In Nigeria, anti-government protests unite a divided country

Since religious riots tore across the central Nigerian city of Jos two decades ago, its Muslim and Christian residents have largely kept apart. They have their own neighborhoods. They vote for different political parties. 

But the cost-of-living crisis that has swept Nigeria over the past year has blurred some of those boundaries. “If there is hunger in the land, the hunger that the Christian is feeling is not different from the hunger the Muslim is feeling,” observes Tony Young Godswill, national secretary of the Initiative for a Better and Brighter Nigeria, a pro-democracy group. 

So when nationwide anti-government protests broke out in early August, hungry, angry Jos residents from all backgrounds poured into the streets. And the momentum of the demonstrations soon barreled across old fault lines. When Muslim demonstrators knelt to pray on a busy road one Friday afternoon, hundreds of Christian marchers spontaneously formed a tight, protective circle around them. 

“I saw what I never believed I could ever see in Jos,” says Isa El-Buba, a popular pastor who led the protests. “These young people spoke with one voice.” 

Although the protest movement fizzled after only a few days, observers say the solidarity it forged across religious, ethnic, and political fault lines in places like Jos has the potential to outlive the demonstrations themselves. A shared distrust of the government – whether in Nigeria, Bangladesh, or Venezuela, where anti-government protests have also recently broken out among a wide range of citizens – is also a fragile form of unity. 

The “widespread sense of injustice could be quite combustible,” says Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of practice in international human rights law at Tufts University and former chair of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission. 

Crisis, hashtag, protest

Nigeria’s protests began in response to the soaring costs of food and transport over the past year and a half, which have more than doubled in some cases. The situation has helped push more than 10 million additional Nigerians into poverty, according to the World Bank. Protesters blame the economic stabilization policies of President Bola Tinubu, which have included removing a heavy subsidy on petrol and devaluing the naira, Nigeria’s currency. 

His administration has pleaded for patience from Nigerians during the growing pains caused by these economic reforms. But at the same time, Mr. Tinubu’s administration has cut massive checks for a new presidential yacht, new SUVs for legislators, and a new vice presidential residence. It has also increased the number of ministers by 11, raising many eyebrows.  

“I feel very angered to see myself and the masses who have voted for this government suffer,” explains Buhari Shehu, a lawyer who participated in the protests in Jos. He says prices are so unstable that “you can’t even predict” what you will be able to afford on your next trip to the grocery store. “You go to the market and find out things have skyrocketed and that money [you have] is not enough,” he says. 

In July, inspired by the success of anti-tax protests in Kenya, Nigerians began to mobilize on the social platform X and other social media sites under the hashtag #EndBadGovernance. 

They called for a 10-day national protest demanding reinstatement of the petrol subsidy and a reduction in government spending. In response, Mr. Tinubu announced that he was more than doubling the country’s minimum wage, to 70,000 naira monthly, or around $60.

But it was not enough. On August 1, mass demonstrations broke out in more than two dozen cities across Nigeria.

As in Jos, demonstrators in several cities also bonded across typical fault lines. In politically and religiously polarized states like Kaduna, Lagos, and Osun, Christian demonstrators also stood guard while their Muslim counterparts observed their Juma’at Friday prayers. 

In Abuja, the capital, Ibrahim Abdullahi was among those who marched, chanting, “No food! No security! No good life in our country!” As a Muslim, he says he previously thought it was inappropriate for him to protest against a fellow Muslim like Mr. Tinubu. Now, he held a placard that read “We regret Tinubu.” 

The heavy-handed response of the police also further united demonstrators. Across the country, security forces fired tear gas and, in some cases, live bullets, into the crowds. At least 22 people have died in the demonstrations, according to Amnesty International. 

On Sunday, Aug. 4, the president gave a televised address in which he defended the state’s response, saying he had a responsibility to “ensure public order.” 

“Our government will not stand idly by and allow a few with a clear political agenda to tear this nation apart,” he said. 

An uncertain future 

The police crackdown, coupled with dusk-to-dawn curfews imposed in many states, have dampened the momentum of the demonstrations.

Over the course of the planned 10 days of protests, the numbers of participants dwindled, with only a few dozen people on the streets in major cities by the final day, Saturday, Aug. 10.

But experts and some participants believe that the current moment could still be a critical turning point in Nigerian politics. 

The demonstrations “indicate a very angry youth population united by hunger and food insecurity,” says Dr. Odinkalu, the human rights expert. “Finding the money to address these issues will be key.” If not, he argues, the country will be “finely poised” for more protests over the next few years.

Already, protesters in cities like Jos have promised to return to the streets once the curfew is lifted unless their demands are met. And their unity has remained unbroken. 

The Sunday after the protests began, hundreds of Muslim demonstrators formed their own protective circle around a church service organized at the protest venue in Jos. 

The solidarity shown by Christians in the earlier days of the protests “gave us a sense of encouragement and a sense of unity,” explained Sheikh Suleiman Khalid, a Muslim cleric, in a local TV news interview. “When you see someone, you should know he’s human first before his religion. When you have that empathy in your heart, things will work well.” 

Mr. El-Buba, the Christian protest leader, agreed. 

“We are congregated here as Nigerians,” he explained in the same news segment. “That shows the spirit of a new Nigeria has come to be.”