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#NigeriaAt64: Protesters Gather In Lagos, Abuja Over High Living Costs

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As Nigeria celebrates 64 years of independence from British colonial rule on Tuesday, thousands of citizens gathered in the nation’s economic and political capitals, Lagos and Abuja, respectively, to protest high living and energy costs in Africa’s most populous nation.

For them, it is not a time for celebration as they called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address the soaring inflation and unprecedented economic hardship in the country.

The October 1, 2024 protest, tagged “FearlessInOctober”, was propagated on social media, some two months after the August #EndBadGovernance protests.

The two demonstrations are synonymous in themes as aggrieved young people demand a reversal of petrol subsidy removal and electricity tariff increase.

On Tuesday, protesters gathered at the Utako area in Abuja, the country’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), waving the Nigerian Green-White-Green flag and banners with various inscriptions such as “EndBadGovernance”, “DiasporaVoting”, “EndHighLivingCosts”, amongst others.

In Lagos, around the state capital in Ikeja, the situation was the same as youths besieged the popular Ikeja UnderBridge area, with vehicular movement at a standstill on a day already declared a public holiday by the government for the celebration of Nigeria’s independence.

The protesters in Lagos also wielded large-format banners with boldly encrusted statements like, “Hunger Dey”, and “Reverse Anti-People, Neoliberal Policies Of Privatisation, Deregulation and Devaluation of Naira”, among others.

Activist Omoyele Sowore was spotted at the Lagos venue of the rally where he and other demonstrators geared up to march to the iconic and eponymous Gani Fawehinmi Park in the ever-busy Ojota area of Lagos to continue the protest against what they have termed anti-government policies.

Both in Lagos and Abuja, scores of security agents were seen on alert at the protest locations where they maintained a respectable distance from the demonstrators.

Aside from Lagos and Abuja, defiant protesters also gathered in some of Nigeria’s 36 states to trumpet their demands.

The protests were held despite many warnings and dissuations from the government and security agencies.

Critics have faulted Tinubu’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the foreign exchange rates which many Nigerians believed were responsible for the unimaginable inflation and soaring living and energy costs in the country.

Energy costs have more than tripled since Tinubu took up the reins of government on May 29, 2023.

Petrol prices per litre jumped up from around N200 to over N1,000 whilst electricity tariff quadrupled, impacting the manufacturing sector and the pocket of Nigerian households.

During his second Independence Day Anniversary Broadcast on Tuesday, Tinubu pleaded for more patience and time, saying his administration is retooling its economic policies for the good of common Nigerians.

The former Lagos governor sympathised with Nigerians over the economic hardship his reforms might have caused whilst he assured them that his administration had been busy implementing measures to bring down the skyrocketing cost of living.

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LASG declares 176 estates illegal for lacking approved layouts

Permanent Secretary, Office of Physical Planning, Oluwole Sotire, disclosed that some of the identified illegal estates include Adron Homes, Elerangbe; Aina Gold Estate, Okun-Folu; Diamond Estate, Eputu; Prime Water View Garden, Ikate-Elegushi, and Royal View Estate, Ikota, among others.

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Lagos State Government has declared 176 estates at the Eti-Osa, Ajah, Ibeju-Lekki, and Epe axis of the state illegal.

Permanent Secretary, Office of Physical Planning, Oluwole Sotire, disclosed that some of the identified illegal estates include Adron Homes, Elerangbe; Aina Gold Estate, Okun-Folu; Diamond Estate, Eputu; Prime Water View Garden, Ikate-Elegushi, and Royal View Estate, Ikota, among others.

He added that the illegal estates compromised the sustainable development ethos and the T.H.E.M.E.S+ agenda of the government by operating without approved layouts.

Consequently, the government has given the owners a 21-day ultimatum to process their layout approvals.

The estates, which were deemed illegal due to the failure of the owners to obtain layout approvals from the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, were listed in a document published by the ministry, yesterday.

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VISA: US demanding $15,000 down payment for some visitors

The funds will be returned if the applicant complies with all visa terms. If the applicant remains in the United States past the deadline, the funds will be forfeited.

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The US State Department says that some visa applicants will soon be required to pay bonds of up to $15,000 to discourage visa overstays as part of President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on migration.

Starting later this month, the pilot program will require applicants from certain countries to pay a sum of “no less than $5,000” as collateral for the issuance of their visa.

The funds will be returned if the applicant complies with all visa terms. If the applicant remains in the United States past the deadline, the funds will be forfeited.

“Consular officers may require covered nonimmigrant visa applicants to post a bond of up to $15,000 as a condition of visa issuance,” the agency said in a notice to be published Tuesday in the US Federal Register.

The 12-month program would only affect foreign nationals from countries considered to have “high visa overstay rates” based on a 2023 Department of Homeland Security report, the notice said.

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Ex-servicemen protest nonpayment of entitlements by Finance Ministry

We the voluntary discharged soldiers of 2024 demand full payment of our benefits, including shortfalls in gratuity, SDA, parking allowance and four months’ salary cuts.

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• Ex-servicemen protest at the Ministry of Finance Office, Abuja, August 5,2025

ABUJA—A group of retired soldiers shut down the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, yesterday, while protesting the non-payment of their gratuity, Security Debarment Allowance, SDA, and other entitlements.

The Vanguard reported that the angry protesters carried placards with messages such as: “We are 1st and 2nd Quarter Retirees of NA 2003. We are living heroes and deserve to be recognized and treated right—not celebrated as fallen heroes when we are no more,” and “We the voluntary discharged soldiers of 2024 demand full payment of our benefits, including shortfalls in gratuity, SDA, parking allowance and four months’ salary cuts.

The protest, which began at about 7 a.m., left ministry workers stranded for hours, as they were unable to access their offices as the aggrieved ex-servicemen, comprising men and women, demanded the immediate release of their outstanding allowances.

They claimed to be members of Voluntary Discharged Soldiers, who retired from the Nigerian Army in the first two quarters of 2024.

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