Niger Govt Calls For Calm as Youths, Women Protest Economic Hardship

The Deputy Governor of Niger State, Yakubu Garba has appealed for calm among protesting residents of the Minna metropolis.

Garba appealed that the state government was very much aware of the economic hardship faced by its citizens and was working to alleviate same.

The state government’s appeal followed a protest by angry youths and women, who converged in their numbers, on Monday, to express anger over the current economic hardship they face in Minna, the Niger State capital.

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Frustrated by their financial difficulties, the protesters who blocked Minna Bida Road at Kpakungu around 7.30am, hinged the current hardship to fuel subsidy removal by the federal government.

They also decried the continuous hike in the price of food items and other essential needs of livelihood in the country.

Some of the protesters who spoke with newsmen demanded the reversal of the current fuel price which, according to them, was responsible for the hardship.

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But addressing the protesters, the Deputy Governor urged them to remain calm as modalities have been put in place to ease their suffering.

” Niger State Government as a matter of urgency is calling on the people of Kpagungu to remain calm as the state government is working tirelessly to cushion its citizen hardships to its barest minimum.

”We will continue to distribute palliative to the downtrodden, “he appealed.