By John Akubo (Abuja), Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan), Timothy Agbor (Osogbo) and Bala Yahaya (Minna)

06 February 2024   |   4:24 am

• NANS to join protests, gives Tinubu 14-day ultimatum to arrest inflation
• Protests caused by activities of food speculators – Gov Bago
• Seek help before situation gets out of hand, LP tells Tinubu
• Damage didn’t start today, unfair to blame Tinubu, says DAWN Commission

In a telltale sign of the trying times, hundreds of Minna residents in Niger State, trooped out en masse to protest the hardship in Nigeria caused by the rising cost of living and the economic downturn.

This was coming two days after an equal number of women, including local bread producers popularly known as “Gurasa” marched through the streets of the ancient city of Kano, protesting the high cost of living, especially the hike in the price of flour used largely for the production of the staple food.

Without mobilisation from any labour movement, women and youths yesterday obstructed traffic on major roads in the Minna metropolis to register their grievances against the growing hardship in the country.

Efforts by the police to control the crowd almost resulted in violence as protesters asked police to leave, forcing the police to fire several shots in the air.

The protesters carried placards with the inscription “No food, we are dying of hunger” and demanded a better condition of living and a reduction in the cost of living for the citizenry. They accused political officeholders of insensitivity to their plight even as they lamented their inability to feed even once a day.

Attempts by the police to disperse the crowd failed until the deputy governor of the state, Yakubu Garba, addressed them. They urged the federal and state governments to do something urgently to tackle the hardship across the country before it gets out of hand.

Responding, Garba appealed to the protesters for calm,  as the state government was doing everything possible to ameliorate the economic hardship on the people, pledging that the government would continue to distribute palliatives to the downtrodden.

Similarly, residents of Osun State yesterday cried out over worsening hardship in the country, calling on President Bola Tinubu and governors to act fast in fixing the battered economy. They lamented that they could barely eat daily as the cost of food items has been rising daily.

They warned that citizens may be forced to hit the streets in protest soon if nothing is done to bring succour.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, a resident who operates a commercial motorcycle, Babatunde Amuda, said it has been difficult discharging his fatherly responsibility at home.

“It is now difficult to even call myself a father because I barely perform my fatherly role of providing for my family. Children are almost going hungry to school and I am afraid I may lose my wife to another man if this situation continues.

“We want our president and governors to do something fast to fix our economy. Things are hard. We cannot even boast of food let alone achieve other things,” Babatunde said with emotions.

Responding to the least expected protesters, Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State, said the protest was due to the activities of food speculators mopping up foodstuffs from various local markets across the state.

He noted that a group of hoodlums, who acted on intelligence, attempted to hijack trucks loaded with food items that were heading to Abuja for storage.

Bago blamed the hike in prices of foodstuff on food speculators, who stormed local markets to mop up foodstuffs and conveyed them out of the state to other states and neighbouring countries.

He said further: “I have decided to issue an executive order effective today to stop food speculators from invading our local markets to mop up our farm produce to other states and neighbouring countries, thereby making things difficult for people of the state and Nigeria as a whole. By this order, any truck found in any rural market coming to load food supplies in bulk will be confiscated, and the produce will be auctioned out immediately.”

ALREADY, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to embark on street demonstration should the Federal Government fail to address the pangs of inflation that have impoverished students across the country, lamenting that the economic downturn in the country and inaction by the government is threatening the educational pursuit and dreams of students in Nigeria.

The student body warned in a statement signed by Akinteye Babatunde, President of the Senate, NANS Headquarters. He said: “The dreams and aspirations of students should not be stifled by economic uncertainties. Before the struggles intensify and desperation drives students to the streets, this plea is a call for swift, concrete actions.”

Also, the NANS Southwest Zone D yesterday called on President Tinubu to address the rising cost of living or else it will shut down the country in the next 14 days.

In a statement signed by Alao John (Coordinator, NANS Southwest), Sanni Sulaimon Olamide (Secretary General, NANS Southwest) and Bamigboye Peter Oluwadamilola, Public Relations Officer, NANS Southwest), the students appealed to President Tinubu to intervene and address the worsening situation.

‘’In a bold move, the association has issued a 14-day ultimatum for President Tinubu to respond to their demands and implement concrete measures to tackle the cost of living crisis. Failure to do so would result in mass protests, with NANS Southwest Zone D vowing to mobilise students and citizens to take to the streets in large numbers.”

MEANWHILE, the Labour Party (LP) has urged President Tinubu to seek help over the increasing cost of living and hardships in the country before they become unmanageable. The party said it was deeply concerned about how millions of Nigerians are battling with the crisis of food shortages since the turn of the year.

This is even as the party said it is calling on Tinubu to prevail on some of his aides from making inflammatory, incendiary, careless, and unreasonable comments, which are capable of offending the sensibility of average Nigerians.

“As of today, essential commodities such as rice, garri, flour, and protein have witnessed exponential increases in prices since January. For instance, a carton of Indomie noodles now sells for N10,000, and a 50kg bag of sugar is now selling at N73,000 as against N62,000 sold in early January. A bag of cement now sells upward of N7,000 against N5,500, a bag of rice rising above N70,000, while a kg of meat now sells for N4,000, among others.”

In the statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, LP said the party is aware that organised Labour and the government have been in a long protracted dialogue on a possible salary increase for civil servants.

“There is an air of despondency across the nation. The immediate fallout of this situation is increasing crime, particularly among the youths who are desperate to remain alive while incidences of suicide are in the upswing. It is either that the government is bereft of ideas on how to check this unfolding catastrophe or that it chooses to continue to act as if it is still campaigning for office. This is no time for politics.

“Nigerians were told that by removing fuel subsidy, the economy will revamp. In addition to the foreign exchange crisis where a dollar is now selling above N1500 and the naira continues to fall freely unabated, it has become obvious that this sad situation may never be arrested by this government and this calls for concern.

“We have always said that the hasty manner with which President Tinubu, who was basking in the euphoria of his swearing-in, announced the removal by fiat, showed his action was not taken through the rigours of consultations and planning. We knew this would lead us into economic trouble. Our leader, Mr Peter Obi and our party gave words of caution, but we were called names.”

The party, therefore, urged the President and his team to admit they’ve run out of ideas and ask for help because “it is now apparent that no amount of propaganda can change the fact that more and more Nigerians are falling below the poverty line.

But in defence of the presidency, the Director-General, the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Mr Seye Oyeleye, yesterday, said it is unfair to blame President Tinubu for the myriad of social and economic challenges plaguing the country, asserting that the damage did not start today.

Oyeleye, who spoke with The Guardian in Ibadan, said Tinubu just spent seven or eight months, adding that the problems in the country have been there for long.

While lamenting that the country is an intensive care unit, the director-general charged the president to continue pursuing bold policies that would ensure recovery.

While pointing out that Tinubu is taking some fundamental steps, Oyeleye stated that such steps would come with some pain. He therefore charged the president not to waiver in his determination to pursue bold and recovery policies.

“Tinubu is taking some fundamental steps. The damage did not start today. It is unfair to blame Tinubu within seven months. We are being clever by half. The fundamental change will come with pain. President Tinubu must not waver. We cannot continue in lies. Governor Charles Soludo said the economy is a dead horse. It will take time to revive the dead horse.”

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