In a state in northeastern Nigeria, a complete curfew was put in place on Sunday after hundreds of locals allegedly committed widespread shoplifting and food storage facility looting.

Street kids started the theft, but soon hundreds of citizens joined them as they broke into the locations where food, particularly cereals, were kept before stealing them.

“Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has issued a 24-hour curfew…with immediate effect,” stated his spokesman on Sunday, Humwashi Wonosikou. No mobility will be allowed statewide due to the curfew that has been imposed.

The local police department added that security guards had been sent out to enforce the curfew and stop further looting.

The largest economy and most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria, has been experiencing a severe economic crisis since 2016, which was made worse by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequently the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

Despite having vast oil reserves, about half of its 215 million inhabitants live in extreme poverty (on less than $2 per day).

The country’s poverty has gotten worse over the last two months despite the new president Bola Tinubu’s efforts to revive long-term investments through a number of economic policies that have had a significant impact on household budgets.

The president famously canceled gasoline subsidies last month, which led to a quadrupling in gas prices and a subsequent rise in food costs.

He declared a “State of emergency on food security” in the middle of July, promising huge expenditures in agriculture and cash transfers to the most vulnerable.

Without taking into account recent inflation, the UN previously estimated that more than 25 million Nigerians would be at “high risk” of experiencing food insecurity in 2023.

Because of the 14-year-old struggle between the army and jihadist organizations, which has caused millions of people there to be displaced and farmers to abandon their fields, northeast Nigeria is particularly plagued by food shortages.