A protest broke out on Friday in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, over the hard economic situation in Nigeria fueled by the persistent fuel scarcity, hike, and the limited cash in circulation.
As seen in a video uploaded on social media by a tweep with the username @Ibadancommunity, irate residents appeared to have blocked a major road despite the presence of policemen.
Commercial bus drivers are said to be part of the people protesting both the hike in fuel prices and scarcity of the new Naira notes.
VIDEO: Protest In Ibadan Over Fuel Price Hike, New Naira
A protest has broken out in Ibadan over the hard economic situation in Nigeria.
In videos from the scene, a crowd can be seen gathered on the road, even as policemen were also present. Commercial bus drivers are said to pic.twitter.com/rPjQpRbXEe
— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) February 3, 2023
Reacting to the development, tweets expressed their dissatisfaction with the current situation in the country on the social media app.
One tweep @BIGPaul said, “To me, all these protests won’t be too effective if it doesn’t happen in Abuja at the Presidential Villa and environs where the leaders reside. I am ready to be part of such a protest if at all just drop the location.”
This is just as another user, @ProphetofZoom tweeted, “Somebody is Experiencing this hardship and still wanting to vote Tinubu or Atiku Because of Ethnicity and Bigotry. God Forbid Bad things.”
Another twee with the user name @Lawyer’s messiah added, “It is so saddening to sit here & watch this present administration put my dear country in absolute chaos & shambles. The people need to use their PVC as this is our last chance as youths & we owe our children a chance to a better Nigeria in the next 8yrs.”
Meanwhile, security officials are on the ground to restore peace to the area.
Scarcity of New Naira Note
Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s extension of the deadline for the transitioning of old and new naira, the sc scarcity of both old and newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1000 notes has worsened.
With the old notes likely to become illegal after the new deadline, Nigerians have besieged banks and markets across the federation amid the unavailability of the new naira notes.
Amidst long queues in banks and ATM points across the country, the scarcity of the new naira notes has forced Point of Sale operators to up their transaction rates for the available naira notes(old or new).
Punch Metro reports that the scarcity of the new naira note came amid the increase in fuel price and scarcity which has persisted since 2022.
A survey of petrol stations in many parts of the country showed that the fuel prices ranged between N240 and N400 across Nigerian states, far higher than the erstwhile pump price as the government’s planned removal of fuel subsidy becomes imminent.
