By Stella Othobor and Ese Daniels
Residents of Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, Friday, stormed some major roads in the area, protesting over the high cost of living in the country.
A lady who refused to disclose her name, caught the attention of many people by lying down at the centre of the road at Jakpa junction, chanting, “a carton of indomie is N18,500, bag of rice N80,000, garri is costly, we are hungry, government come and help us, bring the price of food stuffs down.”
According to one of the protesters, Miss Rita Akpo, the protest was planned to start by 7am at DSC roundabout and move to Effurun roundabout and then to Jakpa junction, but she said they were surprised to see military and police men at different locations in the area, which scared so many youths away.
According to one of the coordinators of the protest, Mr. Frank Iyasele, “the protest was peaceful at the beginning before some youths joined us at Jakpa junction and started blocking the road with tables, billboards and even wheel barrows.”
Some market women were seen at a separate corner beating containers in support of the youths.
An eyewitness told our correspondent that there was no casualty during the protest except tear gas, thrown by security officers to scare the protesters away and clear the road to bring normalcy to the area.
Recall that spontaneous protests over harsh living conditions have been reported in different parts of the country, with citizens calling on the government at all levels to initiate immediate measures to ameliorate the suffering ordinary citizens face on a daily basis on account of skyrocketing costs of basic food items, transportation and other goods.
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