On Monday morning, some youths in Niger State trooped to the streets of Suleja wielding placards and demanding urgent action against festering economic hardship in Nigeria.
The protesters marched on the streets, bearing placards with such inscriptions like ‘Enough is Enough’; ‘Stop Anti-Masses Policies’; ‘We Are Not Slaves In Our Country’; ‘Hardship Is Unbearable’, and ‘Fuel Subsidy Must Be Back.’
Their presence indicated that the promises made by the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, last week did not go down well with them.
The governor had promised some welfare packages to residents to prevent any form of protest against either the state of federal government.
Even the Federal governments had made several efforts to stop any protest warning that it could be hijacked by hoodlums and enemies of democracy.
To prevent any form of protest, Governor Bago at a Town Hall meeting had announced a N20,000 wage allowance for state and local government civil servants.
He had also ordered the immediate release of 50,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains to be sold at subsidised rates to mitigate the current economic hardship.
“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.
"Before the end of the year, we will slash food prices by 90%."
The state government or security agencies are yet to react to the protest in Niger.
Even the youths on this protest who matched on Abuja-Kaduna expressway axis of Suleja declined commenting on their actions.
