A viral video has shown the moment Nigerians were beaten with canes before they could get a free loaf of bread in Lagos Island, Lagos State.
In the video,
a mammoth crowd is seen in queues, with some people with canes beating them
orderly before giving them the free bread.
“See how them
dey flog pesin because of N100 bread, Nigeria don spoil. See crowd (See how
people are being flogged because of N100 bread; Nigeria is finished),” one of
the eyewitnesses said in the video.
In another
viral video on X, another set of people are seen fighting dirty over free
tubers of yam at the Lagos Central Mosque, Lagos Island.
“The citizens
are hungry; they are fighting over yams,” someone said in the video.
The state
police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin could not be reached for comment because
he did not answer his calls.
He had yet to
reply to messages sent to his mobile line to seek his reaction to the video, at
the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile,
SaharaReporters had earlier reported how many Nigerians in the Northern region
of the country reportedly resorted to rice grains that millers had rejected
after processing or selling to farmers to feed their fish. This is because of
the current economic crisis in the country.
These are
referred to in the Hausa language, widely spoken in the north, as afafata,
which means "battling" because they are a battle to cook and eat as
the grains are so hard, BBC reports.
A rice mill worker
in the northern city of Kano, Kano State capital, Isah Hamisu said, "A few
years ago, people didn't care about this type of rice, and we usually threw it
away along with the rice hulls, but times have changed."
Though the
grains are broken, dirty and tough, afafata's lower price has made it more
attractive for hungry Nigerians and helped poorer families to be able to afford
to eat one of the staple foods in the country.
A fish farm
owner, Fatima Abdullahi, reportedly said that her fish love the grains but
because people are now eating afafata, its price has risen.
Prices of food
items in Nigeria have been astronomically increasing for nearly 30 years.
Amid global
pressures, President Bola Tinubu's removal of the fuel subsidy and the
devaluation of the naira, have added to inflation.
A standard
50kg (110lb) bag of rice, which could help feed a household of between eight
and 10 for about a month, now costs N77,000 ($53; £41).
This is an
increase of more than 70% since the middle of last year and exceeds the monthly
income of a majority of Nigerians.
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