- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
- Musk finally unveiling his long-promised robotaxi
- London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics
- US, Europe stocks fall on US inflation data
- US consumer inflation eases to 2.4% in September
- Hurricane Milton tornadoes kill four in Florida amid rescue efforts
- South Korea's Han Kang wins literature Nobel
- Ikea posts fall in annual sales after lowering prices
- Stock markets diverge, oil gains after China rebounds
- World can't 'waste time' trading climate change blame: COP29 hosts
- South Korean same-sex couples make push for marriage equality
- Mumbai declares day of mourning for Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- 7-Eleven owner restructures to fight takeover
- Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as most markets track Wall St record
- Uniqlo owner reports record annual earnings
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as markets track Wall St record
- Indonesia biomass drive threatens key forests: report
- Mumbai mourns Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
CMSC | 0.16% | 24.56 | $ | |
NGG | 0.21% | 65.765 | $ | |
BTI | -0.68% | 35.24 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0% | 6.9 | $ | |
BP | 1.05% | 32.32 | $ | |
RELX | -0.61% | 46.425 | $ | |
AZN | -0.94% | 76.785 | $ | |
GSK | -2.61% | 39.215 | $ | |
RIO | 0.13% | 66.435 | $ | |
RBGPF | 4.03% | 63.35 | $ | |
SCS | -3.49% | 12.59 | $ | |
BCC | -1.69% | 140.02 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.08% | 24.7 | $ | |
JRI | -0.05% | 13.214 | $ | |
VOD | -0.46% | 9.685 | $ | |
BCE | -1.54% | 32.805 | $ |
Riots break out in Nigerian cities amid cash scarcity
Rioters attacked bank ATMs and blocked roads in three Nigerian cities on Wednesday as anger spilled on the streets over a scarcity of cash, officials and local media said.
Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage in physical cash since the central bank began to swap old bills of the local naira currency for new ones, leading to a shortfall in banknotes.
Banks have limited access to cash and ATM withdrawals because of a scarcity of the new notes, and some businesses refuse to accept old naira, causing huge queues, angering customers and disrupting businesses.
The unrest in southwest Ibadan, Benin City and southern Delta State came days before Nigeria holds elections on February 25 to decide on a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms.
Police in Delta State said "unguided youths/miscreants in the name of protests" set two banks and two vehicles on fire.
"We have arrested nine suspects so far. Some persons will still call this protest," state police spokesperson Bright Edafe wrote on Twitter.
Channels news station on its Twitter account shared a video of young men burning tyres in the streets on the outskirts of the city of Warri in Delta State.
In Benin City, also in the south, protests broke out after police stopped "hoodlums" from attacking the central bank local office in the city, according to the Edo State governor's spokesman Crusoe Osagie.
"The hoodlums then started attacking and vandalizing banks. They also blocked roads and forced businesses to close," he said.
- 'Politically motivated' -
But he blamed the unrest on politically motivated actions by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, taking advantage of discontent to sow chaos in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-governed state.
"Although the people are dissatisfied with the naira scarcity, the APC capitalized on the discontentment and instigated hoodlums and thugs to cause violence in the city," Osagie said.
The APC did not immediately respond. But the APC and PDP have repeatedly traded accusations over the cash shortages during campaigning for next week's election.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries in Wednesday's unrest.
Angry customers also burned tyres and blocked streets in the southwest Nigerian city of Ibadan, police and residents said.
Oyo State police said protests broke out in some parts of Ibadan, the state capital, early Wednesday, but were soon brought under control.
"There were pockets of protest this morning by some aggrieved bank customers," spokesman Adewale Osifeso told AFP.
Local residents said the unrest started at Dupe, Mokola, Ogunpa, Apata and Iwo Road areas when angry bank customers began protesting because they could not access their money or change old notes to new ones.
"Major roads were blocked while banks, shops and other businesses were shut," local journalist Remi Feyisipo told AFP.
- Rising tensions -
The protest on Wednesday followed riots last week in the city where two people were killed in clashes, according to local media.
Tensions have flared in Nigeria since the central bank set a February deadline for depositors to change old notes, leaving many people cashless and frustrated.
Many people working in the informal economy and in transport in Nigeria use cash for transactions rather than banking apps.
The central bank said the policy was aimed at mopping up excess and counterfeit naira from the system as well as discouraging cash ransom payments to kidnappers and bandits.
The policy was also to promote cashless transactions by limiting the use of cash for businesses.
But some state governments have taken the central bank to court, seeking an order to suspend the policy and allow Nigerians to use both the old and new notes until the banks are able to provide enough cash.
Two weeks ago, riots also erupted in northern Nigeria's largest city of Kano during a visit by President Buhari who has promised to look into both the cash and petrol shortages.
P.Kolisnyk--CPN