The on-going protest by Nigerian youths to end police brutality among other demands strengthens the fact that Nigeria can achieve desired results when sentiments are set aside. In the history of Nigeria, this is one protest that has been devoid of political influence and shows the power of oneness in demanding results from the government.
The protests started on Twitter then seamlessly transitioned into the ‘real world’, and remarkably they continue to straddle both. The youths have raised serious issues that need urgent action by the government.
The protest has moved from the initial demand to end the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and police brutality to the demand for total police reform, good governance, transparency and accountability by those in government.
Among the number of challenges facing this country, the most severe ones include, insecurity, unemployment, lack of shelter, hunger, poverty, rising inflation, high cost of goods and services, and bad governance. Others are low quality education, poor infrastructure, dilapidated health facilities, insincerity on the part of the rulers, corruption, economic mismanagement and global coronavirus pandemic.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of about 200 million people, has more than 60% of its population below the age of 30 years, who are in-touch with the changing world of work and advancements in information technology – particularly well connected on social media. These young people are the hope of the nation, and today’s leaders who need all the support that they can get.
Regrettably, education and health very critical to youth advancement have been at the receiving end of government policies. For instance, in the last seven months , public universities have been under lock and key because the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) have been on strike since March 2020, leaving many students in limbo.
The sorry state of public health facilities was exposed by COVID-19. It became clear that they were “mere consulting clinics”. During the pandemic lockdown period, neighbourhoods in Lagos were terrorized by gangs of armed robbers known as ‘One Million Boys’ who robbed an entire neighbourhood, systematically going from house to house, with the police often nowhere to be found, and the Anti-Robbery Squad themselves additionally terrorizing innocent Nigerians.
The unity amongst the protesting youths is not common. Thanks to the power of social media, they have everything cut out perfectly for them. They mobilized needed funds for the protesters (about N40million raised in less than 10 days, plus additional bitcoin). They arranged daily food and drinks, amassed a database of over 600 volunteer lawyers across the country working on unlawful arrests, negotiated the release of arrested protesters, arranged ambulances and settled hospital bills – in effect acting as a government. Disbursements from the protest fund are announced on Twitter, and response units were set up to cater quickly to funding requests for planned or ongoing protests.
Responsiveness, transparency, accountability – the demands of the youth have been provided by this group of young Nigerians. Yet the protests remain proudly leaderless, a strength that hopefully does not prove to be a weakness in the coming days or weeks. Talks about organising ‘towards 2023’, the next Nigerian elections, have also begun to take place. In other words, the youths are putting into practice, what they want the government at all levels to exhibit- good governance, responsiveness, transparency, accountability, exemplary leadership and good governance.
Our young people are facing a lot of challenges. They are the ones that are jobless, the ones that are trooping out of the country in search of greener pastures. Majority of them are involved in insurgencies. Some of them have joined occult and other pressure groups out of frustration. The best and only way to solve the problem of our society is to address the challenges facing the youths.
Our young people are feeling insecure: Generally, our society has become an insecure place. It is a place where people are killed indiscriminately; a place where people are kidnapped, raped and robbed. As a result, most of our young people are no longer feeling safe in their places of studies and work. Most of our young people are feeling rejected: Our young people are no longer feeling accepted in their homeland and that is why most of them are trooping out of the country. Our young people are homeless: The high cost of living, especially, the cost of building materials has rendered most of our young people homeless. Some of our young people are sleeping under the bridges while others are sleeping in market places and club halls.
Our young people are jobless and are not carried along: The elderly ones have refused to retire. They keep falsifying their age in order to retain their jobs whereas their children, especially graduates, are roaming about without job. Those in power have refused to carry the youths along. They only use and dump them during and after elections. These and more require urgent attention by the authorities.
The earlier we, as a country, stop chasing shadows and address the real issues the better. No amount of weapon or force can solve the problem. Only meaningful dialogue and pragmatic action would assuage the anger in the land.
