NigeriaAt64: Protesters gather in Lagos, Abuja over high living costs

#NigeriaAt64: Protesters gather in Lagos, Abuja over high living costs

As Nigeria celebrates 64 years of independence from British colonial rule on Tuesday, thousands of citizens gathered in the nation’s economic and political capitals, Lagos and Abuja, respectively, to protest high living and energy costs in Africa’s most populous nation.

For them, it is not a time for celebration as they called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address the soaring inflation and unprecedented economic hardship in the country. The October 1, 2024 protest, tagged “FearlessInOctober”, was propagated on social media, some two months after the August #EndBadGovernance protests. The two demonstrations are synonymous in themes as aggrieved young people demand a reversal of petrol subsidy removal and electricity tariff increase.

On Tuesday, protesters gathered at the Utako area in Abuja, the country’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), waving the Nigerian Green-White-Green flag and banners with various inscriptions such as “EndBadGovernance”, “DiasporaVoting”, “EndHighLivingCosts”, amongst others. In Lagos, around the state capital in Ikeja, the situation was the same as youths besieged the popular Ikeja UnderBridge area, with vehicular movement at a standstill on a day already declared a public holiday by the government for the celebration of Nigeria’s independence.

The protesters in Lagos also wielded large-format banners with boldly encrusted statements like, “Hunger Dey”, and “Reverse Anti-People, Neoliberal Policies Of Privatisation, Deregulation and Devaluation of Naira”, among others. Activist Omoyele Sowore was spotted at the Lagos venue of the rally where he and other demonstrators geared up to march to the iconic and eponymous Gani Fawehinmi Park in the ever-busy Ojota area of Lagos to continue the protest against what they have termed anti-government policies.

Both in Lagos and Abuja, scores of security agents were seen on alert at the protest locations where they maintained a respectable distance from the demonstrators.