Nigeria’s independence anniversary is marked by protests and frustration over economic hardship

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerians on Tuesday staged protests against economic hardship as the West African nation marked its 64th independence anniversary with its president calling for patience. Police fired tear gas to disperse some of the protesters, resulting in clashes.

Dozens of people in a few states waved placards and the green-and-white national flag, demanding better opportunities and jobs for young people, in a country that has some of the world’s highest poverty and hunger levels despite being a top oil producer on the continent.

It was the second protest in two months in Africa’s most populous country amid worsening hardship caused by government reforms introduced to save money and shore up dwindling foreign investments. During the last protest in August, at least 20 protesters were shot dead and hundreds of others were arrested.

The government has defended the reforms even though they have helped push the inflation rate to a 28-year high and the local naira currency to record lows against the dollar.

In the capital city of Abuja where government officials and the military attended an independence anniversary parade, some protesters in another part of the city were dispersed with tear gas.

There was a heavy security presence along major roads in other cities, including in the economic hub of Lagos, where some protesters were killed during demonstrations against police brutality in 2020.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who has been in office since May last year after an election campaign forged on “renewed hope,” defended the reforms as necessary and said they were already yielding results, such as $30 billion in foreign direct investments attracted in the last year.

“Once again, I plead for your patience as the reforms we are implementing show positive signs, and we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel,” Tinubu said in a broadcast.

Tinubu announced a national youth conference whose recommendations on key national issues will be considered and implemented.

The protests were gaining momentum on social media as many people complained of their struggles to find jobs or not having enough food to eat.

Nigeria remains “an unfortunate case of running very hard and staying in the same place,” said Cheta Nwanze, managing partner at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence research firm.

Nigeria continues to perform poorly in key areas like education and health, he said.

“If your population is not healthy ... or not educated, you can’t possibly make progress,” Nwanze added.

People protest against economic hardship on the occasion of Nigeria's 64th independence anniversary, in Lagos Nigeria, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

People protest against economic hardship on the occasion of Nigeria's 64th independence anniversary, in Lagos Nigeria, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

People protest against economic hardship on the occasion of Nigeria's 64th independence anniversary, in Lagos Nigeria, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

People protest against economic hardship on the occasion of Nigeria's 64th independence anniversary, in Lagos Nigeria, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

People protest against economic hardship on the occasion of Nigeria's 64th independence anniversary, in Lagos Nigeria, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

People protest against economic hardship on the occasion of Nigeria's 64th independence anniversary, in Lagos Nigeria, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Sunday Alamba)

ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter reached his 100th birthday Tuesday, the first time an American president has lived a full century and the latest milestone in a life that took the son of a Depression-era farmer to the White House and across the world as a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian and advocate for democracy.

Living the last 19 months in home hospice care in Plains, the Georgia Democrat and 39th president has continued to defy expectations, just as he did through a remarkable rise from his family peanut farming and warehouse business to the world stage. He served one presidential term from 1977 to 1981 and then worked more than four decades leading The Carter Center, which he and his wife Rosalynn co-founded in 1982 to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope.”

“Not everybody gets 100 years on this earth, and when somebody does, and when they use that time to do so much good for so many people, it's worth celebrating," Jason Carter, the former president's grandson and chair of The Carter Center governing board, said in an interview.

“These last few months, 19 months, now that he’s been in hospice, it’s been a chance for our family to reflect,” he continued, “and then for the rest of the country and the world to really reflect on him. That’s been a really gratifying time.”

James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924 in Plains, where he has lived more than 80 of his 100 years. He is expected to mark his birthday in the same one-story home he and Rosalynn built in the early 1960s — before his first election to the Georgia state Senate. The former first lady, who was also born in Plains, died last November at 96.

President Joe Biden, who was the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s 1976 campaign, praised his longtime friend for an “unwavering belief in the power of human goodness.”

“You’ve always been a moral force for our nation and the world (and) a beloved friend to Jill and me and our family,” the 81-year-old president tells Carter in a tribute video filmed in front of Carter’s presidential portrait at the White House.

Outside the North Portico, the Bidens are placing a display of large lettering declaring “Happy Birthday President Carter” and the number 100. Carter has asked Biden to eulogize him at his state funeral when the time comes.

The Carter Center on Sept. 17 hosted a musical gala in Atlanta to celebrate the former president with a range of genres and artists, including some who campaigned with him in 1976. The event raised more than $1.2 million for the center's programs and will be broadcast Tuesday evening on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Habitat for Humanity volunteers are honoring Carter with a five-day effort to build 30 houses. The Carters became top ambassadors for the international organization after leaving the White House and hosted annual building projects into their 90s. Carter survived a cancer diagnosis and treatment in his early 90s, then several falls and a hip replacement in his mid-90s before announcing at 98 that he would enter hospice care.

Townspeople in Plains planned another concert Tuesday evening.

The last time Jimmy Carter was seen publicly was nearly a year ago, using a reclining wheelchair to attend his wife's two funeral services. Visibly diminished and silent, he was joined on the front row of Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta by the couple's four children, every living former first lady, Biden and his wife Jill and former President Bill Clinton. A day later, Carter joined his extended family and parishioners at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where the former president taught Sunday School for decades.

Jason Carter said the 100th birthday celebrations were not something the family expected to see once his grandmother died. The former president's hospital bed had been set up in the same room so he could see his wife of 77 years and talk to her in her final days and hours.

“We frankly didn’t think he was going to go on much longer,” Jason Cater said. “But it’s a faith journey for him, and he’s really given himself over to what he feels is God’s plan. He knows he's not in charge. But in these last few months, especially, he has gotten a lot more engaged in world events, a lot more engaged in politics, a lot more, just engaged, emotionally, with all of us.”

Jason Carter said the centenarian president, born only four years after women were granted the constitutional right to vote and four decades before Black women won ballot access, is eager to cast his 2024 presidential ballot — for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat who would become the first woman, second Black person and first person of south Asian descent to reach the Oval Office.

“He, like a lot of us, was incredibly gratified by his friend Joe Biden’s courageous choice to pass the torch,” the younger Carter said. “You know, my grandfather and The Carter Center have observed more than 100 elections in 40 other countries, right? So, he knows how rare it is for somebody who’s a sitting president to give up power in any context.”

Jason Carter continued, “When we started asking him about his 100th birthday, he said he was excited to vote for Kamala Harris.”

Early voting in Georgia begins Oct. 15, two weeks into Carter's 101st year.

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter, right, and his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, hold hands as they walk from a state funeral for former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral, Dec. 5, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., Aug. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - An estimated crowd of 35,000 people gather for a noontime speech by Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in downtown Philadelphia, Oct. 29, 1976. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter greets attendees as he departs the funeral service for his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool, File)