Hardship: Tension Heats Up As Nigerian Youths Set The Stage For Mass Protests In August

Nigerian youths plan nationwide protests from August 1-10, 2024, to highlight severe hardship and call for policy reversals, gaining momentum particularly in the North.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Government officials are on edge and police are on high alert as Nigerian youths plan nationwide protests from August 1-10, 2024, to highlight the severe hardships citizens are facing.

This online media platform reports that the protest, gaining momentum particularly in the North, aims to bring citizens’ plights to the government’s attention.

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This follows heightened suffering since President Bola Tinubu’s administration abolished fuel subsidies in May 2023, leading to calls for policy reversals.

Recall that on February 9, 2024, angry youths and women protested in Minna, the Niger State capital, and Kano against soaring prices of essential commodities.

Civil society groups, including the Take It Back Movement and the Education Rights Campaign, similarly protested on June 12 against rising living costs and insecurity. Their placards bore messages like “President Tinubu, let the poor breathe” and “End Insecurity.”

The planned protest will span Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

While some organizers, particularly from the northern region, remain anonymous, African Action Congress (AAC) 2023 presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has been actively campaigning for the August protest on social media.

Sowore, known for leading multiple protests, declared that a revolution is imminent: “Nothing Can Stop An Idea Whose Time Has Come” #RevolutionNOW.

Sowore’s social media posts include: “The REVOLUTION is now knocking on our doors! #RevolutionNow. Let everyone rise all at once in August 2024! … Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. They asked for a revolution, and it is here now! @officialABAT once asked for a revolution, even @MBuhari once asked for a revolution and Nigerians now want a real revolution.”

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A circulating flyer titled “End Bad Government in Nigeria 2024” lists demands, including ending the subsidy scam, reducing fuel prices below ₦300 per liter, lowering tertiary education fees, and cutting Senators’ and House of Representatives members’ salaries and allowances.

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