Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has called for the suspension of the ongoing protests against rising cost of living in the country and offered to dialogue with the protesters.
The protests in the past three days have been marred by deadly violence and looting of shops and warehouses by rioters, while security forces fired tear gas at the demonstrators. More than a dozen people have reportedly died.
''I am especially pained by the loss of lives in Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and other states, the destruction of public facilities in some states, and the wanton looting of supermarkets and shops, contrary to the promise of protest organisers that the protest would be peaceful across the country,'' Tinubu said in a televised address on Sunday.
''We must stop further bloodshed, violence and destruction,'' the Nigerian leader said, while offering condolences to the families of the victims.
Politically-motivated
''The destruction of properties sets us back as a nation, as scarce resources will be again used to restore them,'' Tinubu added.
''As President of this country, I must ensure public order. In line with my constitutional oath to protect the lives and property of every citizen, our government will not stand idly by and allow a few with a clear political agenda to tear this nation apart,'' he added.
''Under the circumstances, I hereby enjoin protesters and the organisers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity,'' Tinubu said.
President Tinubu once again defended the removal of fuel subsidy by his government which is largely blamed for the rising cost of living.
'Smugglers blocked'
He says the subsidy scrapped on his first day in office on May 29, 2023, was unsustainable and the country could not continue to pay.
''I therefore took the painful yet necessary decision to remove fuel subsidies and abolish multiple foreign exchange systems which had constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our Nation and impeded our economic development and progress,'' he said.
''These actions blocked the greed and the profits that smugglers and rent-seekers made. They also blocked the undue subsidies we had extended to our neighbouring countries to the detriment of our people, rendering our economy prostrate,'' Tinubu said.
Suspected looters arrested
Africa's most populous country is battling high inflation and a tumbling naira after Tinubu ended a fuel subsidy and liberalised the currency more than a year ago in reforms the government says will improve the economy in the long term.
Tinubu also used the speech to outline measures he said would benefit young Nigerians and the economy.
Dubbed #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, the protest movement won support with an online campaign.
But officials have warned against attempts to copy recent anti-government protests in Kenya, where demonstrators forced the president to abandon new taxes.
Police in Nigeria said they had arrested nearly 700 people in the first two days of the protests, accusing them of "armed robbery, arson, mischief" and destroying property.
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