World News – CA – Nigeria protests are about more than police violence

The abuses of SARS reflect the moral bankruptcy of the system put in place by the corrupt Nigerian ruling elite

Those in Nigeria’s corridors of power must have been taken aback when protests erupted in response to Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu’s October 11 announcement that the Special Anti-Theft Squad (SARS) would be dissolved They had made the fatal mistake of thinking that the #EndSARS protests were only about the police unit and that suspending it would fix the problem.

But Nigerian Youth Know Better This was the fifth time in as many years that this thorny unit has been ‘reformed’ or ‘dissolved’ and it is quite clear that the government is not taking the fight seriously. police violence The skepticism of the protesters was justified, as on October 13, Adamu announced the creation of a new unit – Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) – to replace SARS

Right now, for anyone familiar with Nigerian politics, two things are clear First, the frustrations expressed on the streets of Nigerian towns, from Lagos to Port Harcourt to Abuja, are far more than the crimes of a police unit Second, Nigerian youth are rediscovering their power, taking up the torch of cultural and political resistance that in the past helped tear the country from the jaws of military dictatorship

The SARS unit has come to embody much deeper rifts in Nigerian society Formed in 1992 to fight a wave of armed robberies and kidnappings, SARS was initially not a visible presence in Nigeria. Nigeria officers operating in the background without uniforms to surprise violent criminals The unit grew rapidly in 2009 as the government sought to tackle the growing wave of fraud and bigotry on college campuses But instead, it has become the center of constant scandal, with officers indiscriminately using harassment and extortion against young Nigerians.

A worrying pattern of extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and rapes has emerged over the years Amnesty International has reported at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and murder at the hands of SARS between January 2017 and May 2020

Accounts of stray bullets killing passers-by as officers open fire on crowded markets Protests have shed light on SARS crimes by amplifying the voices of families of victims, who have sought justice in vain for years They also highlighted stories of daily SARS harassment against ordinary Nigerians: searches of warrantless phones and vehicles, extortion of money, beatings, etc.

This culture of violence and indiscriminate disregard for human rights within the unit did not arise on its own.It rather reflects the moral bankruptcy of the system that the Nigerian ruling elite has maintained in the country, while she sought to enrich herself illegally SARS was just one of many police units used to protect wealthy criminals from the consequences of the extreme poverty around them

Investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) estimate that between 1960 and 2005 around $ 20 trillion was stolen from the national treasury According to Oxfam, while the five richest Nigerians are worth combined net of $ 29 9 billion, 112 million Nigerians continue to live in poverty

Among the poor, however, are also the police charged with protecting the rich Their wages are desperately low and paid irregularly

According to a 2018 salary scale, a police sergeant earned 582,000 naira ($ 1,600) per year In contrast, the base salary of a senator was over 750,000 naira ($ 2,100) per month, in addition to an expense allowance of 135m naira ($ 37,500)

In the same year, after a confrontation with the unions, the government raised the national minimum wage to 30,000 naira ($ 83) per month – well below the 50,000 naira ($ 138) that had been demanded

Serious underpayment is rampant across the public sector, which has turned corruption and extortion into a way to supplement the unliveable salaries of civil servants As long as the blatant inequality exists, dissolving SARS is simply about shifting the problem and not to solve it

3Met up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct (within 10 days)

4According to the new police law, psychological assessment and retraining (to be confirmed by an independent body) of all dissolved SARS agents before their redeployment

5Increase the salary of the police so that they are properly remunerated to protect the life and property of citizens

The movement remains dynamic, in the face of physical attacks and rhetoric from the government Former repressive tactics by the authorities prove ineffective The initial reaction – shooting into crowds, use of water cannons and intimidation of demonstrators – was only useful  » to prove the merits of the cause of the demonstrators A government struggling to provide water to put out fires seems able to find enough water to use against young people demanding the right to life

So far at least 10 people have been killed by police in the uproar, but that hasn’t deterred the protesters In fact, it has motivated more people to join the protests and increased the pressure on civil society leaders to express themselves Over the past few weeks we have seen the Mothers March and some of the country’s most prominent pastors speaking out in support of the protesters, including Pastor Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the redeemed Christian Church of God, strong in five million inhabitants

Young people are still moving in large numbers every day to stop the operations of major tolls such as the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge in Lagos and roundabouts such as the Berger crossroads in the Federal Capital Territory

Mobilizing on social media, protesters are raising funds to distribute supplies such as food, water and raincoats to the front lines, with an efficiency that has brought shame to the government’s failed attempts to distribute supplies at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a budget of 363 billion naira (95 $ 2m)

The movement is supported financially not only by the large diaspora and the biggest stars of Nigeria, but also by foreign celebrities, like the American rapper Noname The main recipients of funds, such as the Feminist Coalition, have set up transparent reports on how the money is spent Twitter personality FK Abudu also set up a response line for protesters seeking support and made remarkable efforts to coordinate lawyers and ambulances to help inmates and the wounded

Nigerian youth are rediscovering a power few knew they had The brutality with which pro-democracy movements were crushed as they periodically arose had produced a deep fear of challenging those in the power Everyone knew Nigeria is in bad shape, blatant corruption, non-existent public services, but doing anything about it was unthinkable

The history of Nigeria’s resistance to authoritarian rule was so effectively erased that when General Sani Abacha, who took power shortly after the overturned 1993 elections, died in 1998, many did. seen simply as divine intervention

Street youth are making history, fighting a struggle that is not all that different from that of their parents and grandparents « 

At the same time, these protests reflect the growing ingenuity of Nigerian youth in the face of hardships Technology, culture and business have flourished despite significant material and bureaucratic obstacles You would be hard pressed to find a young Nigerian who don’t try to start a business – from food, to hair, to tech – while waiting for employment opportunities to open up in an increasingly difficult economic climate

This entrepreneurial spirit has earned Nigeria the title of Africa’s unofficial tech capital and it is being brought to bear in this struggle For a Leaderless Movement, the speed and moral clarity with which the protesters were able countering disinformation have been striking Although major Nigerian TV channels ignored the protest as it emerged, #EndSARS started trending globally almost immediately

Thousands of young Nigerians tweeted to big celebrities to raise awareness and show solidarity Drake, Diddy, Trey Songz and Jack Dorsey, among other celebrities, supported #EndSARS on social media

In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari claimed that Nigerian youth wanted to « sit back and do nothing, and get housing, health care and free education, » sparking an outcry on social media under the banner #LazyNigerianYouths It seems that this attitude, that the government owes nothing to its citizens, is coming back to bite

As Seun Kuti, son of the late Fela Kuti, pointed out, young people are only a reflection of the societies that produce them. He is right Challenging the deference to the power instilled in them, young Nigerians are renaming themselves the generation Soro Soke (Speak Up) They were forged through extreme hardships and despite this, in the face of violence and repression, they are fighting to remake Nigeria for all Nigerians

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera

Nigeria, End SARS, Demonstration, Muhammadu Buhari