Police on Monday fired gunshots to disperse residents of Minna, the Niger State capital, protesting against the rising cost of living.
According to reports, a group of women, as early as 7 am, blocked Minna-Bida Road at the popular Kpakungu roundabout to express their grievances over the rising cost of food items.
In Kano, a 50kg bag of sugar at Singer Market is now selling at N73,000 as against N62,000 sold in early January.
They were later joined by men, who stopped vehicles from moving.
Efforts by the police to control the crowd almost resulted in violence as protesters asked police to leave, forcing the police to fire several shots in the air.
One of the youths, Ibrahim Gana, said rice was sold at N2,000 per mudu at Minna markets, while maize was N1,000 per measure.
“The Federal Government needs to take action to reduce the hardship being faced by the poor Nigerians. Things are becoming unbearable,” he said.
However, DP Wasiu Abiodun, the spokesperson of the Niger State Police Command, could not be reached at the time of filing this report.