Economic Crisis: Nigerians Loot Government Food Warehouse In Abuja

Nigerian residents on Sunday looted a government warehouse in the country's capital Abuja City to grab food items as the country deals with an economic crisis.

The loot began around 7:00 a.m. and continued for at least two hours. The police came to the premises and handled the situation. A user in X, formerly known as Twitter, shared a video of this mass looting.

Another X user shared the same video and wrote, "The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warehouse for food & relief materials has been looted in Abuja by residents," adding that "if nothing is done immediately to stop this nationwide hunger, very soon the rich will be the only food left to loot."

The loot took place as the country is going through an economic crisis since President Bola Tinubu announced fuel subsidy removal on May 29, leading to an increase in fuel and food prices across the country.

Since the fuel subsidy removal was announced, this is the second incident when the residents looted government warehouses for food.

Last year in July, thousands of Nigerian youth attacked the NEMA warehouses in Kaduna and Adamawa states. During the rampage, at least four people were shot dead by the security operatives and 47 were arrested.

Nigerians have been protesting against the Tinubu-led administration due to the ongoing economic condition of the country. The residents have been taking to the streets to protest against the high cost of living, especially the unbearable food prices for the common man.

Residents of Suleja in Niger State last month protested on the streets regarding the inflation with placards that read inscriptions like "Leadership is all about improving the life of the masses" and "Nigerians are suffering, stop the hardship now," Channel TV reported.

Some cards read, "End food hike and inflation," "The poor are starving" and "Tinubu, don't forget your promises."

Apart from fuel subsidy removal, demonetization also brought hardships for Nigerians, which created a cash crunch in the country, causing an estimated loss of N20 trillion. With the country going through an economic crisis, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last year warned that the situation would deepen poverty.

As the country suffering from the economic crisis, Tinubu is currently in Qatar to seek investment from the Middle Eastern country. On Sunday, Nigeria and Qatar signed multi-sectoral agreements over education, enterprise development, investment promotion, youth empowerment, mining, tourism and sports sectors.