Nigeria police fire shots, tear gas to break up hardship protests

ABUJA - Nigerian security forces on Thursday fired shots in the air and tear gas to break up protests and local states imposed curfews as thousands joined rallies across the country against the cost of living.

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.

Nigerians are struggling with high costs, food inflation is at 40% 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 Jite Omoze, a 38-year-old factory worker.

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

At a press conference, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf later imposed a 24-hour curfew in Kano.

"I commend those who conducted themselves peacefully, however, the protest was hijacked by thugs and hoodlums who went on looting properties and maiming innocent lives," he said.

Officials in northern Yobe and Borno states also imposed 24-hour curfews after protests.

In the capital 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 block several hundred protesters.

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", using 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, government officials had urged young activists to reject rallies and allow time for Tinubu's 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 early Thursday evening, most of the protests appeared to have ended.

"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 on Wednesday listed aid it has offered to alleviate economic pain, including raising the minimum salary levels, delivering grains to states across the country and aid to the most needy.

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

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.

Nigeria's protests come after Kenyan President William Ruto was forced to repeal new taxes and name a new cabinet following weeks of anti-government protests in the worst crisis in his almost two years in office.

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.