Staff Reporter.
The death toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, police said Sunday, with many of the victims collapsing during a crowd surge as people grew desperate for food items.
The victims, including at least four children, collapsed during crowd surges as people grew desperate for food items while the country grapples with the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
The dead included 22 people in southeastern Anambra state’s Okija town, where a philanthropist on Saturday organized a food distribution, local police spokesman said. Ten others died in the capital, Abuja, during a church-organized similar charity event.
“This unfortunate event, which took place around 6:30am [05:30 GMT], resulted in a stampede that claimed the lives of 10 individuals, including four children, and left eight others with varying degrees of injuries,” said Josephine Adeh, a police spokesperson.
In both incidents, the victims were mostly women and children who were trampled as crowds tried to reach the provisions being offered.
A statement from President Bola Tinubu’s spokesman said the president had cancelled all his official events in Lagos on Saturday “in honour of the stampede victims”.
“In a season of joy and celebration, we grieve with fellow citizens mourning the painful losses of their loved ones. Our prayers of divine comfort and healing are with them,” Tinubu said.
On Thursday, at least 32 people died in a similar incident at an Islamic high school in Ibadan, the capital of southwestern Nigeria’s Oyo State.
Africa’s most populous country is enduring its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades as reforms introduced by Tinubu have slashed subsidies for electricity and fuel while a devaluation has eroded the value of its currency.
Inflation in November rose to 34.6 percent in annual terms from 33.88 percent in October, marking a third consecutive monthly rise.
Amnesty International Nigeria in a statement on Saturday said that for many Nigerians, “having ordinary rice at home is turning into a luxury.”
The United Kingdom-based human rights group urged authorities to promptly, thoroughly, independently and transparently investigate how these charity events descended into disaster.
Source: Fullview and News Agencies.