Dongmo, A. K.2026-05-072026-05-072025Dongmo, A. K. (2025) : New Fuel Pump P rice and Expression of social Discontent in Nigeria: A Socio-semiotic deconstruction of selected Cartoons and Placards. ANNALES DE LA FACULTE DES LETTRES, ARTS ET SCIENCES HUMAINES, (AFLASH) Vol. (12) 3,726 - 743 Published by La faculté des lettres, arts et sciences humaines, Université de Moundou. Tchad https://aflash-revue-mdou.org/archives/volume/12/3 https://aflash-revue-mdou.org/article/55/pdf2707-6830https://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/123456789/18187he removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria in 2023 triggered widespread social discontent, leading citizens to increasingly rely on digital platforms to articulate their frustrations. Among the most prominent forms of online expression were political cartoons and protest placards that employed Nigerian English, humour, sarcasm, and visual symbolism to critique governance. However, the multimodal complexity of these texts often renders their meanings opaque. This study investigates how verbal and non-verbal semiotic resources are deployed in selected cartoons and placards to communicate public grievances about corruption and the fuel subsidy removal. Drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) socio-semiotic framework, the analysis examines how imagery, colour, composition, facial expression, spatial arrangement, and linguistic choices interact to construct layered meanings. Using purposive sampling, five cartoons and three placards published between June 2023 and May 2024 were subjected to multimodal analysis. The findings reveal that these visual texts operate as grassroots communicative strategies through which citizens resist dominant ideological narratives and articulate sociopolitical critique. The study demonstrates that visual and textual elements function synergistically to encode messages of dissent, frustration, and political awareness within the Nigerian sociocultural context. It further establishes that meaning-making in socio-semiotic discourse is inherently ideological, shaped by power relations and collective experiences of hardship. This research contributes to scholarship on African visual culture and multimodality by highlighting the central role of digital visual artifacts in contemporary political expression. It offers insight into how everyday Nigerians use semiotic creativity to negotiate and contest sociopolitical realities, thereby expanding current understandings of visual resistance in African public spheres. Keywords: socio-semiotics, multimodality, fuel subsidy removal, Nigeria, digital activism.enArticle