Nigeria: Curfew imposed to halt rampant food store looting

Authorities in Nigeria’s northeastern Adamawa state on Sunday imposed a statewide round-the-clock curfew to stop widespread looting of food stores in the state capital Yola.

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The looting saw hundreds of residents break into public and private warehouses storing grains and other commodities and cart them away.

“The Governor of Adamawa State… Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has declared a 24-hour curfew on the state, effective immediately Sunday 30th July, 2023,” Humwashi Wonosikou, the governor’s spokesman, said in a statement.

Yahaya Nguroje, Adamawa state police spokesman, said security personnel had been deployed to enforce the curfew.

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Last month Nigeria — the most populous country in Africa and the continent’s largest economy — ended a fuel subsidy regime, leading to petrol prices quadrupling and food prices soaring.

Nigeria’s economy has been weakened by recession and the fallout from Covid-19, making life hard for its 215 million citizens — nearly half of whom live on less than $2 a day.

Online video footage shows residents of Yola looting sacks of grain, cartons of pasta and other household items from a warehouse of Nigeria’s emergency management agency (NEMA).

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The plunder prompted NEMA to put its warehouses across Nigeria on alert to forestall possible looting, according to agency sources.

Earlier this year the United Nations predicted that more than 25 million Nigerians would be a “high risk” of food insecurity in 2023.

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