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.
According to the video, a 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.
Many Nigerians in the Northern region of the country have 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.
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, who is a fish farm owner reportedly said that her fish love the grains but because people are now eating afafata, its price has risen.
The prices of food items in Nigeria have been astronomically increasing for nearly 30 years.
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.
HOBNOB NEWS
