Residents of Kebbi State, in northern Nigeria, took matters into their own hands on Saturday night, storming a government warehouse in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, and looting food supplies such as rice.
The incident, which occurred in the Bayan Kara area, saw looters overpowering security forces and breaking into private facilities to steal essential food items.
The incident in Kebbi State follows similar occurrences in Abuja and Suleja, Niger State.
The looting has been linked to challenging economic conditions resulting from the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira.
Muhammadu Gwadangwaji, Chairman of the Bayan Kara Market food vendors association, expressed dismay over the looting, revealing that after the government palliatives were looted, the youths broke into stores belonging to his members, taking sacks of food items whose value is yet to be quantified.
He lamented that the presence of armed policemen and soldiers did not deter the looters, who even retaliated with tear gas against the police.
Ahmed Idris, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Nasir Idris, described the incident as “unfortunate”.
He explained that the looted food items were part of those purchased by the state government for distribution to the people, adding that measures had been taken to secure the warehouses against future incidents.
“The hoodlums had earlier attacked the consignment of food items that was brought to the state for distribution to the people by Dangote before going to the government warehouse to loot it.
“Such incident has never happened in Kebbi before. The food items they looted are part of the foodstuffs purchased by the state government for distribution to people of the state.
“Government has procured and distributed assorted grains worth over N5 billion in over 200 trucks. It is unfortunate those who broke into the warehouse had gone there to steal what belongs to people of the state,” he added.