A total curfew was imposed on Sunday July 30 in a state in eastern Nigeria where hundreds of residents engaged in massive looting of shops and public warehouses, authorities said. Adamawa. Teenagers living on the street began the looting, but were soon joined by hundreds of residents who entered these places where food, including cereals, were stored before taking them away.
“The Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has decreed a 24-hour curfew […] with immediate effect,” his spokesman, Humwashi Wonosikou, said on Sunday: “With the curfew imposed fire, there will be no movement throughout the state. Local police said security personnel had been deployed to enforce the curfew and prevent future looting.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and the continent’s largest economy, has been facing a serious economic crisis since 2016, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Nearly half of its approximately 215 million people live in extreme poverty (on less than $2 a day) despite its huge oil reserves.
For two months, poverty has worsened as the new president, Bola Tinubu, has taken a series of economic measures aimed at reviving long-term investments, but with serious effects on household wallets. Last month, the head of state notably ended fuel subsidies, quadrupling gasoline prices and, indirectly, skyrocketing food prices. In mid-July, he announced a “state of emergency on food security”, promising massive investments in agriculture and cash transfers to the poorest.
Earlier this year, the UN already predicted that more than 25 million Nigerians would be at “high risk” of food insecurity in 2023, not counting recent inflation. The north-east of the country is particularly affected by food insecurity, as a fourteen-year-old conflict between the army and jihadist groups there has displaced millions of people and driven farmers away from their land.
