Protest Rocks Niger Over Cost of Living

Protest broke out yesterday in Minna, the capital of Niger State, over the rising cost of living. A group of women blocked the Minna-Bida Road at the popular Kpakungu roundabout to express their grievances over the rising cost of food items. 

People travelling to major cities in the South such as Lagos, Ibadan, among others, were held hostage for hours due to the protest, which started as early as 7am.  The women were later joined by men and youths who accuse governments of turning deaf ears to their plights. 

Neither the thick smoke of the teargas and the sound of the gunshots fired by police operatives to disperse them nor the plea by the deputy governor of the state, Yakubu Garba, who went to the scene of the protest calmed the protesters.  They booed the government’s envoy, saying that they were tired.

Daily Trust, in its edition of Friday, 2nd February, 2024, reported how citizens across Nigeria had expressed concern over the rising prices of essential commodities such as rice, flour, sugar and cement. 

Investigations by our correspondents in Kano, Kwara, Ebonyi, Oyo, and Lagos states, as well as Abuja revealed challenging situations for various groups of people, with some residents resorting to prayers while others called on the federal government to take decisive control measures. 

Yesterday in Minna, a housewife, Aisha Jibrin, who led her fellow women to barricade the streets at Kpakungu roundabout, told Daily Trust that: “We embarked on this protest because of the rising cost of living. The government is not doing anything for us. The government should pity us. Some of us woke up this morning without anything to eat.” 

Another protester, Musulumi Mikaila, said the rising cost of living had caused many broken homes, adding that many husbands were becoming overstressed because their salaries could no longer cater for their families. 

“We don’t have a stable power supply; we don’t have water; the cost of food items is high. Nothing is working in this country. We voted for this government with the hope that poor citizens would get relief from hardship, but things are getting worse day and night,” she said.  She said many people were in hospitals not to treat serious ailments but due to stress, high blood pressure and trauma arising from hardship and rising cost of living. 

Another woman who simply identified herself as Mrs Asabe said they embarked on the protest because women bore the brunt of everything. The protesting women said social vices, especially prostitution are on the increase due to hardship that forced many husbands to divorce their wives. 

One of the men who joined the protest, Ibrahim Gana, said a measure of rice was sold at N2,000 at Minna markets while maize was N1,000.  “The cost of living is too high. If you go to the market today and buy something, tomorrow you will just hear that the price has gone up”, he said.The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Niger State Council, Idrees Lafene said the people have the right to protest, if it was organised peacefully.  “We are in a very bad situation in Nigeria now. People are suffering and when people are subjected to hardship, that doesn’t portend well for the country. The government should look at its policies and review them. Government knows the cause of this and they should do everything quickly to address it. But people are going through hardship now”, he stressed.

The Niger State governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, at a press conference later yesterday, said an unspecified number of people had been arrested in connection with the protest.  The governor, who believed that women rarely stage protests in Nigeria, alleged the protest was engineered by some men with the intent to block the road and steal food items being conveyed by some trucks from Lagos to Abuja.

Source: Daily Trust