The African Development Bank (AfDB) has cautioned that increasing prices of fuel and other goods could lead to social unrest in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Angola and Kenya.
The AfDB raised the alarm in its macroeconomic performance and outlook for 2024 where it projected Africa’s economy to grow higher than the 3.2 percent recorded in 2023, stating that growth on the continent will rebound to 3.8 percent in 2024.
The bank, however, warned that an increase in fuel and commodity prices due to either currency depreciation or subsidy removal in Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and Ethiopia could trigger internal conflicts.
The AfDB said, “Internal conflicts and violence could also result from rising prices for fuel and other commodities due to weaker domestic currencies and reforms.
“For instance, the removal of fuel subsidies in Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria and the resulting social costs has led to social unrest driven by opposition to government policy.”
The AfDB added that the rise of geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East in addition to the El Nino phenomenon may trigger supply chain disruptions, which could aggravate energy and food inflation across the world, with Africa more vulnerable to the shock.
Already, rising cost of living in Nigeria has led to protests by the people in some parts of the country in recent times, who blamed the crisis on Federal Government’s policies of the petrol subsidy removal and floating of the naira.
The protest over the overbearing hardship started in Minna, Niger State on February 5 and was subsequently staged in several other states.
Apart from the AfDB, some prominent Nigerians have started speaking up and cautioning that if the current situation is not quickly contained, things could snowball to something else.
One of such prominent personalities is the Sultan of Sokoto, who, at the sixth Executive Committee Meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council in Kaduna, said the economic hardship in the country had reached a level where citizens were agitated, angry and hungry.
He pointedly told the Federal Government that the hardship, insecurity, poverty and unemployment in Nigeria and the North, in particular, were becoming unbearable and that it was getting increasingly difficult to pacify the people.
He said, “To make matters worse, we are faced with the rising level of poverty amongst our people, lack of normal sources of livelihood for the common man to have even if it is one good meal a day.
“I believe talking of insecurity and the rising level of poverty are two issues that we cannot fold our arms and think everything is okay. I have said it so many times and at so many fora that things are not okay in Nigeria and of course, things are not okay in the North.”
Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has scheduled a two-day nationwide protest over the prevailing hardship confronting Nigerians in addition to the deteriorating security situation in the country.
The NLC president, Joe Ajaero, while speaking during a press conference after an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union on Friday, said the protest will begin a week after the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government, which will expire on February 23.
The NLC gave February 27 and 28 as days for the nationwide protest.
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