As many as seven people have died, according to reports, after clashes between Nigerian security personnel and citizens on the first day of a weeklong nationwide protest against “bad governance” and a cost living crisis.
The newspaper Daily Trust reported that six people were killed on Thursday during clashes with police during an attempt to dislodge a roadblock protesters had installed in Minna, the capital of Niger state. One person was killed and another critically wounded by stray bullets fired by police in Kano, where another set of protesters breached the seat of government in the city.
In Abuja, the capital, police fired teargas at demonstrators. Elsewhere, hundreds of people came out in force across Kaduna and Katsina in the north, and Lagos and Yenagoa in the south, in the “#EndBadGovernance” protests.
Security personnel and armoured trucks were deployed in many cities and towns. In Lagos, where many businesses were closed for the day, one middle-aged woman carried an empty pot, drumming and chanting as she followed younger marchers.
The catalyst for mass action nationwide was the hike in everyday commodities owing to multiple policy changes, in particular the removal of a popular but controversial fuel subsidy. That has caused hunger for millions and squeezed more people out of Nigeria’s thinning middle class, forcing youth groups to mobilise for mass action.
The protests began a few days before schedule in Niger state, despite being planned for Thursday. Analysts say the change in timing and the fact they began in the north, where for decades protests against socioeconomic conditions have been slower to catch up, indicates the depth of frustration in the country.
Ikemesit Effiong, the head of research at the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence, said this was because the “much poorer” region, which was experiencing an acute malnutrition crisis, was “disproportionately impacted by a triple whammy of high insecurity – particularly from jihadists and kidnap rings – elevated levels of political instability and a food-growing crisis which has left many families hungry, frustrated and seething”.
The government has been scrambling for several weeks in the buildup to the protests, fearing a Kenya-type mass action. On Thursday, there were more security personnel than protesters in some cities. Scores of pro-government protesters were also out to counter demonstrations in part of Lagos, but found little resistance.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, one commentator said the government’s efforts to stifle the protests had instead triggered a “Streisand effect” – that is, it served to give them even more publicity.
The turnout is largely a case of Streisand effect. The Government made the protests more popular in their effort to control and quell it. The racket that was created didn’t help either
— Ayobami (@dondekojo) August 1, 2024
On the eve of the protests, religious figures continued to plead with young people to stay indoors and talk instead, while government officials rushed to secure multiple court orders restricting protesters to certain areas. One such injunction was defied in Abuja on Thursday.
“Today is the hunger day, we all promise you that we are going to be on the streets of Abuja,” one protester told Channels TV in the capital. “Hunger has brought me out.”
