The National Times - Nigeria police fire shots, tear gas to break up hardship protests

Africa's most populous country is struggling with soaring inflation and a sharply devalued naira after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended a costly fuel subsidy and liberalised the currency more than a year ago to improve the economy.

Tagged #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, the protest movement won support with an online campaign, but officials had warned against attempts to replicate recent violent demonstrations in Kenya, where protesters forced the government to abandon new taxes.

Many Nigerians are struggling with high costs -- food inflation is at 40 percent and fuel is triple the price from a year ago -- but many people were also wary about insecurity around protests.

In Kano, the country's second largest city, protesters set fire to tyres outside the state governor's office and police responded with tear gas, forcing most of the demonstrators back, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

"We are hungry -- even the police are hungry, the army are hungry," said factory worker Jite Omoze, 38.

"I have two children and a wife, but I can’t feed them anymore," he said, calling for the government to reduce fuel prices.

Protesters later torched and ransacked a digital centre of the Nigeria Communications Commission near the Kano governor's office and police fired shots in the air to disperse pockets of looters, an AFP reporter said.

Police reported areas of looting and arson in the city and arrested 13 people.

In Abuja, security forces blocked off roads leading to Eagle Square -- one of the planned protest sites -- and fired tear gas and set up barbed wire fencing to prevent several hundred protesters from reaching the park.

Security forces also fired tear gas to disperse crowds in Mararaba on the outskirts of the capital, an AFP reporter said.

Around 1,000 people marched peacefully in the mainland area of the economic capital Lagos, where they chanted "Tinubu Ole", the Yoruba language word for thief.

- 'Bad governance' -

Local media reported hundreds of protesters also came out in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, and several other states across the country.

"Hunger has brought me out to protest," said 24-year-old demonstrator Asamau Peace Adams outside the National Stadium in Abuja before tear gas was fired. "It's all down to bad governance."

On the eve of the protests, Tinubu government officials urged young activists to reject rallies and allow time for his reforms to take hold and improve the economy.

But protest leaders, a loose coalition of civil society groups, vowed to press on with rallies despite what they say were legal challenges trying to limit them to public parks and stadiums instead of marches.

By Thursday afternoon, most of the protests appeared to have dwindled except for small groups.

"It’s not over," said Damilare Adenola, 29, activist and leader of Take It Back group in Abuja. "If the crowd disperses today, we are coming tomorrow."

"The government of President Tinubu recognises the right to peaceful protest, but circumspection and vigilance should be our watch words," Secretary to the Federation of Government George Akume told reporters.

- Economic pain -

The last major protest in Nigeria was in 2020 when young activists rallied against the brutality of the SARS anti-robbery squad in demonstrations that evolved into some of the largest in Nigeria's modern democracy.

But the rallies ended in bloodshed in Lagos. Rights groups accused the army of opening fire on peaceful protesters, but the military said troops used blanks to break up a crowd defying a curfew. Amnesty International said at least 10 people died.

In Uganda, officials also arrested dozens last month after they took part in banned anti-corruption protests organised online by young activists inspired by Kenya's rallies.

A.M.James--TNT