File Photo: People carry bags of food on their heads during a mass looting of a warehouse with COVID-19 food palliatives that were not given during lockdown to relieve people of hunger, in Abuja, Nigeria. AFP
The looting, spearheaded by street urchins, saw hundreds of residents break into public and private warehouses storing grains and other commodities and cart them away.
"The Governor of Adamawa State...Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has declared a 24-hour curfew on the state, effective immediately Sunday 30th July, 2023," Humwashi Wonosikou, the governor's spokesman, said in a statement.
Yahaya Nguroje, Adamawa state police spokesman said security personnel had been deployed to enforce the curfew.
Last month Nigeria ended a fuel subsidy regime, leading to petrol prices quadrupling and food prices soaring.
Nigeria's economy has been weakened by recession and the fallout from Covid-19, making life hard for its citizens, most of whom live on less than $2 a day.
Online video footage shows residents of Yola looting sacks of grain, cartons of pasta and other household items from a warehouse of Nigeria's emergency management agency (NEMA).
The plunder prompted NEMA to put its warehouses across Nigeria on alert to forestall possible looting, according to agency sources.
Short link: