Protests and police repression in Nigeria

On 1 August millions marched against hunger, insecurity and inflation in Nigeria. Drew Povey and Kalamullah Bala explain the context and report on the demonstrations and their aftermath.

Framing Context

Drew Povey 

President Tinubu became president of Nigeria at the end of May 2023. He immediately announced the ending of the fuel subsidy. This led to a tripling of the price of petrol and a doubling of transport costs.  This, and the devaluation of the naira, the local currency, in turn led to a surge in food inflation to more than 40%. As a result, millions of poor people face dire hunger.

The main trade union confederation, the Nigeria Labour Congress has called six general strikes in the last year, but almost all were called off within at most 24 hours. It demanded an increase in the minimum wage to N615,000, but reduced this demand to N250,000 and accepted N70,000 (£35) a month with a promise of another increase in three years. 

Socialist Labour is a small, growing socialist organisation in the same tradition of rs21. We had over 50 people attending our last monthly public meeting and nearly 30 people attended our weekly virtual meeting last Saturday. We have had a monthly Socialist Bulletin for the last four years.

Apart from the violent reaction to the protests and the detention of some organisers, state forces are also intimidating the trade unions and human rights organisations. The main trade union offices in the centre of the capital, Abuja, were raided by a group of armed men on Wednesday night 7 August and the bookshop in the building was emptied (see photo). The next day, the offices of the main human rights organisation, the Campaign for Democracy and Human Rights in Lagos were surrounded by armed police and state security officers.

The report below was written by Socialist Labour’s full-time organiser in Kano in the north of Nigeria, Kalamullah Bala, and some other comrades at their meeting the weekend after the protests.

Report on the August Protests in Kano

Kalamullah Bala

The economic hardship which led to hunger, inflation and the rise of insecurity in all regions of Nigeria reached its peak after the inauguration of the current administration in May, last year. Removal of all subsidies from fuel, education, electricity and agriculture are of no doubt the causative agents of the current hardship.

Average people cannot afford two meals a day any longer. Millions are becoming poorer and it is with a sense of concern that parents cannot pay their children or ward’s school tuition fees. 

The poor majority are tired of listening to the shallow promises of the President and cannot wait for miracles to happen. Concerned individuals, civil society organisations and left movements have on so many occasions highlighted to the President the negative impact of his policies and advised him to reconsider them. They even gave a further one month ultimatum before they went to the streets to protest against hunger and bad governance.  We can only assume the President neither listens or cares.

On 1st August millions of Nigerians marched on the streets to protest against hunger and bad governance. In Kano, over 200,000 people demonstrate peacefully in the heart of the city. Protesters in their thousands, from different parts of the city, converged at State Road, Kano.  

Some groups of thousands marched under the banner of the Nigeria Patriotic Front Movement (NPFM). This included most of the Socialist Labour members. A lot of people held cardboard papers with messages of hunger and hardship, some with banners and singing solidarity songs.

The lead delegates of NPFM met the State Governor and issued the demands of the protesters to him. They asked him to convey these messages to the national President.

The protest on the first day lasted for quite some hours until mobs and hoodlums, allegedly sponsored by some politicians, infiltrated the peaceful protest and attacked government and private properties including the ICT Park and the Audu Bako State Secretariat. Here the security agencies used force and fired teargas indiscriminately to disperse the demonstrators from the road.

Many people were injured, some protesters were beaten. Amnesty International reported one death with over 200 arrests. The State Government imposed a 24 hour curfew to prevent the ongoing protests and people were forced to leave the streets and go home. 

Organised #EndHunger demonstrations also happened outside the Kano metropolis on the first day. This included those in Bichi, Dawakin Kudu and Tudunwada local governments. Thousands of youth, children and women hit the streets to register their grievances. 

On the second day there were fewer protesters and the protests were recorded in very few places due to the curfew.

On day three, thousands of protesters were back on the streets in major areas of Kano. There were peaceful demonstrations along Emir Place Road, Kurna and some other major roads within the city. Hundreds of youths were seen waving blue/red/white flags. It was the Russian flag and it became the sign or identity of the #EndHunger protests in Kano.

The demonstrators on Saturday (the third day) were tragically attacked with random shooting by the police in Kurna Kano which claimed the lives of not fewer than six people including women and children. 

The police had barricades on the major roads leading to the main city centre on Sunday. There was also the presence of heavy security forces. This meant that protesters were restricted to their communities. Random shots of teargas were fired in many places to disperse the demonstrators on this fourth day.

Monday was the last day of the #EndHunger protests in Kano. Peaceful demonstrations were reported in Goron Dutse in the ancient city of Kano. Hundreds of young people waving the red/blue/white flag demonstrated for a long time before police fired teargas to prevent them from accessing the city’s major roads.

Various newspapers reported that the security agencies arrested more than 600 people in Kano. Not fewer than 13 people were reported to have been shot dead, according to Sahara reporters, throughout the protests in Kano.

The President has yet to announce any meaningful reforms so the hunger and anger remain. The protests will continue, perhaps from 1 October if not before.