The United Nations (UN) Department of Safety and Security has warned that the planned protests in Nigeria may be hijacked by groups with ulterior motives.
Various Nigerian groups are planning a nationwide protest from August 1 to vent the country’s soaring cost of living and economic hardship.
Those calling for the protests are asking for a reverse of some policies implemented by President Bola Tinubu believed to have engendered hardship in the country.
Some of the demands include the reinstatement of petrol and tertiary education subsidies, restoring affordable electricity tariffs, and reducing import duties to previous values established before the economic crisis.
Others are declaring a state of emergency on inflation, more transparency in public administration, publicly disclosing and reducing the salaries and allowances of political office holders, and reforms to the judicial system.
In a threat and risk assessment finding dated July 19, the UN expressed concerns about the possibility of violence, citing past instances where similar protests escalated in the country.
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“Recall that in the 13–16 February 2023 interval, tensions generated by the paucity of new Naira currency (financial crisis) reached high levels amongst the civilian population, which materialized in violent protests in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria, in the states of Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo, Imo, Kwara, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, and Rivers.
“During the civil unrest in the different states, several bank branches and ATM points were vandalized, and major roads were blocked.
“As the turnout for the ’10 days of rage’ protest is expected to be high, large-scale disruptions to normal economic and social activities cannot be discounted,” the assessment finding read.
The threat assessment also disclosed that confrontations between groups supporting the government and those disagreeing with its policies cannot be ruled out from the end of July towards August 10-15.
“While acknowledging the economic hardship in the country, some organizations and leaders of ethnic groups (especially in South-South and South-East) were discouraging participation in any of the 1-10 August protests (E.g. Ọhanaeze Ndigbo, a socio-cultural organization in Nigeria, claiming to represent the interests of all Igbos).
“This highlights the possibility of the events being hijacked by other interest groups/detractors, thus complicating the security landscape of different areas,” the UN added.
