A curfew was imposed Sunday night in northeast Nigeria where hundreds of residents looted huge stores and public food storage facilities, local authorities said.
Teenagers living on the streets began looting, but they were soon joined by hundreds of residents who entered stores and food warehouses, taking everything they could, especially grain.
The police announced that its members were deployed to monitor compliance with the curfew and prevent further robbery.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and the continent's largest economy, has been facing a serious economic crisis since 2016, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia's offensive in Ukraine, which has hampered food imports.
Despite Nigeria's vast oil reserves, about half of its 215 million people live in extreme poverty - on less than two dollars a day.
In the past two months, poverty has worsened as new President Bola Tinubu has taken a series of economic measures in the interest of long-term investment, but with serious consequences for household wallets.
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