About 75 people die over the last week in food stampedes across Nigeria as hungry masses scramble for rice

AS many as 75 Nigerians have died over the last week in food stampedes as hoards of hungry people scramble for Christmas handouts which state governments have been handing out to ameliorate the effects of hyper-inflation over the festive season.

Nigeria is currently reeling from the effects of a high inflation rate of about 30%, brought about by a government decision to remove petrol subsidies. Because the Nigerian economy is so dependent on road transport, the subsidy removal has had a dramatic effect on consumer goods, particularly food.

With Christmas looming, several state government have opted hand out basis food items like rice, gari, cooking oil, etc to their citizens. However, the fight for these foodstuffs has been much fiercer than anticipated, leading to about 75 deaths over the last four days at different incidents in Ibadan, Okija and Abuja.

At the Islamic High School in Ibadan, last Wednesday, about 40 children who turned up for free food at a funfair organized Prophetess Naomi Shikemi, were stampeded to death. According to the Oyo State Police Command, about 35 dead bodies of the minors were recovered from the incident scene, while six others in critical condition were hospitalised.

Then, over 20 persons died in a stampede during rice sharing at Okija in Anambra State organised by the Obijackson Foundation. Sadly, the unprecedented crowd at the event and the struggle to get a share of the rice meant to be distributed, led to the stampede.

Then yesterday, the  Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had its share of the ugly trend when about 15 residents seeking alms were stampeded to death at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama. FCT Police Command spokesman Josephine Adeh, said that 10 dead bodies, including four children and six adults were recovered, although eyewitnesses said there were more than 15 casualties.

Apparently, while the church expected less than 1,000 residents for the distribution, over 2,000 showed up. FCT Police Command operatives have taken over the scene, preventing people from gaining entrance to the church to ensure that hoodlums do not take advantage of the incident to vandalise church property.

Human rights activist and convener of #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore said that the three incidents showed that Nigeria is currently in trouble. He said Nigerians have not been the same since President Tinubu took over power on May 29 2023, stressing that the debilitating economic destruction by the current administration caused the stampedes.