Protests, Fiscal Redistribution, and Government Responses: Evidence from Nigeria

In democracies, protests are often viewed by citizens as a costly last resort measure to demand more economic and political rights and resources from policymakers by whom they feel unheard. When citizens feel unheard, they may protest. A stark example of this was the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests ignited by the killing of George Floyd. Over 15 million people participated in BLM protests in 2020 alone, and the protests in the 2010s resulted in it being labelled the ‘decade of protest.’ Many of these protests have highlighted distributive justice claims, from reparations to descendants of African slaves to redistribution of economic capital.