The African Development Bank, AfDB, has warned that the further increase of fuel and commodity prices in Nigeria, Angola, and Kenya could trigger unrest.

The bank gave the warning in its Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook for 2024, in which it projected a 3.8% growth rate in Africa in 2024.

Already, there have been hunger protests in Minna, the Niger State capital, and Kano. Even the federal government is said to be under pressure to further increase fuel prices.

It stated, “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 cost of living crisis is blamed on the federal government’s policies of the petrol subsidy removal and floating of the naira.

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Northern traditional rulers also warned last week of agitations by their subjects, as according to them, the suffering was becoming unbearable in the country.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, who spoke for the traditional rulers said that the economic hardship in Nigeria had reached a level where citizens were hungry and angry.

He specifically warned the Federal Government that the hardship caused by insecurity and poverty in the North was getting to a level where they were increasingly finding it difficult to pacify their people.

Organised labour under the Nigeria Labour Congress,  NLC, has also announced a two-day nationwide protest over the hardship across the country.