Media reports have indicated that the planned protest against hardship in the land may have started, albeit low-keyed, as some youths reportedly marched in the streets of Suleja, Niger State, demanding that the soaring cost of living the country be arrested.
According to Daily Trust, they protesters chanted anti-government slogans and carried placards with diverse inscriptions, like: ‘Enough is Enough’; ‘Stop Anti-Masses Policies’; ‘We Are Not Slaves In Our Country’; ‘Hardship Is Unbearable’, ‘Fuel Subsidy Must Be Back’, among others.
They were also reported to have attempted to block the Suleja axis of the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
Monday’s protest happened even as both the federal and state governments continue their last-ditch efforts to dissuade the organisers as they feared that the demonstrations could be hijacked by hoodlums with sinister motives.
Only last week, Governor Mohammed Bago had tried desperately to assuage the sufferings of his people by delivering varying palliatives to residents to mitigate their sufferings and forestall the planned protest.
The palliatives included approving a N20,000 wage allowance for state and local government workers, ordering the immediate release of 50,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains to be sold at subsidised rates to citizens.
“We have over 100,000 metric tonnes of food in our reserves, out of which we will be releasing 50,000 metric tonnes to be sold at 50% of its present price,” the governor had announced at a town hall meeting in Minna, the state capital. “Before the end of the year, we will slash food prices by 90%.”
And to show his gratitude for their courageous efforts at combating banditry, insurgency, and other criminal activities, Governor Bago gave each head of security agencies in the state a gift of one Prado Jeep.
There has been no official reaction yet on the development in Suleja.