Protests against rising cost of living are sponsored, says Akpabio

Senate President Godswill Akpabio says some of the street protests against the rising cost of living in the country are sponsored.

There have been pockets of protests in different parts of the country, with the latest on Monday in Ibadan, capital city of Oyo state.

Residents had also taken to the streets of Niger, Kano and Sokoto states to protest the prevailing economic hardship.

Inflation has spiralled in Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu ended the subsidy on petrol and unified the exchange rate in 2023.

Speaking on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Tuesday, Akpabio said the protesters are not aware of the efforts made by the senate and the federal government to tackle the situation.

“You can see a lot of sponsored protests here and there but those people are not aware — most of those sponsored protesters are not aware of the kind of efforts made by this senate to tackle the situation together with the management team of the federal government,” he said.

“Unverified reports have it that state governments in the last few months have received additional N30 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), outside their normal allocations from the federation account, to assist them in ameliorating the food situation.

“So we believe that every state government should utilise the funds received towards ensuring that food is available.”

The senate president said the national assembly will not approve anything that would not benefit the citizens.