Nigeria's government seeks more time to end hardships as protests loom

By Felix Onuah

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's government on Wednesday pleaded for more time and patience to end economic hardships as citizens mobilise for demonstrations, a day after the country's police chief warned against protests.

Nigeria is grappling with 34.2% inflation, the highest in nearly three decades amid a cost of living crisis after President Bola Tinubu last year cut a popular petrol subsidy and sharply devalued the naira.

Frustrated citizens have taken to social media to mobilise protests from August 1 against bad governance and economic hardship. Authorities fear the protests will turn violent.

After a meeting between cabinet ministers and the secretary to the government and federation to discuss the impending protests, Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters that there was no need for demonstrations.

"The president is listening and he has a message to Nigerians and that message is that we must all calm down, they should please cooperate and give the government more time, everything that they have asked for, all their pleas will be answered," Idris said.

The planned protests are dubbed "End Bad Governance in Nigeria."

Those behind them want the government to offer free education, end insecurity, declare a state of emergency on inflation and disclose lawmakers' pay, among several demands.

Idris said those agitating for protests "are our brothers, they are our sisters".

"This is a Nigerian family issue and all of us are looking at this issue very well, we hope that peace will prevail at the end of the day," he said.

Nigeria's largest labour union, which last week agreed a new minimum wage with the government, urged Tinubu to meet with leaders of the protest movement to dialogue on their demands.

(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Angus MacSwan)