Nigerians Continue Nationwide Hunger Protest Tagged #EndBadGovernance
Reports Indicate that Nigerians in Saturday, continued their Nationwide Hunger Protests in parts of the country.
The report said protesters clashed with residents in Lagos on Saturday morning during a demonstration against what some citizens termed “the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation”.
The protesters who carried placards, bells and Nigeria’s green-and-white flag, were met with a heavy security presence on the streets of Lagos.
The protests were mainly over food shortages and accusations of misgovernment and corruption in the country.
Nigeria’s public officials are among the best paid in Africa, a stark contrast in a country that has some of the world’s poorest and hungriest people despite being one of the continent’s top oil producers.
“The purchasing power of my salary has been completely eroded,” a protester told reporter.
The mostly young protesters chanted songs as they listed their demands, including the reinstatement of gas and electricity subsidies that were cancelled as part of an economic reform effort.
Violence and looting were concentrated in Nigeria’s northern states, which are among the hardest hit by hunger and insecurity.
Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said at least nine people were killed by security forces in Nigeria during mass protests against the economic crisis gripping the country.
Authorities said a police officer was also killed and others injured, while four protesters were killed by a bomb.
Hundreds were arrested in the protests that triggered curfews in several states.
