Nigerians in Ibadan hit the streets in protests over the high cost of living under President Bola Tinubu on Monday, with chants of ‘Tinubu ole!’ and ‘renewed shege!’ rending the air.
Placards-carrying protesters at Mokola Roundabout remonstrated on the street with inscriptions like ‘End food price hike’ and ‘This is not Hope Renewed. This is shege renewed’.
“Tinubu is thief! Tinubu is thief!” the protesters hurled their opprobrium toward the president in a video posted on X.
This came as another episode of protests against food price hikes in the country.
Similar protests had rocked Niger, Kano, Osun and Lagos (Mr Tinubu’s home state), protesting hunger and other hardships.
In the past nine months, prices of staple foods have spiked almost 100 per cent as inflation ravages the Nigerian economy.
A market survey conducted at Mararaba Market, Nasarawa, by Peoples Gazette on February 7 showed that prices of most food items have increased by almost 100 per cent compared to what was obtainable last May.
A bag of rice, a common staple food among Nigerians, now sells for N65,000 against N35,000 for which it sold last May.
A bag of yellow garri, which sold for N25,000, has jumped to N40,000, while white garri now sells for N30,000 against N13,000 for which it sold last year.
A bag of corn that sold for N19,000 last year May now sells for N60,000, a bag of Millet sold for N18,000 now sells for N55,000, while flour for baking and pastries sells for N50,000 against N28,000 for which it sold last year May.
A ‘long slate’ of ‘Titus’ (mackerel) now sells for N105,000 against N78,000 for which it sold last year. A square cartoon of ‘Titus’ sold for N38,000 the previous year now sells for N78,000, while a 25 litre of palm oil formerly sold for N31,000 now sells for N41,000.
Urah Chidiebere, a trader at Mararaba Market, lamented the rising cost of food items, saying, “People are murmuring that things are too expensive. They don’t have money to buy. People who bought a bag before now buy half, and this has affected my sales.”
“You know, if things are cheap, we make more profit. But now, nothing like that,” Ms Chidiebere told The Gazette.