On The Peaceful Protests Going On In Nigeria

 Over the past week, young Nigerians took to the streets in different cities across Nigeria and the rest of the world in protest. United in our quest to see significant changes and improvement in the way we are treated by members of the police force, especially the so-called Special Anti-Robbery Squad, A.K.A. SARS, we young people are demanding an end to the terror reign of this rogue police unit.

The Nigerian police force, founded and used by colonial governments as a tool of oppression and subjugation against the public, has stayed true to its colonial origins and functions. Contrary to their motto of 'To serve and Protect', they were/are trained to see the public as an enemy who they must endeavour to oppress and terrify at any opportunity. There have been many reports of SARS, among other crimes, kidnapping, torturing, robbing and in some cases killing their victims.

Just like women all over the world have stories of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse from men, every Nigerian has a direct and/or indirect experience of physical and emotional abuse in the hands of Nigerian police officers. It is common knowledge that officers of the Nigerian police force routinely extort and assault the very same people, they are supposed to serve and protect.

Perhaps, this makes it unsurprising that women have been at the forefront of the protest efforts, planning and organising everything. SARS officers have, over the years, magnified everything that is wrong with the Nigerian police force, and perhaps, the country at large. They prey on the weakest of us and make a joke of the most honest of us.

As young boy, travelling from the city to the village in the company of my parents for Christmas and other holidays and festivals, it was a common sight to see police officers mounting check points and demanding money from road users. It was all supposedly demanded 'in the spirit of the season of giving and sharing' but we knew that if you didn't give them what they demanded, and didn't have a good reason for not cooperating, they would make up an excuse to delay our journey. They threatened as much, albeit mildly.

Nigerians take pride in our resilience; our ability to thrive even under the harshest of conditions. We are firm believers in the saying that whatever doesn't kill one, makes one stronger. so, for the most part, Nigerians tolerated this extortion by the police and let it become part of our daily lives. Most Nigerians who are as old as the country have tolerated barely motorable roads, navigated inefficient transportation systems, and unsteady power supply. They have endured lack of potable water, poor healthcare systems and facilities, rulers who loot their commonwealth and other markers of a failed country, for as long as they have been alive. Most of them couldn't care less about being extorted by a police officer, so long as they called them 'Oga' while doing it, they are content.

Younger Nigerians however have very little patience for this kind of life. It is actually a surprise that these protests didn't start many years earlier because try as much as the older generation did to inculcate their culture of respecting elders and authority even when they oppress you, into us, our everyday decisions and lifestyles show we rejected it and them with it. The younger generation of Nigerians have questioned everything from traditional career paths pursued by our parents to religions and entertainment. This questioning has also led to a lot of rejections. 

A lot of people in these younger generations, after graduating from medical school dumped medicine to pursue careers in the arts and other non-traditional avenues. We are more excited about becoming musicians, computer programmers and graphic designers than our parents were about becoming lawyers and/or doctors. Lots of young people have rejected religion and chose to be atheist or agnostics. In a country as religious as Nigeria, rejecting religion is perhaps a bigger middle finger to our parent’s values than the ongoing protests. 

When we consider the fact that young adults make up a disproportionately high percentage of Nigeria's population, these protests and their seriousness start to make better sense. Throw in the fact that a very high percentage of our young adult population cannot point to any tangible thing that the country has done or does for them and you start seeing the picture clearer. A lot of these young people only have jobs because they created unconventional jobs and careers for themselves after waiting to no avail for the government to make policies that are favourable to the youth.

I suppose the best compliment I could give to the government of the day is to say they are just incompetent and clueless about what good governance entails. Yes, I really meant that as a compliment to them. The alternative would be saying that they are a bunch of evil people who are actively seeking to impoverish Nigerians. A cynic would say that they are doing their best to ruin the economy and ruin as many Nigerian lives as possible. An overwhelming majority of the policies they have made since they came into power, certainly demonstrate this.

Highest among their misdeeds is a clear insensitivity to the people. They are so out of touch; one could argue they do it on purpose. This insensitivity is again clear in the way they have reacted to these protests. Most government officials initially ignored the protests in their typical 'wish it away' fashion. When they eventually came around to pretending they are taking it serious, they came with the usual tactics of talking down on protesters and trying to bribe their way out of it.

What they don't know is that these are protests like none other they have seen before. There are no protest leaders to bribe, these protests, as well organised as they have been, sprang up organically. 

They resorted to banning protests and using brutal force against protesters in some areas, but people are still turning out en masse to protest. Nigeria has close to a 100 million, formally, unemployed people, majority of which are Gen Z young adults. They have nothing else to do but protest. Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world; a lot of people are more likely to get good food at the protests than they would if they sat at home.

Yes, these protests are so well organised that protesters are been provided for in ways the Nigerian government has never provided for her citizens. people from all walks of life are chipping in in whatever way they can. The lawyers amongst us are providing free legal representation to protesters. Doctors, nurses, therapists and healthcare workers are providing free medical care to protesters. A lot of us may have rejected traditional career paths but the ones who embraced it are awesome at it. People are taking turns to protest; companies are giving their workers time off work so they can join the protest. A lot of our jobs can be done remotely anyway, so best believe that people are working from the venues of the protests.

We are putting our resources into these protests, making sacrifices daily to continue these protests but perhaps the biggest causative factor isn't what we have contributed or sacrificed. It may rather be what we have found. A lot of us have found purpose in these protests. All the confusion and conflictions about religion, traditions, identities and the demands of the modern world may sometimes look pointless to us but making sacrifices in order to fight for and build something that, even remotely, resembles our dream country is a clear and achievable short to medium term goal to us. It is one many of us seem to not mind paying the ultimate price for.

If all these sounds to you like I'm already counting our chickens with these protests, I suggest you think again because make no mistakes about it, these won't be the last protests this generation will engage in. Even if these protests are forcefully quashed tomorrow, the seeds for future, bigger and better protests have already been sown. The unemployment, very bad economic policies and economy, hunger, insensitive government officials, poor infrastructure, striking public universities and police brutality, that led to these protests will still be here. These are the areas we can count on this regime to be consistent in.

Young Nigerians have gotten a taste of the kind of change we can effect when we make demands in unison. We will continue making demands. We have gotten a taste of our power. If Nigerian politicians, SARS and every other group of people who wield power in Nigeria have taught us anything, it's that people will do anything to hold on to power.