UN Warns Nigeria of Protest Hijack as NLC Cautioned FG to Avoid Interference
The United Nations (UN) Department of Safety and Security has warned about the planned protests in Nigeria, which are scheduled from August 1 to 10 and are called the “10 Days of Rage”. The protests aim to address the rising cost of living and economic hardship in the country. However, the UN has expressed concerns that these protests could be hijacked by groups with ulterior motives, potentially leading to violence. It could also be recalled that the End-SARS protest was equally hijacked leading to bloodshed.
The UN’s threat and risk assessment, dated July 19, highlighted past instances where similar protests in Nigeria escalated into violence, such as the February 2023 protests over the new Naira currency crisis. Analysing the situation further, the report noted that during the civil unrest in different states, several bank branches and ATM points were vandalized while major roads were blocked. It, therefore, predicted that the turnout for the ’10 Days of Rage protest is expected to be high, creating large-scale disruptions to normal economic and social activities.
The threat assessment also showed 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.
Quoting some segment of the report, it reads, “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),” the UN said. “This highlights the possibility of the events being hijacked by other interest groups/detractors, thus complicating the security landscape of different areas.”
The protests are calling for several changes, including the reinstatement of petrol and tertiary education subsidies, affordable electricity tariffs, reduced import duties, a state of emergency on inflation, more transparency in public administration, and reforms to the judicial system.
In the same vein, Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), emphasized that it would be difficult to prevent Nigerians from expressing their dissatisfaction with the government’s policies.
