Hussaini Umar, AfricaNews reporter in Kano, Nigeria
A 15 year old boy was shot dead by policemen this afternoon at the Government House in Kano, Nigeria. Thousands of protesters had massed in front of the Government House protesting the subsidy removal policy.
The protesters had attempted to gain entry into the House to press home their demands and the police, after firing tear gas to drive them back, had to resort to firing live bullets into the crowd, killing the boy in the process.
The protesters have beaten a retreat upon coming across the gunfire.
Meanwhile, in Ogba, Lagos, another young man has been shot dead.
This second killing occurred when the corpse of the first victim was brought back to the area. Youths in the area had immediately began to engage the police again upon seeing their late colleague and in the process, the police fired again sporadically, killing the second victim.
Nigerian unions launched a nationwide strike on Monday to protest against the removal of a fuel subsidy by that country's government.
Nigeria's fuel regulator announced the end of the subsidy on January 1 as part of efforts to cut government spending and encourage badly needed investment in local refining.
Those who support scrapping the subsidy say it only served to fill the fuel tanks of the rich and middle classes at the expense of the poor, fed corruption and siphoned off billions of dollars of public funds to a cartel of fuel importers.
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