Yields on Nigeria’s 2032 dollar bonds climbed 15 basis points to 8.26% by 8:31 a.m. Wednesday in London, after jumping 21 basis points on Tuesday on the back of the bloody assault on protesting youths in Nigeria.
This came after former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to win the November 3 election, released a statement Tuesday urging President Muhammadu Buhari and his military forces “to cease the violent crackdown on protesters in Nigeria, which has already resulted in several deaths.”
“The United States must stand with Nigerians who are peacefully demonstrating for police reform and seeking an end to corruption in their democracy. I encourage the government to engage in a good faith dialogue with civil society to address these long standing grievances and work together for a more just and inclusive Nigeria,” Biden said in the statement released by his campaign.
According to Bloomberg, while Nigeria has become accustomed to violent incidents in recent years, most have been confined to the country’s north, where President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is fighting an Islamist insurgency led by Boko Haram extremists.
Large-scale deaths perpetrated by security forces as occurred in the country’s economic hub Tuesday, are almost unheard of.
Before Tuesday, protests that began on Oct. 5 had been largely peaceful, with the government issuing a directive to its security forces not to use violence.
The events in Lagos drew criticism from U.S. political leaders including presidential candidate Joe Biden, who urged Buhari to end the violent crackdown on protesters. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed the same call.
On Wednesday hundreds of youths defied a government lockdown and returned to the streets of Lagos, Africa’s most populous city, a day after violent clashes between the security forces and protesters.
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The protesting youths, who carried sticks and metal poles, chased cars that tried to evade barricades they’d erected along one on the Lagos’s main expressways. The imposing new bus terminal at Oyingbo in Lagos mainland was burning Wednesday morning.
Several other streets were also sealed off, and the sound of sporadic gunshots echoed across the city. There was no sign of the police or army.
Spokespeople for the army and the police didn’t immediately answer calls by Bloomberg seeking comment.
Prior to the latest clashes, Amnesty International had estimated that at least 18 people had been killed in the protests, which have spread to about half of the 36 states.
The Lagos lockdown was imposed after two police stations were torched and a major expressway linking the main port city to the northern and southeastern parts of the country was sealed off. Police Inspector-General Mohammed Adamu ordered the deployment of anti-riot police to protect lives and property.
Most previous uprisings in Nigeria have been quashed by the security forces. The scale of the current protests and the fact that they have been organized on social media with no clear leaders have made them difficult to quell.
The demonstrations have cost Nigeria’s economy about 700 billion naira ($1.8 billion), according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The oil industry — Africa’s biggest and the mainstay of the economy — hasn’t been affected so far.
