protesters failed until the deputy governor of the state, Yakubu Garba, addressed them, the state news agency reported.

Mr Garba said the state government was doing everything possible to ameliorate the economic hardship on the people, saying that the Niger government would continue to distribute palliatives to the people.

“The state government is very much aware of the economic hardship faced by our people, hence you have to remain calm as modalities have been put in place to ease your sufferings,” he said.

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The protest in Minna serves as a reflection of the simmering discontent across Nigeria. From the oil-producing south to the agricultural north, Nigerians are feeling the pinch of economic hardship that became worse after the government scrapped petrol subsidy and devalued the naira last year.

On Sunday, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar accused President Bola Tinubu of failing to meet the expectations of millions of Nigerians.

“BAT has shown no capacity to deal with the adverse and disastrous impact of the new subsidy regime on the people and businesses and the new foreign exchange policy, which provides for a free-floating exchange rate,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“His initiatives are literally uninformed, arbitrary, and chaotic. BAT’s palliatives are too mean, pitiable, and contemptuous of the poor. He seems genuinely lost, bewildered, and overwhelmed.”