• Fresh protest breaks out in Niger after arrest of 25 protesters
• Sowore demands release of Minna protesters
• FG: We’ll open national reserves to address rising food costs
• 88.4m people in Nigeria living in extreme poverty – Ministry of Agriculture
• Lukman, Aborisade, Youth Party slam APC for blaming protests on opposition parties 

Spreading like wildfire, more states are joining in the protests against the high cost of living in the country, which is a reminiscent of the 2011 #OccupyNigeria protest against petrol subsidy removal that lasted more than a week, and 2020 #EndSARS protest against police brutality that dragged for nearly a month.

After what could be termed a warning shot to ‘test the microphone’ with protests in Kano, Niger and Osun states, another protest broke out yesterday on the streets of Suleja in Niger and Kogi State over the rising cost of living. This is coming two days after protesters stormed the streets of Minna, the Niger State capital.

Suleja, the commercial nerve centre of Niger, is only a few kilometres away from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

An eyewitness, Mr. Yazid Abubakar, said the protesters stormed the popular Moroko Road where the biggest market is located in the town. They carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Leadership is all about improving the life of the masses”, “No food, we are dying of hunger” and “Nigerians are suffering, stop the hardship now,” among others.

They accused political officeholders of insensitivity to their plight as they lamented their inability to feed even once a day.

In response to Monday’s protest, the Niger State Police Command clamped down on 25 protesters. Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the arrest of one Aisha Jibrin, the initiator of the protest, and 24 others. The earlier protest forced President Bola Tinubu to order a food intervention to check the shortage of food in the country.

Abiodun, in a statement, said: “A large number of women and miscreants mobilised themselves on Monday and blocked Minna-Bida road and Kpakungu roundabout, claiming to be protesting against increase in food prices, causing major obstruction on the highway and deprived motorists, travellers, and other road users from gaining access to attend to their lawful businesses.

“After much persuasion by the police, the protesters deliberately refused to clear the road for public use, while the deputy governor of Niger State, Yakubu Garba, addressed the group, yet they turned deaf ears and chose to be violent.

“However, the police adopted minimum force to disperse the protesters who turned violent by attacking the police with dangerous weapons such as stones, bottles, sticks, cutlasses, and damaged police patrol vehicles and parts of the Kpakungu Division roof.
“In the course of this, the police arrested the initiators of the protest, one Aisha Jibrin 30yrs, Fatima Aliyu 57yrs, Fatima Isyaku 43yrs, and 22 other miscreants with dangerous weapons.”

Reacting, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the last general election, Omoyele Sowore, called for immediate release of the women allegedly arrested for initiating the recent food price protest in Niger State, saying the protest was heroic.

He wrote on X: “I have just received information that the woman who initiated the food price protest in Niger State has been arrested by the @PoliceNG for organising this heroic act, she and other women are to be arraigned by the police. The police must release them immediately. These women are going to be the face of this uprising coming the way of Nigeria.”

Similarly, traders in Lokoja, Kogi State, trooped out to protest the high cost of essential commodities and general poverty across the state. The traders, mainly market women and men, lamented the soaring prices of food items which have affected patronage.

A trader who simply identified herself as Mrs Ladi, who deals in rice and beans, said the sharp increase in the cost of the commodities had affected her business capital as sales were low. She stated that she could hardly make profit after trading.

Another trader, Mrs Laruba, who sells palm oil, lamented that she usually travels to Kogi East to purchase the commodity. But she expressed regrets that the business is no longer profitable. She added that by the time she calculates her expenses and subtracts the same from the cost of the items, buyers often feel cheated.

Weighing in, a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the Federal Government to fix the price of goods and petroleum products within seven days. Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa granted the order following an originating motion filed and argued by the applicant and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).

“I have heard the applicant, Femi Falana in a suit no FHC/L/CS/869/2023 and I have also discovered that despite the service of the originating motion on the respondents namely, Attorney-General of the Federation and the Price Control Board, no opposition to it by way of counter affidavit. So, it is the law that all the facts deposed in the affidavit attached to the originating motion are all deemed admitted. Consequently, all prayers that are sought for in the motion papers are hereby granted as prayed,” the judge declared.

The judge ordered the Nigerian government to fix the price of milk, flour, salt, sugar, bicycles and its spare parts, matches, motorcycles and its spare parts, motor vehicles and its spare parts as well as petroleum products, which include: diesel, petrol motor spirit (PMS) and kerosene.

Falana had approached the court for the following: “whether by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act., the first defendant (FG) is carrying out its duty to impose a price on any goods that are of the kind specified in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act.

“A declaration that by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act Cap, the defendants are under a legal obligation to fix the prices of bicycles and spare parts; flour; matches; milk; motorcycles and spare parts; motor vehicles and spare parts; salt; sugar and petroleum products including diesel, petrol motor spirit and kerosene.

“A declaration that the failure or refusal of the defendants to fix the prices of bicycles and spare parts; flour; matches; milk; motorcycles and spare parts; motor vehicles and spare parts; salt; sugar and petroleum products including diesel, petrol motor spirit and kerosene, is illegal as it offends the provision of Section 4 of the Price Control Act, Cap…, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said the Federal Government is planning to unlock the national food reserves to ameliorate the effect of food inflation on the citizenry. .

This is arising from Tuesday’s presidential committee on emergency food intervention meeting at the presidential villa. Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Idris said the government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through.

“Of course, this meeting is not by itself exhaustive. It is going to continue tomorrow and the day after. Now, some of these will involve unlocking the food that is available in most of the storage facilities around the country. You know that the federal ministry of agriculture has some food reserves. That is going to be made available to Nigerians.
“The government is also talking to major millers and major commodity traders, to also see what is available in their stores, to open it up, so that the government will provide some intervention and make this food available to Nigerians.”

Idris said the government has noticed that there is sufficient food in the country, which is being hoarded based on the depreciation of the naira.

“Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items,” he said.

Mr Temitope Fadeshemi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, says 88.4 million people in Nigeria are living in extreme poverty. Fadeshemi spoke yesterday in Kaduna during the distribution of farm inputs and empowerment materials to 250 smallholder farmers.

He said: “The level of poverty in Nigeria is alarming. An estimated population of 88.4 million people in Nigeria is living in extreme poverty. The number of men living on less than 1.90 U.S. dollars a day in the country reached around 44.7 million, while the count was at 43.7 million for women.

“Overall, 12.9 per cent of the global population in extreme poverty was found in Nigeria as of 2022. This is why the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with FMAFS is making conscious efforts at reducing the spate of poverty across the country.”

According to Fadeshemi, the event marked a significant milestone in the Federal Government’s collective commitment to uplifting the lives of smallholder farmers and fostering sustainable agricultural practices.

Despite government’s several interventions, more Nigerians have continued to lament the rising cost of living. The sharp increase in the cost of essential goods, The Guardian gathered, has compounded the woes of a nation already grappling with high inflation, rising unemployment and stagnant wages.

Since President Tinubu assumed office, the cost of living for ordinary Nigerians has become increasingly burdensome, with essential items becoming increasingly out of reach for many households. Tinubu, in one of his broadcast messages, promised to ease the cost-of-living pain in the country, where he announced a series of measures aimed at easing hardship for Nigerians.

At the broadcast, he expressed confidence in the effectiveness of his proposed measures to improve the country’s economy and citizens’ well-being. However, six months down the line, Nigerians said they were yet to enjoy the benefits of the reforms.

Checks by The Guardian reveal alarming spikes in the prices of key commodities across the country, painting a grim picture of the economic landscape.

The price of a 50kg bag of rice, a staple food in Nigeria, has surged by 85.7 per cent from N35,000 in May 2023 to N65,000 in February 2024.
Similarly, the cost of a 50kg bag of flour has risen by 75.4 per cent during the same period to N50,000 from N28,500.

The story is no different for other commodities; the price of a 50kg bag of beans has skyrocketed by 106.7 per cent to N62,000, up from N30,000 in May 2023.

Meanwhile, a bag of onions now commands a whopping N60,000, representing a 114.3 per cent increase from N28,000. Currently, a crate of eggs has risen to N3,600, leaving one egg at N150.

The former director general of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Lukman, has thrown his weight behind protestations against biting poverty among Nigerians. Lukman in a piece titled: “Renewed Hope Exchanging for Renewed Anger” argued that the protestations in Minna, Kano and other parts of the country spoke volume of the realities on the ground.

He identified the decision to remove fuel subsidy, the floating of the exchange rate of the Naira as key reasons behind the astronomical rise in the cost of living in the country.

Lukman, who was the immediate past national vice chairman Northwest of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), faulted the party for blaming the opposition political parties for the protests over the hardship being faced by Nigerians.

He said: “The protests in Minna and Kano confirm the validity of the concerns raised as far back as August 2023. Sadly, six months after those concerns were raised, the situation is only getting worse as prices of food items are beyond reach of most Nigerians.

“If the truth must be told, there is hunger in the land! As a committed member of APC, it is very depressing that this is happening under the leadership of our party. Even more depressing was the statement issued by Mr. Felix Morka, our National Publicity Secretary, alleging that opposition parties are behind the protests.

“How can we be talking of opposition sponsoring protests in the strongholds of the APC? Both Minna and Kano are strongholds of APC. In the case of Minna, Niger State, APC is the ruling party. Kano is the home state of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the APC National Chairman.

“To suggest that any opposition party could mobilise citizens to protest our government is already defeatist. The hard reality is that these protests are logical responses to the realities facing Nigerians. If these realities continue unattended to, these protests will spread like bush fire across every part of the country within a very short period.”

Speaking with The Guardian, National Publicity Secretary of Youth Party, Ayodele Adio, stated that comments from the presidency, describing the protests as being politically motivated, is insensitive and deeply unfortunate.

According to him, the statement demonstrates how removed those in authority are from the realities of the average Nigerian, and a lack of empathy for the people they were elected to serve.

He said: “Facts are stubborn things, just as no one can hide pregnancy for too long. The reality is that Nigerians are experiencing one of the highest levels of food inflation in close to 40 years while real wages have remained stagnant. The naira has lost close to 80 per cent of its value and has eroded the purchasing power of low- and middle-income earners.”

He said to suggest that anyone needed to be sponsored to express their grievance as was done in Niger and some parts of Kano is to suggest that the Nigeria people are helpless subjects who should be grateful for scraps.

Human rights and lawyer, Femi Aborisade, and former Oyo State Chairman, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Andrew Emelieze, yesterday, said the protests across the country are justifiable. They said the protests were as a result of hunger and hardship in the land.

Aborisade said: “It is compelled by hunger. An hungry man is an angry man. There is hunger in the land. The protests are justifiable. People have been pushed to the wall by hunger, hardship and high cost of living.”

Emelieze said: “As regards the state of the nation, we observed that it has been hellish for the Federal Government workers and indeed Nigerians, since the removal of subsidy on petrol. Our people have been pushed to depression and suicide cases in Nigeria has increased more than ever before. A bank worker just committed suicide leaving behind a suicide note blaming hardship, a soldier in the Nigerian army equally committed suicide, though military authorities had denied the claim of suicide in a manner that suggest falsehood. It is as if our government has declared war on the Nigerian people.”