Nigeria raises alarm as death toll in food queue stampedes rises to 32

Nigerian police on Sunday raised the total death toll from two stampedes at food distribution centres to 32, as the country grappled with a spate of deadly crowd crushes at charity events.

Twenty-two people were killed on Saturday as people queued outside a centre distributing rice in the southern town of Okija, police said, after previously warning "many" were dead as a result of the incident.

And on the same day a separate stampede outside a church giving food to the "vulnerable and elderly" in the capital Abuja killed at least 10 people, prompting Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu to clear his schedule in the wake of the twin tragedies.

The stampedes outside food distribution centres come as Africa's most populous country grapples with its worst economic crisis in a generation, with inflation soaring to 34.6 percent in November.

Confirming the toll of 22 dead in Okija, a spokesman for the Anambra state police expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed.

"The investigation into the unfortunate incident is still ongoing," Anambra police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said on Sunday in a statement.

Four children were among the 10 killed in the Abuja stampede outside the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Maitama district, police said.

Another eight people were injured in the crush, according to a police spokesperson.

'Too rampant'

"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," said President Tinubu.

A statement from the president's spokesman said Tinubu had "cancelled all his official events in Lagos today... in honour of the stampede victims."

Police pointed to similarities between Saturday's incidents and a stampede at a school funfair in the southwestern city of Ibadan on Thursday.

That crush killed 35 children and gravely injured six others.

"This is a repeat of what happened in Ibadan," Maazo Ezekiel, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP on Saturday.

"It is becoming too rampant, and it shows that precautionary measures are not being taken before the distribution of these items," Ezekiel added.

A statement from NEMA's director general called for "proper crowd management during distribution of charity to prevent stampedes and avoidable loss of lives".

"Anytime you are distributing essential materials to people that are eager to partake, and there is no proper crowd control, it often results in situations like this," spokesman Ezekiel added.

Police have already arrested eight people involved in organising the school funfair at Ibadan, according to a spokesman for the force in Oyo State.

Rising prices

Faced with skyrocketing food prices, many Nigerians have been forced to queue for charity handouts for hours just to get enough to eat.

Part of the rise in inflation stems from Tinubu's move to end a costly fuel subsidy and currency controls, which has led the naira currency's value to plummet.

The Nigerian president has repeatedly called for patience, claiming that his reforms will help attract foreign investors and get the economy moving again.

But critics charge that the positive effects of his policies are yet to be felt, while Nigerians have seen inflation touch a three-decade high amid soaring fuel prices.

Nigeria has seen several such stampedes at charitable events in recent months.

Two female students were killed in a crush on a university campus in the central state of Nasarawa in March, where a large crowd had gathered as the local authorities distributed food.

That same month at least four women died as they queued outside the office of a wealthy philanthropist to receive 5,000 naira (R58).

Eyewitnesses said the stampede was caused by some in the crowd pushing others in a rush to get the cash.

AFP