Nigerian government calls for shelving of planned nationwide protests

Abuja, July 30 (IANS) In a bid to avoid “undesirable outcomes” of planned nationwide protests this week, the Nigerian government has appealed for calm while calling on the youth to shelve the demonstrations and make way for continued robust dialogue to address their grievances.

The protests by the youth are planned to begin Thursday across Africa’s most populous country, with the proponents calling on the government to address the economic hardships amid the serious cost-of-living crisis.

Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris told the media Monday in Abuja, the country’s capital, that while the government is not opposed to peaceful protests as a “democratic right of every Nigerian,” it is appealing to the youth first to shelve the plan.

Citing the history of protests in the country, Idris said there is a likelihood that this planned nationwide protest might be hijacked by “unscrupulous elements, and turn violent,” Xinhua news agency reported.

“Indeed, the president is already doing those things that they want the government to do. For example, the government is making efforts to ensure that food is made available,” the minister said while reeling out several government interventions, including the distribution of food items to the poor, efforts to curtail the prices of food, the disbursement of student loans, and the reduction of transportation costs with the country’s compressed natural gas revolution.

Last year, the Nigerian government removed the subsidies on petrol or gasoline and also floated the local currency in the wake of ongoing economic and fiscal reforms in the country. The inflation rate in Nigeria rose to 34.19 percent in June amid the worst cost of living crisis in the West African country.

–IANS

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