Police in Nigeria have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the capital, Abuja, and the northern city of Kano as thousands of people in cities across the West African country joined rallies to protest the high cost of living.

At least 13 people were killed as the mass protests turned violent, rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. 

Nigerians' anger over rampant inflation and the spiraling cost of food  and medicine has reached fever pitch.

Toyin Ogundeko, a resident of Lagos and a caterer by profession, lives with asthma. Her son has the condition, too. 

But medicines have become so expensive in Nigeria that they can't afford the inhalers they need.

Amid a worsening economic crisis, Ogundeko isn't sure how they will get by.

"With the way the economy is going, things are really getting tough. You're struggling to buy foodstuffs, and you're also trying to stock up on your medication," she told DW.

"So, for me I can cut down on the inhaler for myself. I won't cut it for my child," she said.

What's causing the crisis?

The worst economic crisis in Nigeria in decades has cost the country the ranking as Africa's biggest economy. And inflation and a volatile exchange rate are driving the cost of living up in the nation of more than 200 million people.

Higher drug import prices have led to local price hikes and a scarcity of basic medicines. Pharmacist Emmanuel Olaogun Oladeji says Nigerian drug manufacturers simply can't plug the gap.

"There is a limit to what local manufacturers can do. We are grateful to have the likes of Emzor Pharmaceuticals and some other indigenous manufacturers in the country, but there is a limit to what they can do," Oladeji told DW.

Analysts predict that Nigeria could plunge to fourth position on the list of African economies in 2024. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat.

"What caused our problem in Nigeria today is the devaluation of our national currency against the US dollar," Alhaji Sani Nasidi, a veteran businessman, told DW.

The high cost of essential commodities citizens are facing is a direct result, he said. As a way out of the current crisis, Nasidi suggested that "Nigeria needs to run away from a dollar economy." 

Economic reforms cause hardship

President Bola Tinubu has embarked on a bold set of economic reforms that he argues are necessary and will bear fruit in the future.

His decision to remove fuel subsidies was seen as abrupt. It led to the doubling of fuel prices, rising food and transport costs and an increase in the price of imported products. 

According to financial analyst and former banker Aminu Philip Yado, the high fuel costs are impacting Nigerians broadly.

"Transportation is one of the major factors that affects the cost of produce in the market," Yado said. "When you go to the farm and you have to harvest and transport at a very high cost, there is no way you can come to the market and charge low. You would certainly have to charge profitably and sustainably."

Nigerian labor unions have called several nationwide strikes over salaries that are too low to keep up with inflation.  

"The same inflation is what caused companies to run away from Nigeria because they would not be making a profit," said Alhaji Sani Nasidi, the businessman. "The quality of goods and services they normally produce would be reduced, and people would not have money to buy it."

Aminu Philip Yado, the financial analyst, believes that the economy needs innovation. 

"What is basically wrong with the economy is that the managers of the economy themselves are not really having the economy at heart. Everybody that gets there struggles for his own and not the Nigerian people," Yado told DW.

Yado sees a lack of investment in major infrastructure that could grow the economy and create jobs for youth as a key factor in the deepening economic crisis.

"When they talk of borrowing, in fact how much [...] of this borrowing that they want to invest in the Nigerian infrastructure actually goes into investment in that infrastructure in Nigeria?" he asks.

Energy crisis with devastating impact

Nigeria also faces an energy crisis. Tinubu is trying to rejuvenate the national power grid by pouring in public money instead of subsidizing electricity for those who cannot afford to pay.

After he scrapped fuel subsidies, Tinubu did away with a series of electricity subsidies. 

"If there is power in Nigeria today, all artisans that depend on power to do their business will go back to doing their business at a cheaper cost than they are doing now," said Yado.

Most business owners are forced to buy generators to keep operations going. This trend, the financial analyst told DW, is not sustainable.

In the meantime, citizens like Toyin Ogundeko and her son are desperate. "People have all sorts of complicated conditions, and imagine how they're coping?" she said.

"So, for me it's a plea to the government: Whatever needs to be done, first find a way to stabilize this economy. Things are getting out of hand."

Edited by: Benita van Eyssen

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