Wednesday, January 01, 2025

Free food distribution in Nigeria leads to stampede and deaths

See Death toll rises in Nigerian charity event stampedes: In both incidents, the victims were primarily women and children, who had queued for food handouts for hours. Excerpt:

"The number of people who died in stampedes at two charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, police said on Sunday.

At least 22 people were killed when they rushed to collect donations, including rice and vegetable oil and money, at an event in the southeastern Anambra state's Okija town on Saturday.

Another ten people, including four children, were crushed to death at a church-organized event in the capital, Abuja, where free food was being distributed.

Police said they were investigating the two incidents, which came days after another stampede killed 35 children at a school fair in the southwestern city of Ibadan."

A good is scarce when there is not enough to go around when it is given away for free. We don't often hear people say that food is scarce. But in this case we can see that it is. It was given away for free and too many people showed up. If we don't use prices to ration goods, some other method (like who waits in line the longest) will be used and the results might not be good. 

Related posts about problems when thing are given away for free:
 
 
Florida counties give away vaccine for free and there are long lines
 
There's no such thing as free cheesecake

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